Any guidance to an agent for an author of childrens books?

Question

If you know of an agent, do you also know what fees are associated with them? Thanks!

Answer 1

Oy. You have much to learn!

There are hundreds of agents out there....but you can't just "hire" them. Getting an agent can be almost as difficult as getting the book deal-- becuase they ONLY make money if they sell you, and they wont take a book on if they think they cant sell it. One agent typically has 10-25 clients and you only want an agent with a sales record for a majority of those clients-- so you're wanting to join the ranks of published authors on their roster.

Agents typically receive 50-200 queries a week from wannabe authors, and only request material from perhaps 10% of those, and go onto sign less than 1% of the authors they hear from.

An agent gets 15% of any proceeds from selling your book (they get that from advances and royalties, along with subrights like audio books or foreign translations). . . and a legitimate agent NEVER asks for an upfront fee. Some will charge back any fees directly relating to the sale of your book (photocopying, courier fees, etc) but the contract shoudl state that the fees cannot exceed a certain amount (usually $150) without written permission from you.

Check out the website www.agentquery.com or publisher's marketplace to do some more research and look for agents that rep childrens books. Your book needs to be fully complete and as perfect as you can make it. Make sure you research the market and understand where your book would fit. Children's boooks are VERY difficult to break into, and there's not a lot of money in it.

Many children's lit authors make the sale before getting an agent simply becuase childrens books are a difficult market.