Literary Agents Advice Centre

Do you need an agent? And what do they do?

Literary agents are there to sell manuscripts to publishers - that's their core function. But they have a host of other roles too and a good agent can make all the difference between bestselling international success and no publication deal at all.

• What literary agents do and who needs one
• Literary agents: US or UK? (for international writers)
• Video: the author / literary agent relationship, with Rebecca Connell and Hannah Westland
• Video: What literary agents are looking for, with Judith Murray and Antony Topping

How do you find a literary agent?

Getting a literary agent is incredibly easy - just write a dazzling book and send it out. Although it is possible to foul up your submission process, it's even easier to do it right.

• A step-by-step guide to finding an agent
• A more detailed guide to finding agents (includes a sample covering letter)
• Video: How to get a literary agent, with Harry Bingham

The first of these two guides comes with our guarantee of success. Just follow the advice given (especially step two) and we guarantee that you will get published. A word of warning, though: step two is a little bit tricky. You might just need our help.

Literary agent query letters

Plenty of writers worry more about their query letters than they do about their manuscripts. May we suggest that's the wrong way round? It's easy to write a good query letter - just follow the recipe below.

• How to write a query letter
• Sample query letter

What's more, because query letters (or covering letters) are so important, we offer a free review service. Just email us your query letter and we'll get straight back to you with comments and advice. There's no catch. We're just very nice people.

Synopses and proposals

Writing a good synopsis is a little tricky - that's the bad news. The good news is that most literary agents are less interested in your synopsis than in any other part of your package. Some agents won't even read your synopsis. Even better news: everything you need to know is available on the links below.

• How to write a synopsis

If you're writing non-fiction, you may well be able to get away with a book proposal - that is, a couple of sample chapters and an outline of everything else. You can get our words of wisdom on book proposals

• Non-fiction book proposals, with Harry Bingham
• Non-fiction book proposals, with Sam Jordison

Meeting literary agents & other matters

There's so much material on our site, it's hard to categorise it all neatly, but you might be interested in some of the following:

• If you want to meet agents face to face, where can you do that? And does the WW happen to run the UK's best writers' conference?
• How do literary agents' fees work? And should you ever pay a reading fee?
• If you're British or Irish, you'll almost certainly want to approach a UK literary agent. If you're American, you'll want to approach a US agent. But for others, the picture can be a little more complex. Sort through the issues here.

The publishing industry & other mysteries

• What are your odds of success? And how much money will you make? The answers make grim reading, but you can find them here.
• If you're lucky enough to get an agent, you might want to understand more about how the manuscript sales process usually works. Info here.
• If you get to meet a publisher to pitch your book, you might want to prepare in advance.
• Oh, and if you find our website helpful, you'll find Harry's book on Getting Published blows your mind.

Ghostwriting and copy-editing

Most writers using this site won't need either ghostwriting or copyediting, but there are exceptions to every rule.

• If you have an extraordinary story, but need someone else to help you tell it, we can provide ghostwriting and hands-on editorial services. We provide such services to an internationally bestselling author, so we're probably good enough for you.
• If you are not a native speaker of English, if you have a problem with dyslexia, or if you are planning on self-publication, you may need our help with copy-editing. Most writers, however, can save their pennies.