How do I become my own literary agent?

Question

I have a book which I want to publish. Many publishers won't accept manuscripts without an agent. Finding an agent can take time, and they take a percentage of finance. I know some authors are their own agents. I know what publishers I want to approach. I dont want information on 'self-publishing' companies.

Acting as my own agent, the question is what do i need to know? What information will publishers expect of me when I contact them?
Will they want to know how much is expected up front?
Anything else?

thanks!

Answer 1

The first thing I would suggest is to invest in the most recent copy of the writer's market. There are thousands of publishers listed and you don't necessarily have to go through an agent. Sometimes you just submit a sample of the book you are wanting to publish and they give you instructions. From there you can contact the publisher to find out what they want. If they like your sample work they'll look into the whole document.

Answer 2

I don't see how acting as your own agent is different from submitting a manuscript on spec.
The way the publishing industry works, agents get paid a percentage of the fee the author gets basically because the publishers are too lazy to do their job. They can't be bothered reading the 'slush pile' of crazy, green ink manuscripts that come in so, they miss any diamonds that might be buried in it. Instead, they trust somebody else to read all the rubbish for them, sift it and come forward with a couple of good ones. But they read those only because they know the agent and trust their judgement.
My agent gets roughly 35 manuscripts a day and she takes on three or four a year, that's how bad it is.

Answer 3

You do not /can not act as your own agent. An agent is just that for several reasons:

1)They are unbiased and they think the manuscript is good
2) They have the connections needed to sell your book
3) They understand contracts and what can or cannot be negotiated.

It goes on and on. You don't just say you're an agent. If you dont want an agent, then you submit to the slush pile.

And what do you mean by "Will they want to know how much is expected up front?" I sincerely hope you dont mean they're going to ask you how much money you want. That's not how it works. They make an offer, regardless of what you want for the novel. You can negotiate from there, but rarely can you really go up in dollars- they already worked the numbers for how many books they think they can sell and how profitable the book will be for them.

Query an agent OR submit to the slushpile. You can't just call yourself an agent.

Answer 4

As a new author, you need all the help you can get. If you seriously want to be published, write a good query letter and get it out to agents. Note: a real agent will not charge you an up-front fee! Don't let yourself be scammed. Be patient and persistent. And by all means, if someone offers critique, LISTEN.

If things don't go well at first, keep on keeping on. Many a best selling author was repeatedly rejected until they found success. Wonder how many agents/publishers are kicking themselves for turning down that little wizard named Harry.

Answer 5

Joss have been given maximum suitable answer. study the 1st paragraph of her reaction & look how quite insulting that's. study it. plus it opened by utilising basically guffawing at you. Their marketplace is amazingly poorly paid for them to be guffawing at somebody asking approximately it. additionally, you're able to do something you opt to do. in case you opt to develop right into a literary agent, get a enterprise card made & this is the only requirement. And recently you do no longer even decide on the cardboard. There are no standards to be an agent so it surprising maximum of authors have confidence those random human beings to pay them them & positioned their lives & livelihoods of their arms. i'm able to get a card printed up & say i'm an appearing agent, or a literary agent, or a interest agent.

Answer 6

It sounds like a good idea to me. Why not search for agents who blog on the net? I'm sure you'll find plenty of them sharing their experience. And why not have a go and see what kind of questions you get? Get a couple of drinks down phone up sounding confident, then put it down as experience and let me know how you got on.