If charged by an agent to determine if he will represent you, not legitimate. If it is an unsigned photocopy, you've received a standard response. If personalized in any way, take this as a good sign. A pubisher may remainder a book and sell off all its stock when putting it out of print, or it may sell only some of its copies to reduce its stock. Unlike many other businesses, retailers can usually return books for a full refund.
Returns often come back several months after a book is published.
Also called subsidiary rights. An individual who represents a publisher to a potential customer, such as a bookstore or wholesaler. They may be exclusive , multiple , or simultaneous . Now can also be a photocopy of such a sample. The name comes from the fact that such publishers rely on the vanity of people who want to see their words in print and are willing to pay for this.