In my last blog post, we looked at some of the advantages of having an agent for your book. This time, we will consider the disadvantages of having a literary agent. Of course, you do not have to have an agent at all, and you may well decide that these disadvantages outweigh the advantages given in the last post. However, you will be missing out on some key benefits by not having an agent, so do consider all your options carefully.
If you do choose not to have an agent, you will have to pitch your book to publishers yourself, but you obviously won’t need to pitch it to agents! There are now plenty of publishers that are open to submissions directly from authors, so it is not necessarily essential to have an agent, but not all publishers will be open to this. You may have to limit yourself to independent publishers.
Agents Charge Commission
One disadvantage of having an agent is that they will take their commission from your royalties. Most agents will charge around 15% of your earnings, which can take quite a lot out of your payments from a publisher. Authors generally only receive around 10% of the total sales as royalties and you will also have to pay any advance payment you received back to the publisher out of this before you even start to get anything!
Also, remember that the agent’s commission will apply to any royalties made from your book. For example, if it is made into a film or graphic novel, the agent will still get some of your earnings. You may well decide that this is worth the price, as having an agent gives you a better chance of getting these earnings in the first place.
A Lot of Agents are Actually Scammers
However, thinking about the cost of an agent leads to another problem – finding a trustworthy agent. Sadly, there are a lot of scammers who will pretend to be an agent, charge you a fee for reading your manuscript and submitting it to publishers, then disappear with the money. As said above, agents usually work for commission, so you should be wary of anyone who tries to charge you a fee upfront.
There are a number of societies and lists that agents can join, so find the relevant one from your country and contact agents on their books. It’s not completely reliable, but it should be better than trying to find one at random.
Your Book Might Still Not Be Published
Another disadvantage of an agent is that you still have the risk that you will not be published. You certainly have an advantage in the submissions process over other authors without agents, but this does not guarantee that you will be successful. It may well be that your book doesn’t get accepted by any publishers regardless.
This is one of the reasons why it is so important to question any upfront fees an agent charges you. After all, if they work on commission and don’t succeed in pitching your book to publishers, they don’t get paid! If they charge you upfront, it might suggest that they will not be trying their hardest (or at all) to get you published.
Using an Agent Can Take Longer
A further disadvantage of using an agent is that you will likely end up spending even longer stuck in the submissions process. While you may well get accepted by a publisher more quickly if you are using an agent, you will have extra time added to the submissions process by finding an agent in the first place. You will need to apply to these in a similar way to how you would apply to publishers before you find one that agrees to take your manuscript on.
It’s only once you have found an agent that they can pitch your book to publishers, which can also take a while, even though agents can pitch to multiple publishers at the same time. You may well find that having an agent actually lengthens the overall process for you. How much this concerns you will depend on what your aims are for the book.
If you would like to get it published as soon as possible, you might want to try a few publishers first; on the other hand, if you are not worried about the timescale, you might decide the advantages of having an agent outweigh the waiting times. Nevertheless, you will need to consider how likely you are to get published without having an agent. If it is not likely, it may be worth waiting a little longer to have an agent on your side.
An Agent Might Not Be Necessary in Your Genre
Finally, consider whether an agent is the right choice for your genre. For example, if you write in a fairly niche area, bear in mind that it will be a lot harder to find an agent to take you on, as they will be a lot more limited in opportunities to get your manuscript accepted.
In addition, if your book is non-fiction, it may actually be just as easy to pitch it directly to publishers, rather than trying to find an agent. In this case, having an agent is of little advantage to you. You may struggle to find an agent for this type of manuscript anyway unless it has strong commercial potential.
Wrapping Up
I hope that you have enjoyed this post about the downsides of having an agent. Next time, we will be looking at whether or not you should have your own ISBNs as a self-publishing author. Thank you for reading and good luck with your manuscript!
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