As well as looking at writers you like and then finding their agents, they also suggested looking at The Bookseller online, as it gives good information on agents.
Once you've selected your agent(s), they were very clear about the sort of letter they would respond well to:
Dear X (spelling the name right), then a few lines showing that you have a clear sense of what your book is and where you sit in the market, eg `Here is my psychological thriller... It might sit in a bookshop alongside Y and Z.' If you have done any creative writing courses or attended any literary festivals, you should mention these next, as it shows your commitment to the process.
You should then write four or five lines about the book, trying to entice the agent, (the blurb, including perhaps a strapline, if you have one), followed by anything you have had published, but don't go back too far, ie mentioning a poem from primary school. If you have a truly amazing following on Twitter (unlike me), this is something you might mention, but it's not interesting and can look foolish, if it's anything under 2,000 or so. Don't mention what other agents have said about your novel, unless another agent has asked to see your full manuscript. It appears that this, more than anything, will wet an agent's appetite!
Put your phone number at the bottom of the email, but don't make any submissions in either October or April because of the Frankfurt and London Book Fairs respectively. Look at the submission guidelines, which usually tell you how long you can expect to wait before hearing back (if at all- some agents say, somewhat depressingly, if you haven't heard in 12 weeks, assume I'm not interested. This caused a heated debate at various times during the festival. While agents are busy people, the consensus was that it takes less than a minute to send a form rejection). In most cases, you can give a polite nudge after a couple of months. Hellie also said it was fine to resubmit, although some agents frown on this. Her valid point was that most agents won't remember having seen something before, so if you've improved it after a book report or a severe edit, then don't worry about sending it off again.
The dreaded synopsis: One agent said to me: `Don't worry if you hate what you've produced after sweating over it for days, only psychopaths find them easy...' If should only be one page long and you need to clearly set out the plot, even if this means giving away the final twist. In my personal experience of reading the synopses of fellow students, I get confused if there are too many names, so it's helpful to limit these and maybe highlight them in bold. Leave out subplots and make every word count. Don't say: `The novel begins when...' say `It's Rome in 1940...'
Remember, the main purpose of the synopsis is so that the agent knows where the novel leads next, after the 3 chapters you are sending them (make sure these are numbered and you put the word count on the title page and your contact details!)
Below is a photo which depicts what I think a synopsis ideally needs to look like:
Elegant, clearly showing how the plot strands and themes intertwine, the fundamental, satisfying pattern of the novel.
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