Literary Agent

An agent collects 15% of what the author earns.

DO NOT PAY UP FRONT.

A lot of small presses will accept unagented work, which then goes into what is known as the 'slushpile', and maybe it'll even get read. But if you have dreams of, say, Random House, you need an agent.

I'm sure about 200 AWers are typing the same thing right now.

Writers should never pay agents up front. Never, never, never.

Agents get paid a percentage of whatever the writer makes after the writer's work (novel, book, film rights, whatever) gets sold.

Money flows to the writer. Not from the writer to the agent.

Any agent who wants a chunk of change from a writer is a scam artist.

Did I miss anything?

And - an agent has to want to represent you - you can't just get one because you want one. You have to query them just the same as you would a publishing house. There's a LOT of competition for agents. Puma

Virector said:

Sorry... is it expensive to get a literary agent? Do you have to pay an agent a fortune to represent you? Is it absolutely absurd and unheard of to get your book published witout involving a literary agent? I'm sorry I don't know very much. I'm hanging around AW to learn. Thank you.

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You can theoretically get published without an agent. But it would be more work than most people are willing to invest. When dealing with agents, should you be lucky enough to get one to want to represent you, remember's Snark's Maxim: "money flows from the agent to the writer, not the other way around."

mikeland said:

Did I miss anything?

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A good agent is worth having.