Before submitting a manuscript

An agent’s work begins with scouting for writing talent! This includes reading unsolicited submissions and creative writing anthologies, attending writers’ festivals and events by organisations which support emerging writers, and referrals from editors and colleagues. Sometimes, we proactively approach authors whose writing we admire, after discovering their journalism, or their website, or a self-published book, or even their social media.

We talk with the author about what they are looking for from an agent and what their hopes are for their writing career over the long-term. And we give the author a sense of our own preferred ways of working and what they can expect from a partnership. If we’re the right fit for each other, we clearly lay out our terms for working together in an agency agreement letter, which both the author and agent sign.

The next step is editorial work, in which the author and agent will work together to get the manuscript is the best possible shape before submitting to publishers. This usually has two stages. First, structural (or developmental) edits, which looks at the manuscript as a whole and how well its parts fit together and serve the central narrative. For a novel, questions of plot, pacing, perspective, characterisation and themes will be considered here. The agent’s knowledge of the publishing landscape and what editors are currently looking for can feed into these conversations.

Next comes a line (or language) edit, which looks at the way language is used to communicate the story at the level of the sentence. The word choice, tone, clarity and sharpness of the writing will all be discussed during the line edit.

A novel nearly always needs to be fully-written before being submitted to publishers (this is especially for debut authors). But non-fiction books can often be sent to publishers as a proposal, which includes an overview, a detailed chapter plan, and a writing sample of around 10,000 words.

Finding a publishing deal

From the first time an agent reads a manuscript, they will start to think about which editors and imprints would be a great fit for the book, and they’ll begin to pitch it to editors in meetings. Our goal is to get editors excited to read it! At the time of submission, agents will send out the manuscript over email, together with a submission letter. This letter will succinctly describe the book, tell the editor which rights are available, and a little about the author. The letter will also suggest a few comparison titles (or ‘comps’) – these are published titles by other authors which the book might fairly be compared with, to help give the editor a sense of where the book would fit within the publishing marketplace.

When an editor makes an offer for a book, an agent will inform all the other editors who have it, and this is often the point when an agent will set a deadline for receiving offers. If a number of editors make offers, the agent (after speaking to the author) could choose to hold an auction. An auction isn’t an in-person event, but instead takes place over email and phone calls. The agent decides the number of auction rounds, and in each one the publisher must at least match the highest offer made during the previous round, or drop out. The agent’s goal is to encourage the publishers to offer a higher advance each time. The agent also seeks to get publishers to offer for the same package of rights. When selling a book to a UK publisher, an agent will typically try to sell the rights to publish the book in English in the UK and Commonwealth countries. But larger rights packages are also possible, including ‘World English’ (the right to publish in English throughout the world), and simply ‘World’, (the right to publish in all languages throughout the World).

The last auction round is called ‘best and final’, in which publishers are asked to provide their very best terms, including in their royalty rates – the percentage an author receives on each sale of a book. The agent also asks publishers to provide information on how they will market and publicise the book on publication, and for any commitments the publisher can make for this. If possible, the agent will arrange in-person meetings between the author and the publishing teams, to receive more information and give the author a sense of the team they could be working with on their book.

At the end of an auction, the agent presents the publishers’ best and final offers to their author and the author makes their choice. The agent will offer clear advice, but ultimately it is always the author’s choice to make. They do not have to accept the offer from the publisher that offered the highest advance, and can consider a wide range of factors – for e.g. the publisher’s editorial vision for the book, their sense of the editor’s enthusiasm for it, the plans for marketing and publicity, etc.

After an offer is accepted

When the author makes their choice, the agent accepts a publisher’s offer on the author’s behalf. It is accepted ‘subject to contract’, which means the author can later withdraw if mutual agreement isn’t reached on all the aspects of a publishing contract. The agent will have asked the publisher to provide their major terms when making their offer, but there can still be finer points to agree at contract drafting stage – a publishing agreement typically has more than twenty sections. The goal of the publishing agreement is to lay out both parties’ rights and responsibilities and provide clarity on what to expect throughout the publishing process.

While the contract is being finalised, the editor will start to draw up their editorial notes, and send these to the author. The agent will ensure the author feels comfortable and confident about the editorial work requested.

Months before publication day, the agent will ask the publisher for their detailed plans for marketing and publishing the book, and schedule meetings between the author and the publisher. As well as the editor, we will seek contributions from other members of the publishing team, including the marketing manager and publicity manager, and perhaps sales managers as well. Opportunities for bookshop events, writers’ festivals, digital marketing and promotions, traditional media coverage, social media and more will all be discussed. The list of people (for e.g. authors, reviewers, influencers) who will receive a proof of the book ahead of publication will be agreed upon.

One especially exciting discussion is over the cover design! Usually, the publisher will present a number of designs to the author for their feedback and input, although the final decision is typically the publishers. If the publisher holds audio rights, the choice of narrator will be discussed too, and the author could have the opportunity to listen to audio samples by different narrators.

After publication

Shortly before publication, the agent will ask the publisher to confirm the number of orders received for the book from major book retailers. The agent will ask for further sales updates in the weeks following publication, and discuss marketing and publicity activities in the context of the plans. At the end of each six-month royalty period, the agent will ensure the publisher provides a detailed royalty statement, giving the figures for unit sales and income for each edition of the book. If money is due to the author, the agency will collect this on behalf of the publisher and promptly pay this onward to the author.

And then it’s…on to the next book!