5 Literary Agent Red Flags to Watch Out for as a Querying Author
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Getting an offer of representation from a literary agent can make you feel on top of the world. After all, signing with a literary agent is a major step in getting your book traditionally published. But, before signing any paperwork or agreeing to work with someone, you want to ensure that they are legitimate and that they do have your best interests at heart.
Unfortunately, we've been seeing more and more literary agent red flags and horror stories being talked about online, and I want to make you aware of them. So, today I'm going to talk about some experiences that querying authors and authors who have signed with literary agents have been discussing in online writing communities so that you know what to watch out for in your interactions with literary agents and can avoid these pitfalls and sketchy situations altogether.
The scenarios I'm going to walk you through today are different than some of the publishing scams I've talked about in prior posts. In these cases, they're not taking money from you at all; rather, these are just shady and bad business practices that do not benefit you as an author. Remember that your literary agent is someone you need to be able to fully trust professionally and with your creative work.
I also want to say that my intention in sharing these literary agent red flags is not at all to dissuade you from traditional publishing, because I still very much believe that it is a viable and successful path for many authors. Rather, I'm simply trying to provide you the honest and transparent information that is so often lacking when we talk about the industry.
So, here are five literary agent red flags to be aware of before agreeing to work with an agent:
1. They Avoid Potential Clients’ Questions
There was a huge Twitter thread that made the rounds a while ago regarding an alleged literary agency that posted prominently on their submissions information page that they do not accept “interviews” from potential authors they’ve offered representation to. Basically, they were implying that they do not want to answer any questions from querying authors before signing a representation contract with them.
This is a huge literary agent red flag because it is the industry standard to have conversations with any agents who are interested in representing you, and they should be fully open to any and all questions that you have. Any reputable agent understands the importance of having that trust and open back and forth, and they will gladly answer any and all questions that you have about what working with them will be like.
So, if an agent who says they want to work with you refuses to answer any of your questions, that is likely a sign that they are hiding something, and this overall closed-off attitude just exhibits someone who's not really willing to be your advocate or who is going to create a productive and safe environment for you, which is what you need in an agent.
Any time a literary agent extends an offer of representation to you, make sure you have a thorough conversation with them and ask them some questions. That is absolutely well within your rights and well within the arrangement of an author and agent relationship.
2. They Refuse to Sign a Contract
The next literary agent red flag is not signing a physical contract. There have been reports of authors being offered what we call a handshake agreement, where an agent either says verbally on the phone or maybe casually in an email that they are willing to send out the author's manuscript to editors at publishing houses. The issue here is that the agent has not provided a formal contract, and there has been no representation agreement signed between the author and the agent; no binding paperwork has been executed in these cases.
It is industry standard to execute this binding paperwork, so if an agent is not giving you a contract, that is a big red flag. The thought process behind why an agent might be trying to work with these handshake agreements is if they want to maybe casually send out your manuscript to some editors and then see the upside if an editor does express interest, but they don't want to commit to working with you long-term if that submission does not pan out and you don't get a book deal out of it.
Basically, they might be just trying to “test the waters” casually without actually committing themselves to a real, long-term partnership, which is what an author-agent relationship should be. Essentially, it seems like they're just looking for an easy deal, and if the deal doesn't come easy, they just want to cast you aside. You as the author should not work with someone who is not one-hundred percent committed to you, your book and your writing. So, any agent who is not willing to give you a contract and paperwork is not someone that you should work with.
Remember too that the contract is going to protect you, and it's going to confirm the terms of your working arrangement so you are all on the same page. This is, at the end of the day, a professional partnership, and it should be treated as such. Anyone who is being unprofessional or trying to skirt around a contract is not someone who you should spend your time speaking with.
3. They Lack Experience and Agency Reputation
There is no specific qualification a literary agent must go through in order to start representing authors. Therefore, it falls on the author to make sure they thoroughly research and vet any literary agents they are reaching out to to ensure they are reputable and have industry experience.
This is made even more confusing because new literary agencies pop up quite frequently, either from people starting entirely new agencies or people leaving from established agencies to start their own agency. This can be quite confusing for an author who doesn't know the names of reputable agents or agencies off the top of their head. When you are looking for agents to query, you should always default to the specific agent's profile, which includes their professional background as well as prior book deals and their list of clients. This is what is going to determine their individual reputability.
It is also beneficial to check the reputability of the overarching agency, and how you do that is by looking at the agency website. What book deals has the agency done? What authors do other agents work with at that same agency? Are they successful?
Now, I want to talk through a framework that can help you determine the reputability of an agent and/or an agency. If it's the case of a very established agent who has created or joined a new agency — perhaps they're forming their own company, for instance, or perhaps they're a veteran in the industry, but now they're branching off to form their own company — you can trust that they know what they're doing and are a solid person to query. If it is the case of a newer agent who maybe doesn't have any book deals under their own name yet, but they are at a very established agency with other highly reputable agents and highly reputable authors, you can also be confident that that is a good person to query because they have the support network that they need to get you a book deal; they are just newer in their career and likely signing on more clients at this point because they are trying to build up their reputation.
However, if they are a brand-new agent with no real industry experience or track record, and they're at a new agency that also has no experience or track record, that is a red flag, and I would not reach out to that agent, because there's no proven evidence that they are able to support you and get you a book deal.
4. They Ghost Their Clients
There was a situation a while ago where a group of authors who had signed with a specific agent got an abrupt email from the agent saying that they were leaving the agency and basically leaving all of their authors high and dry. These authors were left scrambling to find a new agent because the agent left and really gave them no notice or resources. Understandably, the authors were incredibly upset, and it is clear that the communication of this situation was handled very poorly.
While it is possible that you will eventually break up with your literary agent for one reason or another, and it is possible for your agent to eventually leave the industry or potentially go to the other side of the industry by working at a publishing house, this should be handled by your agent very sensitively. They should be very open and transparent with you, ideally giving you lead time, unlike this specific agent did. You should never feel ghosted or abandoned by your agent, so if that's the vibe you're getting, that is ultimately not going to be a good partner for you.
To get ahead of this potential situation, in those conversations that I recommend having with an agent before signing an offer of representation, I recommend asking them point-blank what will happen to your project if they leave the agency or they leave agenting altogether. What options will you have at that point? For instance, is there a waiting period before you can query more agents and get a new literary agent, or is it possible that another agent at their agency would potentially take you on? This information should also ideally be included in your contract.
You have a right to know what your contingency plan is going to be in case your agent is no longer able to represent you, so again, any reputable agent is going to be totally open to having these conversations with you upfront. And if they are not willing to have these conversations, that is not a good sign.
5. They Sign a Bunch of New Clients at Once
The final literary agent red flag I want you to watch out for is if they are signing a ton of new clients all at once. Agents, by and large, are highly selective with the authors they choose to work with. They really have to feel passionate about the story and confident that they can sell it to an editor at a publishing house.
So, if you get word that a specific agent that you are interested in is signing on a bunch of authors within a very short timeframe, that might raise some eyebrows, and you should ask them about it if they add you to the list and want to work with you as well. It could just be the case that this is a newer agent and they are looking to build up their list, and they do have the time to support all of those new authors.
However, it could also be the case that they're essentially just trying to cast out as many fishing lines as possible and submit a bunch of projects to editors all at once just to see which one gets bites, which really isn't the approach you want your agent to take. That likely indicates they're not really that invested in all of those individual clients’ projects; instead, they're trying to make a quick book deal as fast and as easily as possible without a lot of effort on their end. It's also possible that they don't plan to work with the authors long-term whose books they do not end up signing, and that is not a position that you want to put yourself in.
To get ahead of this situation, I recommend reaching out to authors that are on an agent's client list and just asking them how their experience has been with working with that agent. They should be willing to talk about it, and if they've had a great experience with that agent, there's no reason why they wouldn't tell you that.
I hope this helped you understand some literary agent red flags as you are querying so you can avoid falling into any of these situations. Remember that your agent is serving as your publishing partner, so it is very important for you to find someone who is professional, reputable and trustworthy.
Thanks for reading and happy querying!