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 
I have a film offer for “In Lincoln’s Shadow” but no agent. Also do you know the steps to take to advertise on Amazon?
Hi Rohn,
Congratulations on the film offer…tell me more. But, unfortunately, I don’t have information about advertising on Amazon.
If you want/need help with anything else, however, 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
OK, 6 weeks wait may be enough. If I re-query an agency, should I:
(A) first follow-up to the original agent? or
(B) mention that I got no reply from the original agent?
(C) If I’ve been explicitly rejected by the original agent, I would rather not mention that.
None of the above should be necessary, but I need a clear vision of my options.
I now suspect that agents affiliate (i.e., join agencies) to slow down the flood of query letters.
Hi Leonard,
(A) Not unless the agent/agency said that’s required.
(B) Not unless the agent/agency said that’s required.
(C) Understood/agreed.
🙂
– Mark
Mark Malatesta
https://markmalatesta.com
The Bestselling Author
https://thebestsellingauthor.com
Literary Agent Undercover
https://literary-agents.com
Hello Mark, In June 2020 we had an excellent chat concerning my fiction novel, “Erica’s Song.” It is too long to submit for a first novel. I have completed a new novel, “Francis,” which is 92,000 words, in an exotic setting, carefully researched. I need query help and perhaps other issues. What do you suggest?
Hi Stephen,
Wonderful message. Thank you, and that’s great. You said you might go with a different ms. That word count has a much better shot. I only do one introductory coaching call per author, but if you want to see if we might be a fit for my long-term coaching, maybe we’re a fit for that. If you want to explore that, just send me a private email with your query, synopsis, and first 50 pages for the new book. I need to see those things to help gauge what I think our chance might be getting a literary agent. Getting a literary agent is hard, period, as we talked about, so I want to let you know up front if I see something about what you send me that might make getting a literary agent for this book particularly difficult. That way you can factor that in as/if we’re exploring doing more together.
All my best,
– Mark
Mark Malatesta
https://markmalatesta.com
The Bestselling Author
https://thebestsellingauthor.com
Literary Agent Undercover
https://literary-agents.com
What do you think about generating an audience on Medium.com?
I am getting some good traction, hundreds of views per day, up from zero just a month ago.
What sorts of numbers would a book publishing deal require?
Hi Mullet,
The bigger your author profile or platform, the better, but the importance of that depends on the type of book you’re pitching.
Also, literary agents and publishers don’t like if more than 10-20% of a book has been published online.
See here, you’ll likely find this helpful: https://literary-agents.com/author-platform/.
You might find these things helpful also, if you haven’t seen or used them yet:
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