Literary Agents
Your dream of becoming published has lead you to consider and try your luck with traditional publishing. Now that you have realized that most trade publishers do not accept unsolicited manuscripts, you contemplate on hiring a literary agent.
First of all, let us determine what literary agents are. An agent officially represents someone else in a particular line of work or field. Literary agents represent writers and their literary work to publishers of literature. When you hire an agent, he essentially works for you. Since you are paying the agent to represent you to these trade publishers, you have to ensure that you are represented accurately.
To help you with your decision, let me list down some vital functions of literary agents:
• Literary agents look at your work and evaluate its worth. They will have to verify if it has the kind of quality they are looking for and establish its potential marketability.
• They provide editorial recommendation to authors to effectively promote the manuscript.
• Propose effective plans to editors to guarantee publication, marketing and distribution.
• Negotiate deals with publishers and review contract agreement.
• Correspond with the author and the publisher about any changes or progress.
• Review and maintain record of royalty statements, keeping the author informed, as well as for reference purposes.
• Keep track of rights sold.
Now, if you already have ascertained that you indeed need to hire a literary agent, let me list down some ideas on how to find one and how to have the agent represent you and your work:
• Do your research. Literary agents have specialization/s. Therefore, you have to find the one who represents the kind of book you are writing. Also, there are agents that are only after your money. After all, you pay them to work for you, so be careful. Do your research. You may want to check this site http://aaronline.org/to get you started with your research.
• Once you have prospects, next is the need to write a query letter. You can send them a mail with a stamped self-addressed envelope for their response. You can also email them if there is that information provided. Correspond with them according to their choice of communication.
• If you are sending query letters to more than one agent, it is for the best if they are informed, to avoid conflict and confusion in the long run. There are agents who will charge reading fees, but I don’t recommend them. It is usually free.
• Ask the right questions. Again, since you are paying a literary agent to work for you, make sure that you are paying your money’s worth. Ask questions like the agent’s experience in the field, how involved will the agent be with the work, is there an agent-author agreement, how involved will the author be, what will be the provisions for the representation in case of death or disability of the author, etc. By asking the right questions, you will find out if everything is going to work out for you or not.
• Once you have established a possibility of a working relationship with your literary agent, make sure that both parties are amenable with the arrangement and, in the long run, the termination of the contract.
• Be honest. Your literary agent is representing you. He will be unable to efficiently represent you, if he does not know anything about you. I would say that developing a personal relationship with your literary agent is a good indication of a proficient and also a professional start.
Just like with getting a trade publisher read your work, it will also require effort and time to have an agent represent your work. Be unrelenting in getting what you want.
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