ARTICLE: Inside Look at Literary Agents

An interesting look at the career of an agent. There is good stuff in here for writer's, too, an inside look at the job.

Kathy

www.workingworld.com

Literary Agent

An Author’s Representative

by Ron Reis

Having had 13 literary agents reject her manuscript, first-time novelist Lalita Tademy began to despair.

“I was passionate about mapping my genealogy back five generations to a Creole slave woman,” the Sun Microsystems Vice President tells me. “I needed a literary agent who shared my passion and enthusiasm, and could resonate with the work on a commercial, as well as a personal, level.”

Then, with agent number 14, Jillian W. Manus, of the Manus & Associates Literary Agency, in Palo Alto, California, Lalita rejoiced. Poring over the 700-page tome on a Memorial Day week-end, Jillian, a savvy, well-connected industry veteran, phoned a nail-biting Lalita to announce: “I love it, I want it, let’s meet and talk.”

The rest, as they say, is history. Already being hailed as the “woman’s Roots for the new millennium,” the now 480-page novel, tentatively titled Emily’s Place, is due out by Warner Books in the Spring of 2001.

A TV movie is being discussed, Oprah’s producer loves it, and the work will be translated into French and Italian. Best of all, indicating not only a belief in its literary merit, but commercial possibilities, Warner Books has come through with a substantial offer.

Thanks to Jillian’s business acumen, ability to work closely with the author, and extensive pre-presentation editing, the publisher paid a cool half-million dollar advance for the property.

DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH

Literary agents, those interested in nonfiction and fiction book manuscripts, are also known as “author’s representatives,” an apt description. An author, or author wannabe, hires an agent to represent his or her interests to the publishing industry.

According to Lori Perkins, founding partner in Perkins, Rubie & Associates, a New York literary agency, and author of The Insider’s Guide to Finding and Keeping an Agent, these representatives: know which editor to send a writer’s work to; help a writer choose the right publisher/editor; negotiate the terms of a contract; represent foreign and subsidiary rights to a book; make sure the publisher keeps the writer informed as to the book’s progress before and after publication; prepare a next project for submission and negotiate terms; keep on top of financial and legal matters related to a book after publication; and, give the writer career guidance, for both the long and short term.

Whether one works for a literary agency or for himself or herself, being an agent, in today’s publishing environment (mergers, acquisitions, layoffs, super stores and super authors), is grueling. This is especially so when many writers think their agent is, as Lori facetiously puts it, “Their editor, business manager, lawyer, publicist, banker, therapist, groupie, mother, new best friend, and fairy godmother.”

As we shall see shortly, some agents do indeed take on such roles. But that is after they have a client, which doesn’t happen until the agent, or her readers and assistants, cull through piles of query letters, proposals, and manuscripts to find that “diamond in the rough.”

“I am looking at query letters a foot high,” says Julie Castiglia, of the Julie Castiglia Literary Agency, in Del Mar, California. “I see synopses and chapter outlines twice that high in addition to a shelf of requested manuscripts. If an agent is well known, she’s inundated. Yet, I’m always afraid if I don’t go through it all, I’ll miss that jewel waiting to be discovered.” And for all their work, acting for the most part as filters for publishers, what are agents compensated? I wondered.

“Not a penny,” says Julie, “until we sell something. Then it’s usually 15 percent.”

WORDS FOR SALE

With ten-plus years in book publishing in New York and Beverly Hills, from assistant editor to editor-in-chief, Jane Jordan Browne was ready to strike out on her own, work for herself. But what to do? “I didn’t particularly like agents,” she tells me. “So when a friend asked me to sell her book, I was reluctant to take on that role. But that’s how I got started, with a typewriter on my dining room table, looking to sell one book.

“I thought it would be a piece of cake,” the owner of Multimedia Product Development, Inc., in Chicago, continues. “As an editor I had been the one buying books; now I had to sell them. It took 10 months into my little business to make my first sale. I was getting a dose of what I’d been handing out—rejection. I had to have my first success before I could be seen as someone with something to sell.”

Linda Allen, of Linda Allen Literary Agency, in San Francisco, is unlike most agents, in that she doesn’t come from publishing. “I learned my apprenticeship probably without realizing it,” she says. “I was married to a writer for 15 years, so I knew the publishing world vicariously. Having met my husband’s editors, I took the plunge and went into the business. I’ve never looked back.”

SEEING THE OPTOMETRIST

While many seasoned literary agents were editors, having acted in that capacity for New York houses, today the route in can be more direct. One often begins as a reader working for an agent. Jill Maverick, of Manus & Associates, exemplifies the trend.

“I started here as an unpaid intern, or reader,” the exuberant, articulate Princeton University graduate tells me. “But in making the transition to an assistant, I learned to read less. Readers can get hung up on the story, the characters, the voice. The trick is to know when to stop, to realize the manuscript is not quite there.”

Now that Jill has became a full-fledged agent, she’s working a typical literary agent day. “In the office I do 50 to 60 hours a week,” she explains. “At home I add another two to three. And on vacation, I lug manuscripts along. I make frequent trips to the optometrist to update my prescription.”

Still, Jill isn’t complaining. “In the end, I get paid for reading fabulous books before they come out. I have a hand in getting them to the public.”

GOOD TO GO

Though being from publishing is not required for agent success—it helps. “If you’re serious about this,” Betsy Amster, of Betsy Amster Literary Enterprises, in Los Angeles, cautions, “you might want to move to New York, at least for awhile. I’m not saying every agent on the West Coast comes from New York, but they do have something in their background that lends itself to this field: writing, editing, etc. And there is just so much more of it back east.”

Yet, today’s technology being what it is, you won’t have to settle permanently in New York to do your job. “It’s useful for an agent to come to New York two or three times a year,” advises Ruth Cavin, Senior Editor/ Associate Publisher at Thomas Dunne Books, an imprint of St. Martin’s Press. “You will want to meet people face-to-face, if you don’t do so at conferences. However, I have dealt with agents in other cities that I didn’t meet for several years after starting work with them. The same is true with authors.”

“It comes down to the writing you represent, the authors,” says Linda. It doesn’t matter where you live. One editor told me she sees her agents in Los Angeles more than the ones across town in Manhattan.”

Jill, perhaps, says it best: “Agents in New York spend all their time on the phone anyway so what does it matter where you live. You need a phone, fax, e-mail, and a UPS man to deliver manuscripts. You’re then good to go.”

Indeed, literary agents, it seems, can work anywhere. The bottom line is the author. Even though publishing houses are concentrated in the Big Apple, authors are everywhere.

Like a spouse All the agents, assistants, and even interns in Jillian’s Palo Alto office are women. “It’s not that I don’t like men, she says, “I love them. It is just that 82 percent of all book purchasers are women. And from an agenting viewpoint, I think women tend to be a bit more nurturing, more the psychologist. In publishing today, an agent is more than a salesperson.”

I ask her to elaborate.

“Agents aren’t just part of the sales process, they are in charge of the process,” Jillian explains. “Publishers are essentially printing houses. All other responsibilities, including editing, positioning, marketing, and, yes, hand holding, are up to the literary agent. I, and others here, edit everything going out the door, from rewriting to actually writing proposals.

“When I sell a book, it’s not just to the editor,” she continues. “It is to the publisher’s marketing team. In the old days the process was editorially driven. Not any more. Now it’s marketing, the publicity teams, and the sales force making the decisions.”

And then there’s that all important agent/author relationship. “An agent is like a spouse, almost,” says Lisa Huang Fleischman, author of Dream of the Walled City, published by Pocket Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. “You can spend years with an agent; he or she has to be someone you like.”

Unfortunately, some agent/author marriages end in divorce, however. “I made an author a million dollars and he up and left me,” says Julie. “His editor got laid off, became an agent, and took the author with him.”

PASSION ALL AROUND

So, what makes a good literary agent in the ever changing publishing world, I wondered? “A critical eye and excellent literary instincts” says Lisa. “An agent should be picky, too, not just take on anything.”

Lalita agrees, and adds: “The agent has to have a realistic assessment of what will sell, be savvy and believable, and in the end have some style, be a genuine, high-energy person who is passionate about your work.”

“Two things are critical,” says Julie. “First, you must have the talent to find good material, something that is marketable. And second, you need the right personality. That means being on top of things. You’re sending out all this stuff, following up, collecting money, checking contracts, it’s pretty hands-on.”

Although the hours are long and the remuneration, though good at times, can be a while in coming, most literary agents can’t imagine doing anything else.

“I love good literature,” Julie confesses. “That’s why I am in this business. The biggest high is when I read an unsolicited manuscript and it’s absolutely wonderful. Good writing, you know it is still out there.”

“They are flocking to us in droves, those wanting a career as a literary agent,” says Jillian, at the conclusion of our interview. “We had 53 interns last year, alone. Publishing, it’s still a wonderful place to be, surrounded by all that literature.”

WHAT WILL I EARN?

It is difficult to say, since agents work strictly on commission, 10 to 20 percent. Mega-buck signings result in kilo-buck incomes. But then a $20,000 advance only yields two to three thousand dollars. Few authors command million-dollar advances.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT

The Association of Author’s Representatives, Inc. Ten Astor Place Third Floor New York, NY 10003 (212) 252-3695

WHAT TO READ

Lori Perkins, The Insider’s Guide to Finding and Keeping an Agent Writer’s Digest Books.

Ron Reis, Chair, Technology Department, Los Angeles Valley College, in Van Nuys, California, may be reached by telephone at 818/947-2582 or e-mailed at Ronelect@aol.com.