With newspapers and magazines in such a precarious position, many writers (including yours truly) are shifting their focus to other writing opportunities: blogs, websites, and even books. Yes, books. Though book publishing has slowed like virtually every other industry, publishers are still buying and agents are still looking for new talent.
That's where Maria Schneider's Get An Agent e-book comes in.
Maria is the former editor of Writer's Digest, so she's plugged into the publishing industry and compiled a list of 100 book agents who are web-friendly (so you can send an email query) and open to new writers. The agents represent a wide range of book genres including young adult fiction, mystery, memoir, graphic novels, and self-help. Many of the agents represent several different genres.
Maria posted a list of 10 agents on her blog, Editor Unleashed, so that will give you a sense of the format. However, the e-book includes email addresses for almost every agent listed, while the blog does not (for obvious reasons). At $14.95 for a directory of 100 agents, I found the e-book to be an affordable and easy-to-read resource, but remember that it's just a starting point.
If you're serious about landing an agent, then you'll want to do plenty of research on your own: both on the process of querying an agent and on the agents themselves. Sounds like I have my work cut out for me!
Tell us! If you have an agent (or you're currently trying to find one), what resources did you use?