Ask a literary agent your question about how to get a publishing agent here. You’ll also find answers to questions other authors have posted. This article is part of our free 15-Part Guide About How to Get a Book Agent. It was created by, and is curated by, a former literary agent who’s now helped hundreds of authors get book agents as an author coach and consultant. See successful authors at How I Got My Literary Agent.
ASK A Literary Agent – FAQ
This Ask a Literary Agent FAQ answers questions about: the definition and role of a book agent, who publishing agents are, when you should query literary agents, how much representation costs, the best way to find book agents looking for authors, submissions to literary agents, how to handle an offer for representation, what happens after you get a book agent, and more.
Author Representative definition and role
When you Should Get An Author Representative
How Much An Author Representative Costs
Finding An Author Representative
- How to find a literary agent?
- How to research book agents?
- Who are the best publishing agents?
- Who are the top 10 book agents?
- How to find publishing agents near me?
- Licensed book agents?
- Established publishing agents?
- New book agents?
- Publishing agents to avoid?
- Book agents seeking submissions?
- How to do a publishing agent search?
- Find a list of book agents?
- Publishing agent database?
- Book of literary agents?
- Where to meet publishing agents?
- Book agent events?
- How to Pitch a Literary Agent at a Conference?
Submitting To An Author Representative
- Literary agent submissions?
- How to contact a publishing agent?
- What to submit to a book agent?
- How to write a publishing agent query letter?
- How to write a synopsis for a book agent?
- How to write a publishing agent proposal?
- How to submit a book to a literary agent?
- How many publishing agents should you query?
- Best time to submit to book agents?
- How long to hear back from publishing agents?
- Book agent response time full manuscript?
- What happens when a publishing agent requests your full manuscript?
- Book agent not responding?
- How to follow up with a publishing agent?
- Book agent rejection letters?
- Revise and resubmit to a publishing agent?
Representation Offer From a Book Agent
- Getting an offer of representation from a literary agent?
- First meeting with a book agent?
- Questions a book agent will ask?
- Questions to ask a publishing agent?
- Multiple offers from publishing agents?
- Choosing a book agent?
- Literary agent contract?
- Standard book agent contract?
- Publishing agent contract terms?
- Book agent contract red flags?
- Publishing agent lawyer?
What Happens After You Get An Author Representative
Mark has helped hundreds of authors get offers from literary agents and/or traditional publishers. Writers of all Book Genres have used our Literary Agent Advice coaching/consulting to get Top Literary Agents at the Best Literary Agencies on our List of Book Agents.
Ask a Literary Agent
Due to time constraints, we can’t answer questions that have already been answered. Please make your question clear, and concise, since the submission form below is limited to 500 characters.
If you want to remain anonymous, type “Anonymous” in the name field. You’ll receive an email when a reply has been posted (usually within 48 hours). We look forward to helping you get a book agent.
MARK MALATESTA is a former literary agent turned author coach. Mark now helps authors of all genres (fiction, nonfiction, and children's books) get top literary agents, publishers, and book deals through his company 
Hello 🙂
My name’s Elijah. I have a number of children’s learning books / teacher aids. All I have at the moment are the finished pages, including front and back covers. They are not published yet. I have teacher’s aid books for ABC’s, 123’s, Prepositions of Place, and telling time. I also have a workbook for the ABC’s as well, with all the pages of the teacher aid book, plus added work pages for the kids to practice. I hope to make workbooks for the others as well, but it takes time and I want my efforts to actually produce an income for me to continue doing it.
What should I do to get a literary agent to start putting my children’s books out there?
I also have a Christian based book on The Golden Rule that is in progress (but put on pause), as well as some old fictional sci-fi/fantacy books that I self published years ago, but haven’t done much with them.
Thank you,
Elijah
Hi Elijah,
Nice to meet you, and I’m happy to help.
Here are my resources to help you get a literary agent:
How to Get a Literary Agent (NEW 15-Part Guide)
https://getaliteraryagent.com/how-to-get-a-literary-agent/
Literary Agent Database (Directory of Literary Agents)
https://getaliteraryagent.com/literary-agent-database/
Literary Agent Advice (1-on-1 Coaching/Consulting)
https://getaliteraryagent.com/literary-agent-advice/
If you want/need help with anything else, you can post here at https://getaliteraryagent.com/ask-a-literary-agent/.
I’ll do what I can to point you in the right direction.
All my best,
– Mark
Mark Malatesta
https://markmalatesta.com
The Bestselling Author
https://thebestsellingauthor.com
Literary Agent Undercover
https://literary-agents.com
Mark,
First, I would like to thank you for providing valuable resources on finding a literary agent. I’m a first-time author, trying to publish my debut novel. I have been scrolling through the Literary Agent Directory, trying to find the right agent. However, I would click on author “notes” and sometimes I would find my genre(s) listed, but when I enter their website and read all agents requests, it differs from the ones listed on “notes”. I just wanted to, respectfully, point that out to you. Any assistance on this matter, such as pointing me in the right direction where to find the right agent would be helpful. My main genre: Action/Adventure, with crime, thriller, and mystery sub-genres. Thank you, Mark. Best wishes.
Hi Anonymous,
Good question.
Please post three examples for me, and I’ll look into it for you.
When what you asked about happens, it usually means one of two things. Most commonly, the agent has listed, currently, or has listed somewhere, previously, an interest in the genre. We get our information from many sources, and agents don’t always list every genre they represent or are open to on their websites. Other times, the agent represented the genre at one point and then stopped, but hasn’t shared with us, or posted anywhere, something definitive about it.
You can post here at https://getaliteraryagent.com/ask-a-literary-agent/.
I’ll do what I can to point you in the right direction.
All my best,
– Mark
Mark Malatesta
https://markmalatesta.com
The Bestselling Author
https://thebestsellingauthor.com
Literary Agent Undercover
https://literary-agents.com
Hey Mark, I don’t know if you remember me or not but we spoke several years ago. 2015 or 16 I think. Do you have anything to do with screen adaptations? If not, could you recommend someone of your caliber and not one of the thousand or so BS ones on the web?
Hi Tim,
Good hearing from you, and I’m glad you asked.
As you know, there’s a lot of garbage out there, in that area.
Though I’m mostly on the book side of things, you might find the following helpful:
https://literary-agents.com/literary-agents-publishing-screenplay/
https://literary-agents.com/literary-agents-managers-cinematic-writing/
https://screencraft.org/
If you want/need help with anything else, you can post again here at https://getaliteraryagent.com/ask-a-literary-agent/.
I’ll do what I can to point you in the right direction.
Have a great rest of your week,
– Mark
Mark Malatesta
https://markmalatesta.com
The Bestselling Author
https://thebestsellingauthor.com
Literary Agent Undercover
https://literary-agents.com
There is a company called Query Tracker. I have been sending information to there list of agents,
Are they reliable?
Hi Howard,
As far as I know, absolutely. 🙂
If you want/need help with anything else, you can post here at https://getaliteraryagent.com/ask-a-literary-agent/.
I’ll do what I can to point you in the right direction.
All my best,
– Mark
Mark Malatesta
https://markmalatesta.com
The Bestselling Author
https://thebestsellingauthor.com
Literary Agent Undercover
https://literary-agents.com