Writers' Handbook 2026

The 2026 edition of firstwriter.com's annual directory for writers is the perfect book for anyone searching for literary agents, book publishers, or magazines. It contains over 1,400 listings, including revised and updated listings from the 2025 edition, and over 200 brand new entries.
Finding the information you need is now quicker and easier than ever before, with multiple tables and a detailed index, and unique paragraph numbers to help you get to the listings you're looking for.
The variety of tables helps you navigate the listings in different ways, and includes a Table of Authors, which lists over 5,000 authors and tells you who represents them, or who publishes them, or both.
The number of genres in the index has expanded to over 950. So, for example, while there was only one option for "Romance" in previous editions, you can now narrow this down to Historical Romance, Fantasy Romance, Supernatural / Paranormal Romance, Contemporary Romance, Diverse Romance, Erotic Romance, Feminist Romance, Christian Romance, or even Amish Romance.
The new edition includes:
· Over 600 literary agents and agencies;
· Over 350 magazines; and
· Over 400 publishers that don't charge fees.
International markets become more accessible than ever, with listings that cover both the main publishing centres of New York and London, as well as markets in other English-speaking countries. With more and more agents, publishers, and magazines accepting submissions online, this international outlook is now more important than ever.
There are no adverts, no advertorials, and no obscure listings padding out hundreds of pages. By including only what's important to writers - contact details for literary agents, publishers, and magazines - this directory is able to provide more listings than its competitors, at a lower price.
The book also allows you to create a subscription to the firstwriter.com website for free until 2027. This means you can get free access to the firstwriter.com website, where you can find even more listings, and also benefit from other features such as advanced searches, daily email updates, feedback from users about the markets featured, saved searches, competitions listings, searchable personal notes, and more.
"I know firsthand how lonely and dispiriting trying to find an agent and publisher can be. So it's great to find a resource like firstwriter.com that provides contacts, advice and encouragement to aspiring writers. I've been recommending it for years now!"
~ Robin Wade; literary agent at the Wade & Doherty Literary Agency Ltd, and long-term firstwriter.com subscriber

J. Paul Dyson studied English at the University of Cambridge, where he co-founded an annual literary anthology for Downing College. He has been placed as winner and runner-up in a number of writing competitions, and has had short fiction and poetry published in a variety of magazines. After graduation he went on to work as an Assistant Editor, Editor, and ultimately Senior Editor for Thomson Reuters. In 2001 he founded firstwriter.com, which quickly established itself as one of the world's most important international websites for writers. In 2008 he launched its sister-site, MusicSocket, to provide a similar service for musicians.