Thanks! I will start with Denmark since I have written my story in Danish - then I will translate and try the UK and/or US market.
Any views on the rest of the English speaking world? Like Canada, Australia, New Zealand...?
Australia has very few agents and they are likely to say 'our books are full,' so a queue of writers are waiting for other writers to die!
The major publishers have branches here. Most take direct queries and some have an open day every month. There are lots of small publishers, but it's hard to get a read, never mind a contract. They are easy to find via Google search.
I tried for years and got nowhere here in Australia and eventually found a small publisher in the UK who bought and published my book, which, incidentally, helped me get an Australian agent.
In general everywhere, if you want a major publishing contract an agent is required. You can contact many major publishers direct, but an agent will get your manuscript to the decision makers and bypass the slush pile.
Agents aren't interested in smaller publishers because there's not much money for them, so you can approach most of them direct. And once published, even by a very small publisher, your chances of getting an agent are very much higher.
