Become a Literary Agent

If you are one of those English majors who while standing in line at the grocery store handle the paperbacks that pack the display rack, turning them over to see how much they cost while wondering if people really buy that stuff, you are well on your way to a career as a literary agent. Yes, people really buy that stuff, and literary agents are there in the thick of it, making it happen.

As most commercial publishers will not consider work that is not represented by an agent, agents are indispensable cogs in the ever churning mill of the book business. Publishers and their editors rely on agents to supply them with manuscripts which are primed and marketable, creating a steady stream of potential bestsellers. An experienced agent knows the market and can sell to those publishers, convincing them of the profit in packing the display racks with their clients' work.

But becoming a literary agent is no easy road. You must really want it and not fakingly kinda want it because you will need to work long and hard for years. And the first thing you will need to do is move to a city where most successful book publishers are located, which is New York City. After landing but before taking off your shoes, you will want to take your expensive four year degree and hunt down an entry level job with one of those publishers. English majors can usually find work as low level editors. This may seem like a waste of time, steering you away from your true calling, but there is purpose in this step as you will be learning the publishing business from the inside while establishing contacts.

The next step to your career is after a few years of working in the publishing business you will leave the publishing business and find entry level work in an established literary agency as perhaps an assistant. As there might be many hundreds of applicants to each assistant's job, you will now have a chance to reassess whether or not you want to do this work when you try to sell yourself to the agent you want to become. Eventually, you will have worked your way up from lowly apprentice to genuine literary agent. Essentially, you will have read a thousand manuscripts while participating in the process of selecting saleable authors, after which you will have the experience and contacts within the publishing world to start your own agency. It may seem arduous, but if good books are your passion in life, you can make it happen. So get to work!

- Jeff Fischer



Source Links:
http://nathanbransford.com
www.ehow.com/how_2121717_become-literary-agent.html

Interest Link:
http://pubrants.blogspot.com/