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If you're interested in getting your book traditionally published, you likely know that securing representation from a literary agent is a critical step in the process. However, you might not know what happens on the agent's side. How do literary agents submit books to publishers to make a book deal?

If you’re an emerging author, I truly believe that understanding the traditional publishing industry is going to help set you up for success. Pursuing traditional publishing is a long and daunting process, but by arming yourself with information, you can feel more confident going into it.

What Publishers Do Literary Agents Sell To?

To begin our discussion of how do literary agents submit to publishers, let’s talk about which publishing houses agents will approach. Typically, literary agents will start with the Big Five publishing houses. Those are Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, HarperCollins, and Macmillan.

Note that the potential acquisition of Simon & Schuster by Penguin Random House is currently under review by the Department of Justice, so the Big Five might become the Big Four. But for now, I will continue to refer to them as the Big Five.

When I say that literary agents reach out to the Big Five publishing houses, that does not mean they are only reaching out to five editors, one per publishing house. Each of the Big Five publishing houses is actually divided into subdivisions called imprints, and each of those imprints specialize in a specific subset of books. They all operate like independent publishers — in fact, many of them were independent publishers at one time that then came together under the publishing house through a series of mergers.

Typically, literary agents can submit their client’s manuscripts to one editor per imprint, which greatly opens up your options.

If everyone your agent reaches out to at a Big Five imprint declines the manuscript, they will reach out to smaller but well-known publishing houses that aren't part of the Big Five but still only accept agented manuscripts. However, I'm going to focus this article on the Big Five publishing houses just because it’s what I know best. I just want to note that the process can look similar for smaller presses that do not fall under the Big Five’s reach.

Who Do Literary Agents Negotiate With?

The person who liaises with literary agents is called an acquisitions editor, since they are the editors in charge of acquiring or buying books from literary agents. The term isn't necessarily an actual job title, since it can refer to anyone on an editorial team who is open to acquisitions.

As with any corporate organization, there are many different levels within the editorial or acquisitions team. The tiers go from Editorial Assistant, to Assistant Editor, Associate Editor, Editor, Senior Editor, Executive Editor, Editorial Director, and finally Editor-in-Chief.

Any of those job titles could potentially belong to someone who can acquire a book from a literary agent. However, acquiring books from literary agents is the primary responsibility for people from the Editor to the Executive Editor levels, with Assistant and Associate Editors mostly assisting those higher level editors. Anyone at the Editorial Director or Editor-in-Chief level largely has an oversight role, although they might acquire their own projects when there is a bigger book deal.

How Do Literary Agents Submit to Publishers?

Now that we've gone over all the types of editors who literary agents might connect with, let’s pivot to how agents select which editors to submit manuscripts to. It is the literary agent's job to keep tabs on what editors at publishing houses are looking for, within their specific niche.

At each imprint, every editor specializes in a select number of genres. For example, an editor might specialize in historical fiction and thrillers. So, literary agents need to keep track of which editors primarily work on which genres. When they have a client manuscript in a given genre, they will reach out to the editors that they know work within that same genre.

Prior to the pandemic, agents and editors would often meet for coffee chats or lunches to talk about their lists, so the editor would talk about the books they are shepherding and what they're looking to acquire, and the agent would talk about their client list and some projects they are currently working on. This is all to see where they could potentially work together on a book deal.

Based on their knowledge of what the editors are looking for, literary agents create a submission list for their clients’ projects. They will also consider which imprints they think would be the best match for their client’s project, as each imprint has its own specializations as well. It is a kind of matching game and it is the literary agent's job to be on top of what’s going on with imprints and their editors.

What Do Agents Send?

Once the literary agent knows who they want to submit books to, what materials do they actually send?

They will craft a submission letter that looks similar to the query letter you might be painstakingly working on right now, and it will include a blurb about the book as well as a bit about you as the author, plus some comparable titles. They will attach the full manuscript of the book, allowing the editor to read the whole thing if they get sucked into the premise, which is something I definitely saw when working at Random House. We would get a submission and read the whole thing overnight because we were just so captivated by it.

What Happens After Submission?

Now, this part of the process when your book is “on submission” can honestly be one of the toughest parts of the publishing process, as it's almost like querying all over again.

However, instead of actively looking for a literary agent, you are now passively waiting for your agent to contact editors. Editors at publishing houses often have a large backlog of submissions from literary agents to go through, so it will still take them a while to get back to your agent with their decision.

If an editor expresses interest in your book manuscript, they will reach out to your agent and request a call with them. Sometimes, they may include you in the call so that you can go over what your vision for the book is, and what your future writing plans are. If you do have a planned sequel or next novel in the works, that may compel them to make you a two- or even three-book deal. Just like literary agents, book editors also ideally want to work with authors long term.

If only one editor expresses interest in your book, then your agent will negotiate back and forth with them on the details of your contract, as they obviously want the best possible terms for you. They’ll bring what they have to you and go through each point, making sure you understand and are in alignment. If you don’t like certain terms, they will negotiate on your behalf, or even decline that editor’s offer if it isn’t the right fit.

If multiple editors express interest at once, then the agent will hold an auction. They will contact each editor, telling them to bring their best offer forward by a deadline, and go with the highest bid. Sometimes, your book can enter multiple rounds of auctioning. This is an exciting process, as it can drastically raise the price of your book and bring attention to your book before it is even published.

I hope these tips help you better understand how do literary agents submit to publishers, as well as how the book deal process works so that you can be fully informed when you embark on the process yourself.

Thanks so much for reading and happy writing!