#agent advice

The how to negotiate a contract for an artist is also in my blog, and about the rule of thirds.

Rule of Thirds applies.

Pay in thirds, insist on paying in thirds, and be aware of word count limits. If they don't have word count limits, ask them about it and how much the overages will be. 250 dollars? Pay in thirds. 50 dollars. Pay in thirds.

Agents DO NOT GET PAID UPFRONT.

Again, you pay your agent by them selling the book to a publishing house. At no time should they ask for fees.

2. At no time should the agent or editor OWN the manuscript nor ask for ANY kinds of rights to the manuscript.

Words like North American rights, own the likeness (of you or the manuscript), for life/lifetime, in perpetuity, etc should not appear in a client relationship with an agent or editor.

The right to sell the manuscript can show up in an agent contract, but it should specify who to and under which conditions and then what should happen if they fail to sell it within a certain time span.

For editors it's only rights to edit the manuscript.

3. The supposed agent or editor should have industry experience working at a series of magazines and publishing houses/agent organizations of reputable stance. One or two isn't enough.

Marketing professional is not the same as an agent that's been in an agenting house for a number of years and has read a WIDE range of fiction locally and internationally.

Same with an editor. Edited two Anthologies is not enough credits. If they worked at premiere Magazine, maybe. They should have good professional credits and show competency to not only understand your book, but also understand the industry.

4. They should read your genre and show competency in ability to read it. (This includes openness to LGBTQIA and PoC with showing they've actually read those things), etc (and not just the most trendy and apologetic versions of those things.)

Editor swears up and down they understand... Iunno, Iranian literature, but then hasn't read Shahnameh, I might hesitate there. If they say they love Korean dramas, but can't recognize Korean drama conventions for the life of them, and don't know what the fuck Giseungjeongyeol is RUN (or more simply ask, Where is the conflict with no competency to understand any story structures).

Other things like not understanding that NBs can use he/him as a demigirl, she/her, and so on... run.

5. They should say somewhere they ban genAI submissions and will not use genAI.

No serious editor wants to deal with GenAI, and lack of awareness means they've not really dipped their toes in long, and in addition they might feed your manuscript to an AI machine. You want a ban in both directions. Besides, especially if you're a fiction writer, you do not want AI editing your manuscript, and double or triple if you're LGBTQIA and PoC. The amount of times Google Docs before the advent of large language models has marked my queer and PoC content wrong is astounding. If they do, penalty in the contract should apply for damages.

6. Reversion

If the agent doesn't "get around to it " or editor doesn't "get around to it" in a certain amount of time, what happens? Do you get a refund? Does the manuscript get returned to you?

Usually the time frame is 3-6 months if they don't reply after taking you as a client.

For editors 100% chase them for a refund for the THIRD that you gave them. AGAIN, DO NOT GIVE THEM THE WHOLE AMOUNT. One to three months limit is usual. Six is late. They shouldn't have that many clients to be that backlogged. How are you going to trust them to pay attention to yours? Not a year.

7. Nondisclosure.

i.e. they cannot use any of your writing, specific ideas, etc in the future on penalty of X. That should be specified.

8. It should specify which state's/province's laws it is referring to.

If it doesn't, it's not enforceable, and then the whole thing is a legal mess.

9. If an editor, they should be better than a Beta reader.

If the only thing they are offering is Beta reading... MOVE ON. You can get that for free.

10. You paying for editing through an agent is not normal. This is called farming.

Please do not fall for the scam—it's a favor to yourself and other writers. The agent usually gets a kickback and they are supposed to get it from selling your manuscript to a publishing house. (And a reputable one not ones they exclusively work with).

Question: If I do decide to go the agent route, at what point would it be recommended to start looking? Total manuscript completion?

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Basically, yeah, wait until the book is written, polished, and has been through beta readers or critique groups. You only get one chance to impress an agent. Always, always, always ensure that what you're sending them is the very best version of it. Also, waiting until the manuscript is totally complete also means that a) you've proven to yourself and to the agent that you can finish what you start and b) you won't get caught with your pants down if they respond right away asking for the full, after you've sent a partial. But more than just a totally spit-shined MS, also ensure you write a complete pitch package before you start to query. Why? Because agents invariably ask for come combination of these documents as well as the query letter and MS, and it makes sense to just sit down and do it all together once instead of scrambling to create new docs with each submission.

Pitch Package:

Elevator Pitch: One or two sentences to hook 'em. Imagine you have the length of one elevator ride to intrigue a publisher/agent/producer. What would you say? (Example: A girl vigilante and her mystical, semi-sentient rocketpack are shot down behind enemy lines, and now have to rely on the help of an underground rebellion to not only get home, but end a decades-long war. The only question is whether the rebellion can be trusted, or if they're planning to turn her in for the bounty.) This is the only part of the pitch doc I recommend memorizing, because you may have the opportunity to pitch someone in person at an event, and you want to have a slick response to: "So what are you working on now?"

Back Cover Copy/One Paragraph Pitch: Basically, write the stuff that goes on the back of the book. Try to keep it to about 100-200 words. You will use this in your query letter, as well as turn it over to marketing when it's time to design your cover.

5 Page Synopsis: Write out the entire plot of your novel, beat-by-beat, pointing out cause and effect and character growth, INCLUDING the ending (surprise your readers, not your agent.)

3 Page Synopsis: Turn that same doc above into a 3 pager.

1 page Synopsis: Turn that same doc above into a 1 pager. (Why? Because these are the industry standards, and these get asked for a lot).

If the book is first of a series, DO NOT WRITE THE SERIES. Write the back cover copy/pitch paragraph & a 1 page synopsis, and included it in the package as well. (Why not write the whole series? What if the publisher only wants the first book? You've wasted your effort. Or what if your editor asks you what book #2 is about and the two of you come up with a MUCH BETTER idea? Wasted effort.)

Once you've done all that, then you can craft your Query Letter, and begin to submit to agents. (I made an Excel with each agent I wanted to submit to and their individual submission requirements.)

Best of luck!

Monday Advice from Agents and Editors: A Bitter Dose of Query Stats

Sarah LaPolla is an agent with the Bradford Literary Agency.  She represents Adult, Middle Grade, and Young Adult manuscripts. Each year she tallies all the unsolicited (slush pile) queries she received and writes a post with the statistics. Many other agents do this, too, including Kristin Nelson and Janet Reid.

First, the Bitter Pill

The bottom line: LaPolla received 3,855 unsolicited queriesin…