February 1, 2004

Quite a few upcoming American writers tout pieces of their writings by way of their imagination, wit, economy and style. What materials they have produced is projected as being as fine and impressive as what the authors of renown, such as J.K. Rowling, Ernest Hemingway or Stephen King, have written. Yet they remain unpublished. This sounds strange, especially in America, which has the reputation of being the land of opportunities!

The fact is that no editor welcomes unsolicited manuscripts at all. Jaded publishers hardly lean forward to look at the manuscripts of new authors. What does it mean? It means merely to be a writer is no longer enough. Writing is solitary work. Publishing is corporate. Authors need to be doing more, should they want to be published.

Unless writers are able to persuade someone to publish their manuscripts, what they write will remain unknown and unread. The first step therefore that a writer should take, after having completed his manuscript, is to find somebody, who can help him publish his work. It’s here that a literary agent has a role to play.

The term literary agent might sound bizarre to Pakistani writers and publishers. It is pretty much in vogue in the West. Literary agents have deep roots in the American publishing culture. They have their own organization — the Association of Authors’ Representatives (AAR) — strong and well established. It was founded in 1991.

AAR came into being through the merger of the Society of Authors’ Representatives (founded 1928) and the Independent Literary Agents Association (founded 1977). It serves to keep agents abreast of conditions in publishing, theatre, motion pictures and television industries; to foster cooperation among literary organizations, and to assist agents in representing their clients’ (authors’) interest.

Readers might be curious to know what a literary agent does for the writer. A literary agent serves as the authors’ representative or advocate in the ever-increasing confused and competitive publishing world of America. The person is often an expert in book marketing.

The agent has a definite track record of commercial book sales, which is normally made known to the writer right at the first contact. Approximately ten sales within the last eighteen months are what the AAR requires its new members to have as their qualifying record.

The literary agent possesses contacts and inside knowledge that a writer, being the outsider, is less likely to have. The agent has most current knowledge of the needs and tastes of editors. As an expert, the literary agent can sell your crafted words even to crestfallen publishers.

A literary agent, provided of repute, does as much work as is essential to get the writers published and sell their books — and that’s all for a 15 per cent commission just on the sale. This kind of agent happens to be so talented and knowledgeable that he/she evaluates your manuscript in a professional manner. The person identifies strengths and weaknesses of the text and advises the client on how to improve the manuscript for its potential marketability.

The agent negotiates and advances publishing contracts to the writer’s advantage. The person deals with only those publishers, who pay the author. He bills the client — the writer — only after a sale is made. The reputable literary agent, who lets expenses accrue and then recovers them from the income of the writer, is reimbursed provided the agent succeeds on behalf of the latter.

It is evident that the agent plays a pivotal role in getting the writer published and the sale of his book. P.T. Barnum aptly defines a literary agent’s role in the publishing world as being that of seeing “what is all around you just waiting to be seen”.

Additionally, literary agents serve as the bridge between authors and publishers. As representatives of the author, the literary agents make the job of editors easier. Editors prefer to work with literary agents they know well, either personally or by the reputation of the incumbents. An agent, whose name the editor does not recognize, is of little value to the writer.

Literary agents are also a sort of screening service for editors. They want to work with literary agents, who are dependable. Editors require literary agents to work on behalf of the authors and provide them with such writers, whose works fit into their publishing plans. They may like works, which they can publish with pride and passion. To survive, nonetheless, they must publish titles that sell.

When, therefore, a new writer steps into the publishing world, holding a manuscript to publish, a diverse array of agents welcome him/her besides those of repute — amateur, dishonest, incompetent, and marginal. The reason is that no standards for competence and licensing requirements have been formulated.

One, who lacks the qualities required of his ilk, belongs to what we’d call the ‘other folk’. That folk is likely to have scores of writers on his register with a biannual contract. They allow their clients to see them just twice a year. Such agents take in their clients — the writers — by manoeuvring of various strategies.

They charge a handling fee on contract signing, which is often $250 or more. They name it circulation, preparation, processing, and submission fee that, in essence, are just the same. Besides, such agents charge a manuscript reading fee, calling it the evaluation fee. AAR considers it as the abuse of privileges and forbids its members from charging the review or evaluation fee.

Under these circumstances, the basic and important question for writers, especially for novices, is how to get a good literary agent. Plenty of inprint and online guides to literary agents are available in the market. For instance, listed below are some recently published guides:

1) Guide to Literary Agents, edited by Donya Dickerson,

2) Writer’s Guide to Book Editors, Publishers, and Literary Agents, edited by Jeff Herman,

3) A Guide to Other Non-North American Market, edited by Jeff Herman, and

4) Literary Market Placee, a directory of the publishing industry. Online guides to literary agents include Directory of Literary Agents — http://www.literaryagents.com/., Literary Agents on the Web — http://www.mailer. fsu.edu/ the WritersNet — http://www.writers.net/. etc.

A writer might want to refer to one or some of these sources. These guides may offer a great variety of facts for authors to be able to make a choice. They will include lists of literary agents they recommend as well as those they don’t. Nevertheless, none of them would indicate for sure how reliable a particular literary agent is. The writer might want to select one agent listed as “recommended”. Still the writer will be at risk insofar as the recommendation lacks guarantee.

I believe writers will be best served should they choose to approach straightaway the Association of Authors’ Representatives rather than consult the inprint and online sources mentioned above. At the same time, chances are AAR might also have black sheep.

AAR however strives for insuring that members abide by its code of practice (Do’s and Don’ts). There is evidences that AAR has taken disciplinary action against members, who violated its code of ethics. The author is surely safer if he decides to refer to AAR before looking up other sources.

Writers, based in the United States, can contact AAR either way — going to its website http://www.aar-online.org/. or write to P.O. Box 237201, Ansonia Sta., New York, NY 10023, coupled with a $7 cheque or money order, a SASE (self addressed stamped envelope) with 99 cents postage stamps on a #10 envelope.

Foreign writers, if they wish to write, should check the proper postage with their national postal services. AAR will mail a duly annotated list of members to help the writer choose one reliable agent.

Readers might find it of interest to know that literary agents appear to have come into vogue in Europe too. They are available in Britain. However, they never were as popular and organized as they are in America. In his book An Authors’ Guide to Literary Agents (Hale), Michael Legat writes, “Literary agents are now an accepted and respected part of the literary scene.”

Britain now has professional organizations for agents called the Association of Authors’ Agents (AAA). Its web page includes a list of member literary agents and its code of ethics as well.

One such organization exists in New Zealand called the New Zealand Association of Literary Agents. It’s a trade group, which maintains professional standards and represents the interest of members. The Association offers identical services as do the AAR and AAA in the United States and the UK.

Readers may now have an idea at least of what the literary agents or authors’ representatives are about, what writers need to learn before getting an agent, and where to glean such information from. There is still a lot more that you need to learn in advance to be able to choose a literary agent. Should you know how to surf the Internet, you will find several online services, which offer an ocean of warnings to writers.

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