The Truth About Literary Agents’ Fees

Writer Beware defines a literary agent fee as any charge, other than a commission on sales, that’s a requirement for submission or representation, must be paid by every client or potential client, and is due before services have been rendered. No matter what the stated purpose of such payments, they are not standard industry practice.

Fee-charging used to be the most common form of literary agent fraud. These days, it’s relatively rare. You may still encounter it, though…hence the information and warnings that follow.

A Brief History of Literary Agent Fees

Back before the turn of the century–and for some time after–many agents charged reading fees. The rationale was that it takes time to read and evaluate a manuscript, and since a reading doesn’t necessarily result in a representation offer–and representation doesn’t necessarily result in a sale–why should an agent do it for free?

It’s an understandable point of view, but it’s not hard to see how it can lead to abuse: agents who invite submissions whether they’re interested in them or not, solely in order to obtain the fee. Eventually, that kind of abuse became so widespread that most professional agents’ associations adopted policies prohibiting members from charging reading fees. (For a more detailed discussion of reading fees and their abuses, see The Case Against Reading Fees, from Writer Beware’s blog.)

To keep collecting upfront money from writers but dodge reading fees’ increasingly bad reputation, some agents attempted to add the appearance of value by throwing a critique  or evaluation into the mix. Thus evaluation fees were born. The idea was that writers wouldn’t receive only a reading, but a written assessment of their manuscripts’ strengths and weaknesses, or at the very least, an explanation of why the manuscripts were rejected. Who wouldn’t want that, even if it involved handing over a little cash?

From a business perspective, though, writing helpful evaluations for rejectees isn’t a terrifically appealing use of a busy agent’s time, even with a fee attached. As a result, many of these evaluations were produced not by the agent, but by an intern or clerical employee who might or might not have the skills to provide a useful assessment, or might simply cut-and-paste generic advice. In some cases the Writer Beware has documented, the exact same evaluation sent to everyone. Some agencies were really just fronts for generating evaluation fees, as others had been fronts for generating reading fees.

Still other agents searching for a stigma-free way to obtain money upfront came up with submission fees. These fees go by many other names–marketing, contract, processing, circulation, preparation, administrative, retainer–but the basic idea is the same: the writer is asked to defray the cost of submitting their work to publishers.

Some confusion arises here, because it’s standard practice among reputable agents to expect clients to reimburse some of the expense related to the marketing of manuscripts. Usually, this means expenses incurred on the client’s behalf over and above the normal cost of doing business, such as photocopying, Fed Ex, ARCs or finished books sent to co-agents overseas. Applicable charges are accrued and reimbursed from the author’s advance, or billed to the author after they’re incurred. By contrast, an agent who uses submission fees as an income stream will want money the minute you sign a contract–whether as an upfront fee on signing, a recurring fee every time the contract renews, a monthly or quarterly “allowance”, or a per-submission fee (paid in advance of actually submitting).

IIt’s much harder to justify submission fees than it used to be. These days, with everything done digitally, submission expense is minimal, whereas in pre-digital days it might come to several hundred a year. Submission fees remain attractive to questionable agents, though, because they carry a veneer of legitimacy (since “everyone knows” that agents expect clients to bear some of the cost of submission), and make it easier to distract writers from the fact that they’re being asked to hand over cash upfront.

Not all agents who charge fees are dishonest. Some are just inexperienced or inept. But scam or amateur, the bottom line for writers is the same: your agent should profit solely from commissions on sales, and from no other source.

Fees in Their Infinite Variety

As noted above, fee-charging agents are much less common than they used to be. But you still may encounter one or more of the fees described below. All reflect complaints Writer Beware has received over the years. Some are straightforward (if you discount the sleazy rationales that accompany them); some are delightfully sneaky.

• A fee for consideration of your manuscript. The agent may be honest and call this a reading fee, but they may also come up with euphemisms–an “advance on commission,” for instance, or a “processing fee”.
• A reading or submission fee that buys you something–a critique, marketing advice, faster consideration. Sometimes the fee will be optional–but don’t expect the agent to pay much attention to your submission if you don’t pay. One agency that charged an “optional” evaluation fee required writers who chose not to pay it to sign a waiver absolving the agency of any responsibility for the submission–including reading it.
• A flat fee due on contract signing. Such fees go by many names–submission, marketing, circulation, expense, retainer–and can range from two figures to as much as four. Some questionable agencies maximize their income flow with short-term contracts of six or even four months’ duration.
• A flat fee billed monthly or quarterly. Ditto.
• A per-submission fee. Rather than charging on contract signing or billing you on a regular basis, some questionable agencies charge for each submission. Since more submissions mean more income, such agents have a strong incentive to send your manuscript to as many publishers as possible (or to claim they did)–whether or not they’re appropriate for your work.
• A per-hour charge. Some reputable agents provide consulting services (which should be separate from their agenting work), but no reputable agent charges clients by the hour.
• A critique or editing fee as a condition of representation. Sometimes the agent will be honest enough to tell you that the critique or editing fee goes into their pocket, but other agencies will outsource you to critique or editing services they themselves operate under a different name. This allows them to pretend that “they” are not charging you a fee. Many reputable agents do work with clients to polish manuscripts for submission to publishers, but they don’t charge for this–it’s part of the service their 15% commission will eventually pay for.
• A monthly expense cap. A questionable agent’s contract may declare that you’ll never be charged more than a set amount per month for submission expense. However, the agency will treat this like a blank check, charging you that amount or close to it every single month. (Note: a monthly expense cap is not the same thing as a general expense cap–an amount above which your permission must be sought for any single expenditure. The latter is a standard part of an author-agent agreement.)
• Excessive billings. As noted above, reputable agents charge only for expenses over and above the regular cost of doing business. Ideally, reimbursable expenses will be enumerated in the contract. If they’re not, find out exactly what expenses will be included. If the agent expects you to pay for things like stationary and envelopes, or travel and legal fees, beware.
• Fees for adjunct services. Some questionable agencies require or pressure clients to buy various services (website creation, sample cover mockups or illustrations, social media listings) or to participate in various pay-to-play schemes (a catalog supposedly offered at book fairs, a special page or section on the agency’s website, podcasts featuring agency clients). Since these charges come after contract signing, and may be optional, the agency can argue that they’re not actually fees. The bottom line, however, is still that you must open up your wallet.
• Minimum advance fees. This is rare, but if you encounter it, beware. Some agencies require authors to pay up to four figures if the advance they’re offered for a publishing deal falls below a stated number–say, $2,500. In other words, the agency expects clients to compensate it over and above its commission for low-advance deals. Agencies that levy these charges are actively selling manuscripts, so they aren’t scammers or amateurs–but it’s still a predatory practice, and not the norm.

---

Except for graphics, and where specifically indicated, all Writer Beware® contents copyright © Victoria Strauss

MAY NOT BE REPRODUCED WITHOUT PERMISSION