How to Work Best With a Literary Agent
Thursday, September 10 at 12 pm PDT
A FREE Virtual Event
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Successful collaboration with a literary agent starts long before the contract is signed. Begin by researching agencies carefully so your project matches the kinds of books they represent and the markets they know well. Prepare a professional query letter, a tight synopsis, and a manuscript that has already been revised to the highest standard you can achieve; agents receive hundreds of submissions and quickly set aside work that feels unfinished. Once you have an offer of representation, ask clear questions about communication style, submission strategy, and career vision so both sides understand expectations. After signing, treat the relationship as a true partnership: respond promptly to emails, meet deadlines, share relevant career updates, and remain open to editorial and business feedback. Remember that an agent’s job is to advocate for your work with publishers while guiding the larger arc of your writing career.
Consistency, professionalism, and mutual respect turn a one-book deal into a lasting professional alliance that benefits both author and agent over many years.
- Research the agent’s preferences and recent sales thoroughly before querying.
- Submit only polished, complete work that fits their stated interests.
- Communicate clearly, promptly, and professionally at every stage.
- View the relationship as a long-term career partnership, not a single transaction.
Meet and learn from these two top agents! Andy Ross offers decades of bookselling wisdom and seeks smart, original work with strong narrative and emotional depth. Laurie McLean brings marketing expertise and specializes in middle-grade, young-adult, and adult genre fiction. Both value polished, compelling projects.
About the Speakers
Andy Ross opened his literary agency in January 2008. Before that, he was the owner for 30 years of the legendary Cody’s Books in Berkeley. The agency represents books in a wide range of subjects including narrative non-fiction, science, journalism, history, religion, children’s books, young adult, middle grade, literary and commercial fiction, and cooking. However, he is eager to represent projects in most genres as long as the subject or its treatment is smart, original, and will appeal to a wide readership. In non-fiction, he looks for writing with a strong voice and robust narrative arc by authors with the authority to write about their subject. For literary, commercial, and children’s fiction, he has only one requirement– simple, but ineffable–that the writing reveals the terrain of that vast and unexplored country, the human heart. Visit www.andyrossagency.com, www.andyrossagency.wordpress.com.
Laurie McLean is a founding partner and president of Fuse Literary. She spent 20 years as the CEO of a publicity and marketing agency and 8 years as an agent and senior agent at Larsen Pomada Literary Agents in San Francisco. Following a stint as the CEO of a successful Silicon Valley public relations agency bearing her name, Laurie switched gears to immerse herself in writing and co-founded Fuse Literary in 2013. She earned a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from the State University of New York and a master’s degree at Syracuse University’s prestigious Newhouse School of Journalism.
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