TDP Literary Agency’s Guide to Selecting A Literary Agent – Lessons 1- 8

Publishing Doesn’t Have To Be A Solitary Experience Ever feel like you’re alone in this publishing industry? Well, you’re not. We’re here to share some tips to guide you through ‘hiring’ an agent to represent your work.

Lesson 1 Publishing Industry Facts: –Trends in publishing constantly change. –Editors at large publishing houses often receive thousands of submissions. –Agents normally assist writers in securing their manuscripts with medium – large publishing houses.

Lesson 2 Before contacting agents, writers should: –Make sure contacted agents represent their genre of literature. –Have the correct Editor contact name and address. –Clarify how the editor prefers to be contacted: via , phone or regular mail.

Lesson 3 A writer should submit to agents: –A query letter stating the writer’s contact info, bio, and brief book proposal. –A 2-page synopsis or summary of the book’s overall plot. –A self-addressed stamped envelope for correspondence.

Lesson 4 Writers seek literary agents: –To submit their work to large publishing houses which often won’t accept ‘unsolicited’ manuscripts. –Unsolicited manuscripts are those that are submitted by the writer themselves, without an agent.

Lesson 5 The agent is responsible for: –Handling all financial matters dealing with his/her book deals. –Updating the writer on any changes to his/her publishing deal. –Assisting writer with marketing and other concerns.

Lesson 6 A reputable agent will not: –Charge a writer any fees ‘up front’ before reading his/her manuscript. –Charge more than the set commission, usually between 10% -20%. –Distribute any confidential information about the writer to the publisher.

Lesson 7 An agent may charge a writer for: –Any fees for the cost of photocopying the manuscript. –Any fees for the cost of postage for the mailing of the manuscript. –Any fees for the cost of “long distance” phone calls.

Lesson 8 Alternatives to using an agent are: –The writer self-publishing through a P.O.D. or (Print-On-Demand) publisher. –The writer using a personal, local desktop publisher. –Small, independent publishers.

TUTORIAL EXERCISES Please use the link below to test your knowledge of literary agents. You can always go back and review: – ot.com/ under the heading ‘Tutorial Exercises’. ot.com/

References: Cyber Graphics, ny/indexr8.html ny/indexr8.html How an Agent Works, /prededitors/pubagent.htm /prededitors/pubagent.htm Agent Listings,