What Does A Literary Agent Do?
A primer on literary agents. Learn how literary representation works, what it costs, and how agents can help you sell your books.
Literary agents play a big role in the book publishing world. As an agent myself, I work as a writer’s representative—part advocate, part strategic business partner. My job is to help you, the writer, navigate the publishing industry, sell your books, and build a sustainable writing career.
If you're thinking about publishing a book—either through traditional publishing or self-publishing —it’s worth considering how a literary agent can support your journey. So, what exactly do literary agents do, and does having one really make a difference?
Regardless of which literary agent or agency you work with, literary agents share five key responsibilities to support their clients.
The key responsibilities of a literary agent
They give you editorial guidance to strengthen your manuscript or book proposal.
They submit your work to Big Five publishing houses and industry contacts within their professional network.
They negotiate publishing contracts to secure the most favorable terms on your behalf.
They handle the sale of subsidiary rights to broaden your reach and increase your income.
They help you make strategic decisions and offer long-term career support.
Editorial guidance
When I offer an author literary representation, I usually have an editorial vision in mind. I bring ideas to the table on how to strengthen the book project and make it more marketable.
While literary agents are not editors, we collaborate with you to get your book in the best possible shape before pitching it to publishing houses.The first thing that you will likely do after signing with an agent is working on edits.
How “editorial” an agent depends on their working style and background— some are very editorially involved and give detailed line edits, others focus more on big-picture developmental edits. I wrote about the editorial spectrum of literary agents previously as well.
Regardless of where an agent falls on that spectrum, our goal remains the same: we help you improve your book so it can stand out in an editor’s inbox.
Manuscript Submission
Once a manuscript is ready, it’s time to pitch it! I like to think of myself as a professional matchmaker—I spend a lot of my time meeting with editors, learning what they’re looking for, and pitching them projects that align with their interests and their publishing house’s ethos.
The publishing business is a people business. Agents build strong relationships with editors so we can connect writers to the right publishing homes. We are, at the end of the day, big book fangirls.
After preparing your manuscript and proposal, agents send your submission to a curated list of editors. Then we put our project management hats on: we track responses, interest, and feedback— and wait for editors to offer.
Publishing Contract Negotiation
Once an editor/ publisher (or more than one) expresses interest, that’s when things get exciting, because that’s when the literary agent gets to negotiate your deal. Our priority at this point is to ensure you receive the best possible terms.
There’s a lot on the table when it comes to contract terms: advances, royalties, territories, rights, and even the legal language itself. Because literary agents negotiate multiple deals and often work at literary agencies where they share insights with other agent colleagues, we have a strong sense of what’s fair and what’s not. We’re able to pool our resources and track whether a publisher is offering a competitive deal.
At the end of the day, publishers are a business. Just like any business, they’re focused on their own profits. Having a literary agent in your corner ensures that you, as the author, are fairly compensated and that your rights are protected—especially if you want to build a long-term writing career.
Subsidiary rights sales
How many book-to-movie adaptations have you watched? How many audiobooks have you listened to? How many products have you bought that were based on your kid’s favorite picture book?
Most of these products came from subsidiary rights sales, often brokered by an agent and their co-agent contacts.
Part of my job includes maintaining industry contacts and co-agents so we can sell your subsidiary rights. These rights can significantly increase your book’s reach and your overall income. Agents use specialized contacts to help you maximize these
Career Management and Strategizing
Literary representation is often a long-term business partnership. If you want to make writing a full-time career, having an agent in your corner can be a major asset.
As an agent, I can help clients:
Brainstorm their next book
Grow their author brand
Understand their market or expand to other markets
Explore new genres
Strategize where and when to outsource marketing and publicity
How much do literary agents cost?
Most literary agents work on commission. We don’t get paid until you get paid. Even for literary agents who work on salary, their salary is pooled from the commission the agency takes.
Because agents work on commission, we’re very selective with the projects we take on. For that reason, I only take on projects that I truly believe I can sell— otherwise, I would essentially be signing up to work for free.
While there are no upfront costs to working with an agent, you should be aware of standard commission percentages:
Standard commission for domestic deals is 15% of the author’s profits,
For subsidiary rights, that percentage is between 20 to 25% depending on the agency’s structure and their rights departments.
Do you need literary representation?
Not all published authors have a literary representation. Whether or not you need an agent depends on your publishing goals.
Big five publishing vs independent publishing
If you’re interested in traditional publishing, and especially if your goal is to publish with one of the big five publishing houses (such Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, or Macmillan) you’ll need a literary agent.
Big 5 publishers do not accept unagented submissions, except in rare cases like special events or open calls— and even then, these events have a small submission window or timeframe.
Though agents primarily focus on Big Five publishing houses, we do sell to smaller publishers as well. Unlike the Big 5, however, the smaller and independent publishers (like Apollo Publishers or Unnamed Press) do accept “unsolicited” manuscripts. This means that they are open to both agented and unagented writers.
Still, keep in mind that publishing contracts can be complex, and there are many variables to consider if you want to strategize a long-term writing career. If you are going the unagented route, here are some questions to consider:
Are you comfortable negotiating the publishing contract?
Are you familiar with predatory vs author-friendly terms?
If you choose to go down this route, The Authors Guild has a useful model trade book contract that can help you prepare for your self-negotiated book deal.
Traditional publishing vs self-publishing
Even if you’re considering self-publishing, you can still benefit from literary representation— especially if you’re considering selling subsidiary rights such as audio or translation.
Literary agents and agencies are now taking on self-published authors to meet the rising demand of traditional book deals written by self-pub authors. While the two strands of publishing were siloed in the past, now the democratizing of distribution has allowed self-published authors more opportunities in the traditional publishing realm, and vice versa. Some self-published authors are now expanding into traditional publishing. Others choose to self-publish in one genre and traditionally publish in another, capitalizing on two markets. A third subset continue to self-publish domestically while their literary agent handles foreign and/or audio rights.
It really depends on the author’s goals and areas of expertise. If you're a self-published author who is not experienced in licensing but want to expand your reach and your income, working with a literary agent could be a lucrative option for you.
Publishing a book is hard work, whether you’re doing it yourself or seeking out publishers. While not every writer needs an agent, the right literary agent can be an invaluable partner. Understanding what we do can help you decide what's best for your writing career.
What's Next? Finding the Right Literary Agent
Ready to start your publishing journey? I've put together a blog post on query letter writing to help you navigate the querying journey. Whether you’re a debut author or transitioning from self-publishing, this guide will walk you through the basics. You can also browse through my Query Tips resource list for all blog posts on this topic.
