Stillwater Literary Agency

About our agency...

Stillwater Literary Agency, LLC has been created to assist authors with their writing careers. Staffed by professionals with decades of experience in all phases of literary development and publishing, we are dedicated to providing the highest quality representation for our clients' literary efforts.

What we can do for authors...

Many options are available for those in search of help to develop their writing and find representation to achieve publication. Evaluation and assessment of realistic goals and potential results are crucial in determining which paths to take.

We offer free reading and consideration for representation of book-length manuscripts, fiction and nonfiction, as well as select short stories and articles. Each literary property is unique, as are each author's needs and expectations, therefore all need to be treated as such for individual potential.

We provide assistance for beginning, novice, journeyman, and professional writers. Services and options vary according to each individual's writing level, potential, and career goals. Professional editorial assistance is available, including analysis, blue-pencil editing and major editing and/or revision. Marketing strategies are provided according to genre and literary merit.

We are not miracle workers and cannot sell an unsalable manuscript. We can only try to find the best markets and best terms for acceptable material.

We are a literary representative for our clients. Our focus is to achieve publication with our clients' literary properties, beginning with traditional royalty-paying publishers. We negotiate the best terms possible on any sale, including any other rights which we have reserved for the author, subject to their approval.

Where we are...

Based in Absarokee, Montana and having our office near the Stillwater River, the agency is in just the right place. The river's name is a misnomer from its discovery by Captain William Clark in 1806 at its confluence with the Yellowstone River. Upstream is excellent white water rafting and blue ribbon trout fishing. The town's name is derived from the native language word "Absaroka," meaning Crow. Located near Custer and Bridger national forests and the Beartooth-Absaroka Wilderness that borders Yellowstone National Park, the area provides excellent year-round outdoor recreation.

From our office we can reach publishers across America easily by telephone, facsimile, Internet, and express or priority mail. We can cover the markets as well as a New York agent but with a fresher outlook, we believe.

Our staff...

Mark Black (B.S., University of Montana, 1985) has seventeen plus years of experience as a literary agent dealing with the publishing industry. Mark has contacts with editors and publishers across the nation. He has negotiated and finalized numerous publishing contracts for fiction and nonfiction authors alike.

Laurie Stabnow (B.A., Valley City State College) performs professional editing and critiquing for the agency. Laurie has spent over twenty-five years teaching English composition and grammar, and has a decade of experience preparing manuscripts for publication. Pamela Brown and Cash Dugan are administrative assistants with over a dozen years experience performing daily office functions including handling and preparing manuscripts for review and/or market.

How to contact us...

Our telephone number is (406)494-2622
9:00-3:00 MDT/MST, Mon.-Thur.

U.S. mail:

Stillwater Literary Agency, LLC
P.O. Box 553
Absarokee, MT 59001

Email: markblack@stillwaterliteraryagency.com

Submission Guidelines:

Format: single-sided, doubled-spaced copy, left-justified; easy to read font, such as Courier/Times-Roman 12pt.; sequential page numbering with header including
manuscript title and author's name.

Please submit only complete works. No e-mail attachments, partials or outlines accepted.

We acknowledge receipt of all submissions by mail or e-mail confirmation.

All submissions are held in strict confidence.

Submission mailing address:

Stillwater Literary Agency, LLC
P.O. Box 553
Absarokee, MT 59001

FedEx and UPS:

Stillwater Literary Agency, LLC
109 Lehner, #2
Absarokee, MT 59001
Please include sufficient return postage.

Thank you for visiting our website. We look forward to possibly being of assistance with your writing aspirations.

Regarding websites on the Internet that have posted "information" about our agency and myself, Mark Black:

We are aware of such postings which warn against paying any fees for editing or representation of literary material. We can only offer our viewpoint in rebuttal.

We provide a service for writers. Our services are aimed to assist developing and selling writers' material to publishers. We cannot, nor do we, promise to sell any offering, as only a publisher can do so. We can only do our best toward making a success of each work we handle.

We do offer editorial assistance. Any fees are based on the amount of work necessary to make a manuscript publisher-ready. We only offer editing on material that will benefit from such work and is needed before submission to publishers, regardless of who may perform any such revision.

Since all marketing is undertaken on speculation, we do sometimes ask for an advance against potential commissions for unpublished first-time and/or unknown writers to help cover our overhead. If successful in placing a literary property with a royalty-paying publisher, we refund any advance in its entirety and do not ask for any further advances on additional works.

All fees are directly stated for any services offered. There are never any additional fees or hidden costs associated with handling a manuscript.

Spreading dirt and mudslinging are not something we take lightly, especially when the ones doing so are selling their "services" at our expense. We are available to discuss any and all aspects of an author's writing and its potential, not like the faceless, nameless blogs on the Internet. We believe in ourselves and our clients.