Questions to ask an agent offering representation
It helps to bone up a bit on agents you’ve queried, in anticipation of an offer. Some information is available through agent guidebooks or on the Web.
If she hasn’t told you her fee up front, be sure to ask. Fifteen percent is standard, though some long-time clients are “grand-fathered” at a lower percentage. Fees for other services, such as sales of foreign rights, which may be contracted out to a subagent, can be 20% or more.
You may also ask whether she charges for office expenses, such as copying, postage, or telephone calls made on your behalf. (Such practice is common, though some agents simply absorb this expense.) The costs will probably be deducted, along with her fee, from your advance, but in the event no sale occurs, she may bill you for these expenses periodically, usually with a specified maximum.
Does the agent offer a written contract, or does she prefer to do business via the “handshake” method? My agent provides a two-page, plain-English agency agreement stating the terms of the relationship?¬¢‚Äö?ᬮ‚Äö?Ñ??primarily that she has exclusive right to represent my written works?¬¢‚Äö?ᬮ‚Äö?Ñ??and her fee, and the method by which either party may terminate the relationship. Many people will advice you to have a lawyer review a contract before signing, but unless it’s significantly cumbersome or steeped in legalese, that usually isn’t necessary. Do ask the agent to explain anything you don’t understand before you sign.
As for the vaunted “handshake” method of sealing a partnership, I can only speak from my own experience. The first agent I met, very early in the process of marketing Lucy Hatch, expressed interest in seeing it, and I eagerly sent him a synopsis and the first 50 pages. He phoned me a couple of weeks later to praise the writing but to express several significant reservations about representing the book. After a friendly conversation explaining these in detail, he signed off by saying he hoped he wouldn’t regret passing up the opportunity to take on the book and wishing me luck in finding a home for it. You’ve probably already guessed the punch line: Ten months later, when word of my book’s sale appeared in Publishers Weekly, I received a letter from him expressing “surprise” and “disappointment” that I had sought representation elsewhere, and that he’d believed that, given his response to my “fine writing” (which he must have misremembered, or perhaps didn’t count on my remembering so vividly), he thought we had the “equivalent of a handshake” for him to represent me. Needless to say, having some sort of written agreement serves as protection for both writer and agent, and I recommend it highly.
You may also wish to ask:
- how many and which clients the agent represents (though don’t expect her to provide you with contact info, especially before you’ve signed);
- what titles she’s recently sold;
- what professional organizations she is affiliated with (such as the Association for Author Representatives, which requires that its members adhere to a code of ethical standards);
- whether she expects to represent you personally or your book will be assigned to an associate;
- what plans she has for selling your book, including the type of publishers she intends to approach;
- whether she will offer suggestions for improving your manuscript prior to putting it on the market;
- how available she will be for providing feedback and answering questions.
For a comprehensive list of questions to ask a prospective agent and the Association for Author Representatives Canon of Ethics, see the AAR’s website at www.aar-online.org.