So you’ve finally written that book and now you’re considering getting an agent. Everyone tells you that it’s the best thing to do and you’ve noticed that many publishers won’t accept un-agented manuscripts. But what exactly does an agent do?

Agents get your manuscript read

As has been mentioned before, many publishers won’t accept a manuscript unless it’s submitted by an agent. This is especially true of the bigger publishing houses that regularly receive hundreds of manuscripts every week. Publishers trust that agents have read a manuscript before submitting it to them. Publishers and editors feel that this added perusal helps save them time and trouble. This in turn gives your work an extra boost of legitimacy. In other words, an agent helps you get your foot in the door.

Agents negotiate your rights

Once a publisher expresses an interest in publishing your manuscript, it’s up to your agent to negotiate the rights to your intellectual property. Most book publishers buy the right to publish your book as a hardcover and/or soft cover book in its country of origin. Your agent may then also negotiate what are known as subsidiary rights for you. Subsidiary rights are additional moneymaking opportunities for your manuscript. If your agent and the publisher agree that your book merits a bigger audience or broader distribution, or even depending on outside interests, the agent can negotiate foreign publication rights, foreign language rights, movie rights, audio-book rights…well, you get the idea.

Contracts

Speaking of rights, most writers are lousy lawyers and businesspersons – they loathe the business end of getting published, which includes reading and understanding contracts. An agent is an expert at this sort of thing and will use his or her expertise to negotiate the best possible contract for their client.

Industry Familiarity

Agents, editors, and publishers travel in pretty much the same circles and are interested in a lot of the same things, namely the publishing industry. A good agent keeps track of what’s going on in the industry, what’s hot and what’s not. They also keep up with the specific needs and wants of the various publishing companies and their editors. This means an agent will know where best to send your manuscript in order to maximize its chances of being published.

Summary

Your agent only gets paid when you get paid, so it stands to reason that an agent that is representing your interests is going to work hard to make sure you get as much as possible for your manuscript. This is also an enormous incentive for your agent to make sure your manuscript gets plenty of attention from the publisher’s marketing department, and that other important considerations involving your manuscript are not overlooked. Your agent will wind up being your literary advocate, and will work hard to help you reach your goal of being a published author.