How should agent charge the client?

I am wondering whether literary agents charge clients for operating fees. For example, for handling the book the publishers, should they charge 500~1000 dollars for that? Or should they never charge anything beyond the sales of the books. Basically please tell me what agents should charge in a deal. Thanks.

TrishD said:

A literary agent is kind of like a real estate agent. You real estate agent doesn't get paid until the house is sold. And, similarly, a literary agent doesn't get paid until she sells the book--and then the typical rate is 15%.

If an agent wanted me to pay anything up front, I'd look for another agent.

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Is there anything like a partial charge of operation fees? 20% before published, 80% post-publishing.
I have seen that somewhere on the listings and wondering whether there is a reason for that.

victoriastrauss said:

Any sort of upfront fee or retainer or operation fee or materials fee or whatever you want to call it is a red flag. Reputable agents don't charge them.

- Victoria

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Thank you for clarifying it so clearly in detail, Victoria.

I am also wondering, there is another agent case where he buys the author's copyright for 20% before the work is done and pays the rest after the work is published. Afterward, he owns the sole publishing rights of the work and the author would earn no royalties whatsoever. Is this just a different practice or definitely not legitimate?

victoriastrauss said:

20% of what?

Agents don't buy copyrights. Publishers sometimes do, but agents don't, and what you're describing, if it involves someone who calls himself a literary agent, is definitely not legit.

I'd love to know who the agent is. PM me if you don't want to say publicly, or contact me at Writer Beware: [email protected]. (For why I'm interested, click the Writer Beware link below my signature).

- Victoria

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Hi Victoria, um, I don't know who the Agent is and you really don't have to worry about it because she's actually some agent in China doing technical book sales. It will not hurt anyone in America.

The agency business in China is like dark waters that so many seemingly illegit practices are common and nobody seems to care as long as some's making a profit. The line between Publisher and Agency isn't clearly drawn and, some agencies may even sale the work before publishers do to make a profit.

I was just using that example to see whether such practice is legit in America. And apparently the rules are more strictly enforced here.

Also, I am wondering how publishers would handle the work from Agent. For example, say the publisher likes the work and would like to further the negotiation, what are the possible choices that the publisher would make? e.g Purchase the copyright?

popmuze said:

Returning to the other issue of what expenses agents typically charge you for: I have found lately my agent asking me to send in three or four copies of my novel, so they can be sent around to publishers. Three or four copies, at 400 pages each, is around $100 where I live. Previously, other agents I've had never asked for this and presumably made the copies on their own xerox machines. When I asked, said agent said it was agency policy.
Luckily, these days most editors seem to accept email copies. But is this practice becoming the norm--or have I just snagged an agent at a cheap agency.

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I think in agency agreement, it would be helpful to have the statement "any payment above certain amount of money requires written permission from the author" The agencies shouldn't just charge you a hundred dollars without your approval. You should be able to have the right to tell them what budget they get to operate. If not 100% necessary, there is no need to use print submissions. Some publishers only need to take a look at a portion of your work, they won't really review the entirety of your work anyway. And if they are really interested, they will request for printed copies.

popmuze said:

In this case they didn't charge me. They just asked me to make them copies, which I of course would have to pay for.

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Then you can probably negotiate with them to see if there are chances to ask them to do only email submissions. All of the publishers I contacted accept email samples.