What is A Literary Agent?
Literary Agent and the Challenges of the Beginning Author
The Importance of a Literary Agent in the life of an author cannot be dismissed. After finishing producing his work, the author begins to face the challenges of publication. Thus, he understands that there is a network of literary agents at his disposal but that, in practice, they do not wish to work with beginning authors.
You will find it very difficult because most agents and editors prefer established writers on the market. Authors with published works and a good number of followers mean more credibility and potential. This indicates that there will be a financial return.
So the beginning author should be concerned with following some important steps to launch himself in this new stage of his life:
Step 1 – Try to understand how book publishing, promotion, competition works. Also, be conscious of the importance of a reliable author’s platform to enter this journey with any chance of doing well.
Step 2 – Project yourself in the literary market with your own effort and get “points” – Cultivate a posture of self-sufficiency. Remember well: you manage your literary career. We offer many suggestions on how to help you with that.
The Vital Importance of an Author’s Platform
Step 3 – Create your author platform. Suppose you are going to publish on your own, paying for the publication costs. In that case, you have to create a perfect system for disseminating the work. It is imperative for you, as an author, to have visibility on the internet also outside of it. It’s time to sell the work, either as an e-book or as a book, or courses.
Step 4 – Think: Does the work need a new evaluation? – If you choose to look for a publisher that supports your work, assess whether it has appeal to publishers, that is, that the publication is viable.
Indeed, an author always believes that he wrote something “magical” and that he has a chance to compete with what is already published. But a sincere opinion is necessary, starting with the author himself.
Step 5 – Stay authentic and cultivate the qualities that differentiate your writing from the others. Nevertheless, “be flexible, try to follow the thoughts of the public and the literary market.
Don’t be intimidated, but don’t shut yourself up in your ivory castle. Do not refuse to look to the public or to publishers’ opinions. Don’t ignore constructive criticism and suggestions, as indeed your chances of success are reduced.
In researching literary agents, I did what the books tell you to do: I looked at the acknowledgments page of a similar book. Happily, that author thanked his agent. I looked up the agent on the web and found out that he not only represented authors writing books similar to mine, but I knew some of his clients! So, I sent in the manuscript, and they decided to represent it.
Debra Hamel
What Does A Literary Agent Do?
Literary agents are professionals in the book market that guides and advises authors throughout the publishing process.
An agent will present the design of a book to the publishers, negotiate the advance and percentage of copyrights, and the entire contract.
It is the agent’s responsibility to track all payments, and more, to serve as a creative and business consultant to an author (and many others). An agent is the author’s lawyer, defender of his interests, he filters the relationship with the publisher, maintains harmony between the parties.
Literary Agent and Ethical Responsibilities
Due to the comprehensive characteristics of the medium in which he operates, the literary agent can choose to specialize in some editorial regions or decide to work with all, without restrictions.
However, just as with an editor, you also can reject projects. Besides, it must assume the ethical commitment of not accepting more titles/authors than it is capable of representing with its authors.
The best source for finding an agent is called Literary Agents of North America. It’s a complete list of agents, not only by name and address. But also by the type of book they represent and their submission criteria.
Sara Paretsky
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