Do you need a literary agent for childrens books?

The honest answer depends on which road your book takes: on the traditional route, the intermediary work an agent does has to happen somehow, and on the small-press or self-publishing route it changes shape rather than disappearing. Here is what the work is, what it becomes with no big house behind you, and how to judge a fit once an agent wants you.

Most of what follows draws on essays from kidlit.com, written by a working literary agent, one first posted on the Digital Book World website before its January 2011 conference.

A middleman, in the plainest sense

The agent who wrote that essay did not pretend the panic was imaginary: people across publishing admitted they did not know what came next, and some wondered whether the middlemen still had a place. Her answer, set out in an agent's own case for the job, was yes, and the reasoning was not sentimental: there will always be people producing writing or art for readers, viewers and players, and there will always be people bringing that content to market. Someone stands between the two, whether the product is an app, a film, a licensed t-shirt or a printed book.

Children's is a sharp test of the claim, since it is the sector where app and game opportunities were growing fastest. Her own shop, the Andrea Brown Literary Agency, a self-described sales leader dealing almost exclusively in children's books, watched the change arrive firsthand.

What does an agent actually do?

Jim McCarthy of Dystel & Goderich Literary Management gave the baseline: "The role of the agent, fundamentally, is to act as an author's advocate and to serve as a bit of a sieve between aspiring writers and content producers." The sieve is the first reader, standing between everybody writing and everybody publishing, and the writers are not going away.

Above that baseline, the job was already widening: as publishers picked up new ways of delivering content, agents would take on more packaging work, editorial work, marketing consultation, design, so a book or an app proposal reaches an editor closer to market ready. Publishers were leaning harder on camera-ready packaged work, though editors, marketing and sales teams are not obsolete for it, the author adds.

Do you need one without a big house?

Nathan Bransford, a former agent writing about the field then, saw the profession splitting. Agents with blockbuster clients would keep doing business as usual with major publishers, while the rest would act more like managers, consultants and publicists, helping smaller authors navigate small presses and self-publishing. That split is the cleanest answer this question gets. If your road runs to a big house, the intermediary work is the point of the trip. If it runs to a small press or your own imprint, the question is whether you want that helper at all.

His economics were blunt: with blockbusters pulling away from everyone else, agents would struggle to make money unless a client took off, yet writers still need experts who can help them get a leg up and reach their readers, a niche smaller agents may fill. One limit, stated plainly: no essay here counts how many children's publishers accept unagented work, and this guide will not invent a figure the material does not give.

What stays your job either way

Her essays on choosing representation make plain that the hiring runs both ways. From the agent's side, the feel-out covers how open you are to editorial ideas, how savvy you are about how the business works, whether your expectations are realistic, and how easily the two of you would work together. The question both sides ask is identical: would this be a long-term, profitable, communicative, respectful, productive business partnership? Much of what agents weigh is territory we map in our guide to what agents and editors notice first.

How to compare agents when several want you

An offer of representation is professional validation, and multiple offers feel like riches, but the essay is firm that they are stress: a business decision under time pressure, while nice, encouraging, savvy people woo you. When the first offer lands, email every other agent holding a partial or a full; another often follows, because agents chase a writer someone else has validated. Remember the frame the essay insists on: you are hiring this person.

• How many clients do you carry, and how big do you want the list?
• Which houses do you sell into? Only a few may be too few.
• Small careful submission rounds or one splashy round, and how often do you follow up?
• Do you do editorial work, a little or a lot?
• How do you communicate, and how fast do you reply?
• Do you share submission lists and rejections as they happen?

You can also check the record rather than take it on faith. Publishers Marketplace sells a month-to-month deals database for $25 a month, fairly comprehensive though some deals are never posted. How long the agency has existed and whether it is known for your genre and age range weigh in too, because publishing runs on relationships and reputation.

Querying an agent who has passed already

There are only so many agents to go around, and the essay on resubmitting is bracing about it. Agents remember submitters, and inboxes keep your history close, so if you query someone again, say in the letter that they have seen your work before, and give the letter the shape we describe in our guide to the query. If two manuscripts drew neither a personalized, encouraging rejection nor a revision request, a third attempt is probably not a fit; aim the energy at new names instead. The agent who passed but asked to see more is the exception: that one hears about your next project first.

What to write down before anyone offers

The day an offer arrives is the worst day to invent your questions. Do the calm part early: open the file where your manuscript and your query live, and paste in five questions from the list above, the ones whose answers would change your decision. Add one line per agent you plan to query. Do this before a single letter leaves your outbox, and a decision made in a hurry will already be half made.

kidlit.com

Kidlit.com is a website about writing and publishing for children, written by a working literary agent. The pieces drawn on here cover the agent's role as digital publishing arrived, what to do when several agents offer representation at once, and whether to query again an agent who has passed. The material names no staff beyond the author, and this magazine has no tie to the site: we read it, we do not write it.