What does a literary agent do?
Today’s agents serve as book editors, dealmakers and hand holders. It all depends on the book project but agents often help writers develop their original proposals and in some cases, they edit and help write the final proposal. When the proposal is complete the agent cherry picks editors and publishing houses that they think the project is appropriate for. Most agents have long-standing relationships with book editors and they’re well aware of their specific tastes. For example, an editor who works in the humor division of a publishing house probably wouldn’t be interested in War and Peace and visa versa. You’ve worked with a literary agent and now you’re a literary consultant. What are the differences between what those two professionals do? A literary agent does not charge a fee for reading an author’s work. Agents make their money once they’ve sold the project to a publishing house, usually 15 percent of all earnings. I would caution any writer to stay away from an agent who asks t
