Submit Your Book to a Literary Agent
As a new author navigating the publishing industry, you may ask why yourself should you submit your book to a literary agent. Working with a literary agent has many advantages, to help you through the process of writing and publishing your book.
First and foremost, a literary agent’s job is to find a publisher for the writers they represent. In fact, most commercial publishers will not accept manuscripts that are not represented by a well-established literary agent. Literary agents are familiar with what a publisher is looking for in a manuscript, from the point of view of writing style and genre and they have connections with most of the different acquiring editors and know what they are looking for.
At Langtons International Agency, when submitting your book to the commercial publishers, we curate a special list of publishers that we feel would be a perfect fit for your book. By choosing editors that specialize in your topic and style of writing, literary agents are giving you the best opportunity of selling your book or marketing proposal to a commercial publisher. Literary agents work together with you to prepare a marketing paper and write fantastic a pitch letter to make the publishers want to read your book, which they send out together with your bio.
Once your book has been sold to a publisher, a literary agent will help to negotiate a contract and deal for your book. They are familiar with the standards of the industry, and have the skills to negotiate a great deal for your book, including advances and royalties.
As an author, you submit your book to a literary agent to act as your voice to the publisher, help you navigate financial and legal situations, and to overall support your writing career.
There are a few things to consider when you prepare to submit your book to a literary agent. The first is finding the right agent for the topic of your book. Some agents specialize in certain genres, while other agents, such as Langtons International Agency, represent a wide variety of genres. It is important to do your research first to find out which agents represent the genre of your book. The agent should be familiar with that genre, so they know which editor in which publishing house will be a good fit for your book.
The second consideration is any personal connections you may have with a literary agent. Did someone refer you to this agency? Do you feel personally moved by their mission statement and their work? A literary agent will ultimately be handling your career, you should feel prepared to trust their professional expertise, and develop a strong working relationship with them.
Finally, you should have a strong query letter prepared when you are ready to submit your book to a literary agent. Your query letter should include why you chose to submit to this particular agency, a brief description of your book, your bio, including any previously published works, and five sample pages.
Langtons International Agency is always looking for well written, commercial books of a wide variety of genre to represent to the publishers. We would be happy to hear from you and receive your query letter. Our website will explain what we are looking for www.langtonsinternational.com.
Please contact us here: https://langtonsinternational.com/contact/