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Do authors need a literary agent? In simple terms, no, they don't. Unfortunately, however, such questions are rarely that simple and the requirement for using a literary agent will largely depend on the individual author, their requirements, experiences and the type of work which they produce.

A literary agent is essentially a middle man between the author and their prospective publishers. The literary agent will act on behalf of the author in not only attempting to find them a publisher but in attempting to secure them the best deal for their work in the process. The literary agent will subsequently charge a commission on the author's earnings, usually in the region of ten percent in their native country but also usually higher for overseas rights. This percentage will vary, however, and should be established with the agent at the time of securing their services.

The most likely scenario where an author would feel the need for a literary agent is where the author is new to the publishing world. They will know little of the realities of same - regardless of how much they may have read - and want someone to assist them in the process of not only getting published but making as much money from the process as possible. They will have read about the services of literary agents, know that this is essentially their primary function and feel that this is the right road to go down.

There can be no doubt that a literary agent may well be a very good option for an author in this situation. They will approach an agent who handles their type of work in a similar sense as to which they would approach a publisher and the agent will either agree to accept them as a client or not. If the author is accepted by the agent, they can then allow the agent to handle all the difficult negotiations on their behalf as regards getting their work published by the most appropriate publisher and with the best deal possible. This is because it is also in the agent's interest to do so, their fee being commission based.

On the other hand, even the novice author may not be willing to share a percentage of their earnings with someone for doing a job which they can quite definitely do themselves. They can simply approach relevant publishers direct and attempt to get their work published in this fashion. The reality is that they may not achieve the best deal possible but there is nothing to say that this will definitely not be the case.

It is possible to conclude therefore that authors do not need a literary agent but by using a literary agent, authors will save themselves time and effort and perhaps secure themselves a better publishing deal in the long term.

Learn more about this author, Gordon Hamilton.
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