Get ready for some full transparency. How much an agent should be charging you, at what percentage, and when.

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Literary Agent Cost Video Transcript

Hi, this is Mary Kole with Good Story Company and our Good Story Company YouTube channel. Now, one of my favorite questions and a very easy question to answer for everyone out on a submission trail, what does a literary agent cost. And the answer is…sing with me if you can, and I definitely can't sing.

(Singing) Nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing!

Embarrassing enough, okay. Well, I really wanted to anchor that in your mind and your nightmares because a literary agent should cost nothing, not until they sell for you.

So we have heard scandals of publishers, literary agencies charging reading fees, sort of taking a look at your manuscript for a charge, doing some kind of annual contract. All of these things have been tried by shady shifters who just want your money because writing is very emotional. We get very invested in our projects and somebody tells us exactly what we want to hear, which is, "Oh, I'll represent this, or oh, I'll take an extra close look at it. I just need a reading fee, or an annual fee, or a contract fee, or a maintenance fee, or whatever." And that is bugged.

Anyone can go out there and say, "Hey, I'm a publisher. Hey, I'm a literary agent." And writers will flock to them because writers are always on the lookout for new submission opportunities. So, when somebody new comes on the scene or somebody comes on the scene who is conducting business not really like they should be, by charging reading fees, by charging anything else, know that they are probably not the best fit for you nor will they be in business long because people are going to see them. They are going to call them out on forums like Writer Beware and these people are gonna go down in flames and move on to their next grift.

So a literary agent worth their salt and worth working with or a publisher worth their salt and worth working with, so kind of a two-part question, for the agent side, they will charge you commission only after they sell for you. It is a commission-based sales job. They sell. They take 15% which is standard or for sub writes, 20% to 25% is standard because a lot of agents work with coagents, sort of as a team, and the commission has to be split among more parties than just one. So only after they sell something and the publisher, if it's a traditional publisher making a royalty deal sends the check to the agency, they take their cut. They forward the rest to you. Not before, after.

Publishers. If you're working with a traditional publisher, sometimes they offer an advance, sometimes they offer royalties only. But the money moves in one direction, from the publisher to you. With a hybrid publisher or a self-publishing outfit, it's pay-to-play. And so, you will have to pay them. That's the only instance in which you are paying to be published is when you give money to a hybrid publisher. I'm singing and dancing today. So you are paying them for them putting everything together, them publishing you. Right? So the money moves this way when you are working with a hybrid publisher, with a self-publisher. With a traditional publisher and an agent, the money is flowing from them to you. So you need to be 100% clear.

If a publisher offers you a publishing contract and then they say, "Okay. That will be $6000," some alarm bells should go off in your head. "Hey, this is a profit publisher. It is not an advance or royalty-based traditional publisher. This is a hybrid or self-publisher. They're offering me a contract but I am paying to play." If that's what you intended, huzzah! You've got your contract. If that's not what you intended and you intended to work instead with a traditional agent or traditional publisher, then you should be running the other way.

So what does a literary agent cost in the traditional model and if the agent is worthwhile and reputable? Nothing. I'm not gonna sing again.

This has been, regretfully, Mary Kole with Good Story Company. And here's to a good story.

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