8 Myths about Literary Agents
Myth #1: Literary agents spend all day reading.
The truth: Literary agents spend the majority of a work day doing any number of things other than reading. In fact, most of our reading happens on evenings and weekends—even work-related reading like manuscript requests or client projects. Being an agent comes with unwavering guilt about being behind on requested material and neglecting our personal to-be-read piles. (Sometimes we wish we could spend all day reading.)
Myth #2: Literary agents only take on new clients with previous publishing experience.
The truth: Many agents want to work with debut writers and illustrators and help them establish a career in publishing. Literary agents sign on clients with a focus on their future work—having had a book published in the past often has nothing to do with this.
Myth #3: A literary agent replaces early readers, critique partners, and the need to edit your work.
The truth: Literary agents still expect to read polished projects from their clients. Learn to self-edit your work and continue collaborating with beta readers and critique partners. Those relationships are valuable to your writing career at any stage of your career.
Myth #4: You need a literary agent based where you live.
The truth: Many literary agents represent clients outside of their own cities or countries. For example, I’m based in Canada but the majority of my clients live in the United States. What is important is that your literary agent sells books in the market you want to see your work available in.
Myth #5: No response from a literary agent means they don’t want to represent your book.
The truth: There are many reasons why you may not have heard back yet. Having an arbitrary deadline in your mind isn’t helpful. Sometimes emails get lost. Sometimes agents take months to read requested manuscripts. Check the agent’s or agency’s submission guidelines to get an idea of how long it might take for you to receive a response. If that deadline passes, don’t hesitate to send an email asking for an update. (Note: there are agencies and agents that don’t respond to submissions unless they’re interested in seeing more, but this information should be clearly listed in their submission guidelines.)
Myth #6: Literary agents don’t read their own query letters.
The truth: If a literary agent is open to submissions, they’re definitely reading query letters. Even if an intern or an assistant helps to sort through the inbox, a literary agent won’t ignore the pitches completely. No one knows our tastes better than ourselves.
Myth #7: Literary agents talk badly about your book with other literary agents.
The truth: Literary agents respect the time, effort, and vulnerability required of writers to send out query letters and share their work. When literary agents discuss issues with one another, it’s usually safety reasons (some problematic emails are legitimately scary and concerning). Or a literary agent might share a query letter with another agent from their agency if they think a project is a better fit for their colleague. But overall, the confidentiality of communication between an author and an agent is important, and your work is not being shared widely.
Myth #8: You need a literary agent to get your book published.
The truth: Some writers and illustrators do just fine without an agent. Others greatly benefit from having literary representation. It’s your responsibility as a creator to decide which publishing path you want to take (i.e. self-publishing, traditional publishing, a hybrid approach), and if a literary agent fits in with (or is required for) that goal.
