Why have an agent?
Why do I need an agent?
Agents are very much the gatekeepers of publishing. We have a lot of experience in helping to shepherd a book from raw manuscript to finished copy. I have an extensive list of contacts in the industry and will know precisely which editors to submit to. I also advocate for my authors to get them the best deal. I will be in the room with you for meetings with your publisher and I’m there to help smooth out any issues that may arise along the way. I will act as your personal advisor and you, as my client, will be my number one priority.
How do I get started?
Let’s assume you’ve been working on a novel for some time and feel that you now need an agent to help you sell it to a publishing house. Your first step is to upload a “partial” of your manuscript, along with a covering letter including a short synopsis of your work and a little bit about yourself, your background and inspiration.
Please only submit when you feel the work is very developed - given the high numbers of submissions I receive, I will only look at each project once. Then I would ask you to be patient. I get a lot of submissions but try to get back to authors within six weeks. If you find alternative representation during that time, do please let me know.
How is the work sent to publishers?
I will identify the most appropriate list of editors across the publishing spectrum and will submit your work, often accompanied by a phone call or meeting in advance of submission to personally pitch the project.
What happens to the manuscript after submission to a publishing house?
Your book will initially be read by the acquiring editor. If the editor likes the book and feels it is right for their list, they will then share the book in-house with colleagues from other departments, namely Sales, Marketing and Publicity. The book is then taken to a Publishing Meeting where it will be discussed by the team as a whole. If the book gets the backing of the whole team, then the acquiring editor is encouraged to make a formal offer to your agent. Writers are ordinarily offered one and two-book contracts for fiction. Most publishers of popular or reading group fiction expect to publish a book each year by any author they take on. For literary fiction, the expectation is to publish every two - three years.