However, this still leaves many who will. And most will look at any letter that you care to send them. Because a publisher can buy your book, and because you're likely to get a much faster response from a publisher than you will from an agent, I recommend that in addition to sending out your queries to agents, you also send them to publishers. The best resource for finding publisher information online is Writersmarket.com at http://www.writersmarket.com

I don't have any connection to Writersmarket.com, aside from subscribing to the service. I've been a subscriber for several years, and have always been happy with the service. It will save you a lot of time looking for publishers. Of course, the service isn't restricted to publisher listings. You'll find agent listings as well, plus magazine listings and a library of useful articles.

A useful software program to tap into a current database of literary agents is called Agent Wizard, an MS-WORD plug-in. AGENT WIZARD is an information-rich database of over 450 U.S. and Canadian Literary Agents. Agent Wizard also includes Query Wizard to properly format your query letter.

Yes, you can multiple-submit your query letter, and even your book proposal

Once you start marketing your book proposal, you'll find that some agents and publishers include words like "no multiple submissions" when they're telling authors how they want to receive proposals. In other words, they want exclusivity. Unfortunately, there's a big problem with this. The problem is time. Most literary agents and book editors will take a month or longer to evaluate your proposal. Some take as long as six months. Considering that you may need to approach 20 to 30 editors and/ or publishers, you could still be sending out your book three years from now. Professional writers ignore these admonitions, because if they didn't, they wouldn't eat.