FAQs

Before contacting an agent, you should consider where you are as a writer. Many agents will want to know how you view yourself and your writing. Conducting a self-assessment before approaching an agent will help you and your agent evaluate your readiness for entering the publishing world. Have you evaluated your short and long-term writing goals? Have you thought about your strengths and weaknesses as a writer? Think about your manuscript and determine if you have done everything you can to improve upon it. Has anyone else read and provided feedback on your manuscript? After summarizing where you are, begin thinking about what you will expect of an agent. If you haven’t considered this or don’t have enough information to know what to expect, you should begin researching the agenting business. A great way to begin is to speak to other writers.

Be professional, neat, and organized. Most agents prefer that initial contact be made in writing. Some prefer hard copy, some email, and many will accept either. Remember that the reason you’re contacting an agent is because you want someone to represent your writing. The first sample of your writing that an agent sees is your initial letter. Don’t let your query letter kill your chances by turning off an agent with typos and poor grammar.

Agents have different policies about what they want to see in introductory submissions. Some agents want one or two page query letters; some want one or more chapters and a synopsis; some want just a proposal; some want the entire manuscript. Check the agent’s policy before making a submission. While a phone call asking about the company’s submission policy is acceptable etiquette, agents who list their policies online generally prefer that you access them electronically.

If you’re contacting an agent for the first time, you should include return postage and an envelope. It’s fine to query several agents at once but not to make simultaneous submissions to more than one agent. You should not fax a proposal to an agent unless you’re specifically requested to.

That depends on a number of factors. There are certain times when the publishing world slows down considerably. This includes the month of August, Thanksgiving and Christmas weeks, publishers’ sales conferences, and major bookseller conventions.

Most publishers have a committee, which meets two-to-four times a month, to decide whether to extend offers to publish. If your book raises legal questions, such as possible copyright infringement, allegations of libel, or issues of attribution, the legal department will have to render its opinion before an offer can be made.

There’s little point in pressuring an agent for a quick response from a publisher, because many of the issues that affect the timing of an offer are beyond the agent’s control. Nor is pressure from an agent likely to elicit a positive response from potential publishers. When publishers are forced to make hasty decisions, they often pass on the project. Some books—often the best, more complex ones—take a long time to find the right publisher. Don’t be discouraged by initial or subsequent rejections. Many of the most successful authors started with dozens of rejections before their work was ever published.

Yes. Any relationship that involves money should be agreed to in writing. Some agents want authors to sign contracts right away at the first meeting; other agents require a signed contract only when they start working on a book, whether that be reviewing draft proposals or submitting to publishers. Agents can offer one-book or multi-book contracts. If your agent offers neither, you should draft a two-way letter of understanding that spells out the key terms of your relationship including the circumstances under which either you or the agent can terminate the agreement.

Though this is the most frequently asked question, it cannot be answered concretely. An agent can provide information about advances that have been paid for comparable work. However, an agent can’t, and shouldn’t, predict the amount of an advance.

The size of the advance isn’t always the most important contractual element. For example, if your book is successful, a large advance coupled with a small royalty rate will ultimately pay you less than a lower advance with a higher royalty rate.

Royalty rates can be very complicated, and they generally vary by genre. Large publishers typically write standard royalty rates into their contracts. Some royalty rates are arranged on a sliding scale; that is, the rate escalates as book sales increase.

The publishing industry is characterized by many terms and conditions particular to itself. A good agent has the knowledge and experience to negotiate the best overall terms for you, while someone without publishing experience—even if an excellent negotiator—is likely to commit serious and costly errors.

First, talk with your agent about the problem. If the conversation is unsatisfactory, and you have not signed a multi-book contract with the agent, you’ll be free to end your relationship in accordance with the termination clause of your contract.

While authors shouldn’t hesitate to terminate an unsatisfactory relationship with an agent, neither should they develop a reputation for “agent-hopping” as this does not usually work to their benefit. And, while switching agents for legitimate reasons is appropriate, it’s usually in an author’s interest to have an agent who is interested in their long-term career as a writer.

You may be displeased with your agent because of a disagreement over a particular book proposal. While that’s a normal reaction, keep in mind that when an agent refuses to submit what he or she considers a substandard proposal to a publisher, they are acting in accordance with the agency’s own business ethics and your best interests as a writer. A bad proposal can hurt your reputation.

Often, therefore, it’s wise to heed your agent’s advice. Nevertheless, publishing is a subjective business, and you are free to take your idea elsewhere if your agent doesn’t want to pursue it. Most agency contracts, including Serendipity’s, require that you give your agent sufficient time to sell your proposal to publishers. However, most agents will cease making any future submissions to publishers on your behalf if you ask. Agents understand that trust is the glue that holds their relationships with authors together. If it’s damaged beyond repair, it may be time to look elsewhere for representation.

Agents can choose to be many things to their clients. Mostly, they are business representatives who protect and promote an author’s best interests. An agent’s income is entirely dependent on generating income for their authors. Agents generally do not teach writing skills, rewrite substandard proposals into saleable ones, lend writers money, act as a writer’s therapist, offer tax or general legal advice, serve as an answering service for clients, treat any single writer as if they were the agent’s only client, publicize books, or take calls at home.

An agent is a writer’s most important ally. While an agent cannot be everything to a writer, they can make everything about writing, except the writing itself, more satisfying and rewarding.

If your book is fiction, you should complete it before asking an agent to sell it. For nonfiction, your agent will negotiate the delivery date for you, so it’s up to you to be clear about how long you realistically need. Sometimes a publisher may want a manuscript delivered sooner for marketing or other reasons; in that case, your agent will negotiate the due date with you.

Not at all. It’s an excellent idea to continue to write for publications in your field. This keeps your name and your ideas current. However, be certain not to use anything in your book in another publication, unless you have secured the proper legal permissions in advance.

Publishers divide their work year into seasons. Books are published for spring, summer, fall, or winter lists to coincide with a publisher’s catalog, marketing pushes, and other quarterly events. Some publishers have four seasons while others have just two or three. If the publisher’s list is already filled for the seasons immediately following the delivery of your manuscript, the publication of your book may have to wait for an open slot. It’s not unusual for several months or even a year to elapse between delivery and publication.

There is no such thing as a “typical” first print run. Sometimes you can estimate the size of your first printing from the size of the advance: the larger the advance, the larger the first printing. This number is not definitively established at least until the publisher has accepted your manuscript and, oftentimes, not until the production of your book is well underway. Your agent can enlighten you on the particulars.

This will vary from agency to agency and may also depend on a multitude of different factors, such as time of year, how large the agency is, how many submissions the agent has in their inbox, and how many clients the agent is already balancing. The general rule of thumb is 1-3 months, but it can definitely take longer.

No! Reputable agents should never, EVER charge an author a fee to read their manuscript. If an agent asks you for money up front, do some research on them to see if it is a scam.

This depends on the type of book you are writing. Fiction authors generally do not need a strong platform, large social media numbers, or a built-in audience; however, nonfiction authors need to show that they have a following, audience, and/or are a subject matter expert in the field that they are writing about. Nonfiction authors bear the burden of having to explain why they are the best person to write this particular book, which many times will mean that they are well-known for their expertise. For instance, if you’re writing a book on finance, you need to show your qualifications to write such a book, which often will mean that you have spoken on the subject at length and other people within the financial industry revere your opinion. If you regularly speak at conventions, give seminars, have done TED Talks, have written op-ed pieces for newspapers, been featured on prominent podcasts, or been interviewed by magazines, then congratulations—you have a platform! If you’re writing a memoir, but you’re not a celebrity or social media influencer, and you only have 100 followers on Twitter and Facebook combined, then it will be hard to sell a publisher on the idea that readers will want to know about your life. A robust platform is almost always needed for nonfiction.

You don’t need to, but if you have the means to hire a freelance editor to help you clean up the manuscript—look for typos, inconsistencies, errors, grammatical issues, and redundancies—this will strengthen the manuscript as a whole. The more turnkey a manuscript is, the less work an agent and an editor at a publishing house will have to do, which in turn will make the manuscript more attractive. Making an investment like this is a wonderful idea, if you can afford it. If not, try to go through the manuscript 2-3 times yourself. Walk away from it, and come back with a fresh set of eyes. If you have friends or family members who are willing to read through it and point out issues for free, then that is a great route to try as well. Make sure that you have at least read through the manuscript one full time after completing it. You want to always put your best foot forward, and you only have one shot to make a strong first impression with each agent.

No. You absolutely do not need an MFA in creative writing or a bachelor’s degree in english to become an author. Those who have been formally trained may have an advantage because they have intensely studied storytelling and have practiced writing at length, but it does not mean that you can’t be self-taught or have innate writing abilities. You will stand out to an agent if you consistently write blogs (especially if they have become popular because of the strength of the writing or subject matter), have won contests, have been published in newspapers or magazines, or just have an ability to write a beautifully-crafted story. At the end of the day, it always comes down to how strong the writing is. If you’re a first-time writer who happens to knock it out of the park on your first manuscript, then agents will be interested in you.

Yes! When we sign you, we are investing in you and your future, not just one of your manuscripts. We love helping writers build a career. When we sign an author, we want to know about all of their past projects and what future plans they have as a writer. We don’t want to just sell one book for you and move on. We want to be the only agent you’ll ever need over the span of a very long and successful writing career.

Yes! Many agents and editors attend conferences, whether to find talent, give speeches, or host workshops. Many writing conferences have pitch slams where you can sit across from an agent and/or editor and pitch your project in a one-on-one setting. It’s a great opportunity to practice your pitch, to become comfortable answering questions about yourself and your project, and to hopefully make a connection with an agent/editor who might want to represent you! Writing conferences are also a great way to network and build relationships and to learn more about the publishing industry as a whole.