Out of country agents

DeannaR said:

In researching agents I have found a couple UK agents that sound like a possible fit. Being in Canada I sub to Canada and the US, but is it acceptable to sub to the UK as well? I want to get some opinions so I don't waste anyone's time thanks.

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No reason why not IF your manuscript is suitable for the UK market

I am curious as to how that would work. What if you sub to a U.S. agent or publisher and they like your manuscript. Would you require a green card or some kind of visa to get paid by a U.S. based company if they decide to publish it or does that not matter of you stay in your own country? I also where would you pay your income taxes? Would a publisher be more likely to reject manuscripts from foreign authors just to avoid the hassle of visas and fees that might come with having to pay across the border?

There are international tax agreements. Some countries require simply filling out forms, some require you to notarize the forms, others require you to get an international tax number. But you only pay taxes in your home country. This is another reason why agents are the best. They know all this stuff and talk you through all this stuff .

As to the question at hand: get whichever agent would best represent your work in the best market for your book. Remember too that while Canada and the States are closer by proximity than the UK, there's really no difference between subbing to agents in those countries - they are still separate countries from Canada and each one will claim Canadian publishing rights likely (when I was agented in the UK and sold to the UK the publisher wanted Canadian rights, and then when I was agented in the States and sold in the States the publisher wanted Canadian rights. Either one, they tend to get Canadian rights, though sometimes your agent will hold those back and sell them separately. Usually though, we're part of the deal ).

The U.S. is the biggest market, so most writers from Canada or the US would be better off with an American agent. You want your agent to be able to offer world English rights to an American publisher, if that's advantageous for you; if it's not, the agent will reserve non-American English rights and try to place them separately in England. Most American agents have British sub-agents.

Vice versa is true too--British agents use American sub-agents when needed. But a sale in the US means more to British publisher than a sale in Britain does to American.

Megann said:

I am curious as to how that would work. What if you sub to a U.S. agent or publisher and they like your manuscript. Would you require a green card or some kind of visa to get paid by a U.S. based company if they decide to publish it or does that not matter of you stay in your own country? I also where would you pay your income taxes? Would a publisher be more likely to reject manuscripts from foreign authors just to avoid the hassle of visas and fees that might come with having to pay across the border?

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You only need visas and green cards if you're physically working in another country.