How to Become an Agent

Ok, How I Became an Agent

Hi friends,

Let’s talk origin stories. At least mine. I’ve answered so, how did you become an agent? hundreds of times, but not here yet, and I want to do so to show you how this is one path of many, and perhaps guide some of you to the dark side, I mean along the road to agenting.

So, I always wanted to work with books. I wanted to be (still want, am anyway) a writer, but I also knew that I would never be a starving artist. I am too practical for that, so I knew I’d get a day job and write at night, etc. Even at like 15, I knew that was true for me. In college, my incredibly smart sister Erin suggested I get an internship at the university press at my school (shout out U.P. Florida) and it was the best advice I ever got. I started as an intern and eventually worked there part-time, and after graduation, became a full-time editorial assistant. From day one, though, I read Publishers Lunch, which I believe started right around then! Which shows you how old I am. In that, I learned about the different roles in publishing at large, outside of editorial and marketing and production I saw at the univ press.

I learned about agents and something about it clicked. I’m very outgoing. I like talking to people. I like to hustle. I knew, somehow, that while I would have to pay my dues in NYC for a while, there was the possibilty I would not have to live there my whole life. There were agencies in other cities! I could live in Atlanta! I loved and love the South and didn’t love living in Long Island for high school, so being an agent fit my whole life plan. Yes, at like 22, I was thinking like this.

I worked at the press for a year, and then went to grad school for my MFA. This is not required to become an agent! It was something I wanted to do for myself. But about half way through, I found myself in workshops asking who are you writing this for? What are you going to do with it? Who is going to buy it? I was also thinking how are we all going to get teaching jobs? There are like 5 of them in the whole country? Did I really want to be a writing professor? Mind you, this was 2002. The recession of 2008 wasn’t even a twinkle in anyone’s eye.

Needless to say, I was beloved in workshop, lol. I ended up writing my thesis, defending it, and graduating early. I wanted to be a grown up and start real life. I sold all my stuff, packed my bags, and drove to NYC.

Here, I have to tell you of the enormous privilege I had and have. I didn’t have undergrad debt, because my dad paid for my in-state college. I got a full ride to grad school, and only had about 12k in debt there for living expenses (which still took me 15 years to pay off!!!!!!) I was able to live with some family friends in Long Island rent free for six months while I looked for a job in the city. I actually returned to my high school job at the mall while I looked for publishing jobs and that’s how I saved for a Brooklyn apartment. I had a car. These things gave me an ENORMOUS leg up. I wouldn’t have been able to find my first agenting job without them. I don’t know how I would do it now. I’m sorry that’s not very helpful.

My first job in NYC was the assistant to seven agents (NEVER DO THAT) who shared office space on 14th Street. It was the hardest job I ever had, and tbh, I don’t know I was that good at it! I answered four phone lines. I had three different email addresses. I hauled books to the post office every day. I didn’t do a lot of coffee fetching, but mostly that was because I couldn’t be that far from the phones for long. It was a LOT of admin and office work and filing and billing and opening mail. But also, I watched seven agents do the job seven different ways. One agent would plop a stack of magazines on my desk and say find me all the people I flagged. I’d look at the post-it notes and start googling and calling and learned how to seek out contact information for people, not matter how famous. I learned how to cold call and not be scared. I learned how to just call them anyway, even if I was nervous, because you just never know.

On the side, I was reading manuscripts for another agency, and they eventually called me in for an interview. About a year and a half into my assistant job, which is admittedly fast, I was hired as a full agent, with some subrights duties, selling audio and first serial rights for the agency’s clients. It wasn’t a perfect fit, though, and about a year later, I met Howard Morhaim through an editor, and that was that. I’ve been at HMLA for 14 years. So don’t ask me any interviewing questions. I haven’t done that since the second George W. Bush administration.

With Howard, I’ve had free rein. I can do any kind of book I want. I’ve had access to his 40+ years of experience and could ask him any question I needed to. I have a desk in our small office (in the Before Times) and even listenting in on Howard dealing with clients and issues has taught me so much. I would not be the agent I am today without his guidance. (I know you’re reading this Howard. Thank you.)

But what can I tell you from my experience to help you get a job now?

• It’s very important to be mentored, to work closely with another agent to see how the job is done. Yes, I think that can be remotely, given the world now, but ideally, that is in person (when it’s safe) because you learn this job by doing and seeing. There’s no book to study. There’s no guide or certification or test. It’s an apprenticeship and it’s important. There are more and more opportunities to work outside of NYC these days, and that’s great, but don’t sign up to be an full agent right off the bat, no matter how tempting. You need someone to guide you.

• You don’t need any specific degree. I have a English degree and a minor in Classics and an MFA in Fiction Writing. I think all the writing workshops I’ve taken have definitely helped me evaluate books and writing and talk to writers, but it’s not required. Absolutely any degree would help you in being an agent.

• You MUST be detail orientated, or have support/hacks/workarounds to keep you organized. As an assistant, you’ll be asked to keep track of tons of tiny details for your boss, and it’s keeping those details straight that helps you learn the job. When you’re an agent yourself, you’re in charge! You have to keep track of everything (until you have your own assistant and the cycle continues). But this is really, really important.

• It helps to be outgoing, but it is not make it or break it. There’s a decent amount of cold calling, going on lunches (in the Before Times) with people you don’t know, chatting up authors online or in person, being On Line yourself, and if that makes you want to run and hide and never ever come out, you might not want to be an agent. You can learn it, you can get used to it, but you still have to do it all the time.

Here’s how the money usually works when you’re an agent (gee, this is getting long. I understand if you need to get back to work.) When you’re an assistant, you’ll have a salary and benefits. This can vary but I think nowadays it’s in the 35k to 40k range. Yeah, that’s not a whole lot to live on. It’s not great, we know. I’m hoping it will change as much as possible in the future. (I do not make those kinds of decisions for the agency, fyi.)

As an agent, you may be commission only, take a draw, earn commission + a small salary, or fully salaried. Those are in order of most common to least. Most agents I know are commission only. That means we only get paid when authors get paid. And we get some percentage of the agency commission of 15%. Most often it’s 50% of that 15%, but can be as high as 75%. I am lucky enough to get the latter. It took me about 5 years of hustling and working side jobs to sell enough books so that my commissions felt like a paycheck and I could stop some of my side jobs. It’s really, really hard. Some years are up. Some are down. You have to be ok with an prepared for that kind of inconsistency.

A draw is like your agency paying you an advance to work there. They pay you X amount like a paycheck, and after X time (3 year? 5 years?) if you haven’t sold enough to make back your draw, your contract might not be renewed, or it’s renegotiated for less. If you make over, you get bonuses. I have never worked under a draw, so other agents who have will have more detailed info.

I know this isn’t the most encouraging information for those with less privileged and more obstacles who want to be agents. I know now agencies are working hard to accommodate remote work to make the job more accessible to more people, for the benefit of all—new agents and publishing on the whole. I think it’s going to be a long while before publishing salaries across the board catch up to the cost of living in NYC and elsewhere, but I think it’s on the horizon.

Oh, and where are jobs even posted? Because I know you’ll ask—Publishersmarketplace.com and Bookjobs.com are the two I know. Leave others in the comments! (I found my first job on effing Craigslist. #old.)

I hope this helps. Let me know if you have more questions.

OXOXOX,

Kate