How to Become an Agent for a Publishing Company
When most people think of agents, they tend to think of people in exciting careers who actors and actresses have hired to find the perfect gig. Working for an agent at a publishing company is similar and can be just as exciting. Literary agents are hired to broker publishing advances for promising authors or books. These agents have to know the business and be in contact with big publishers mostly located in New York City. Learning how to become an agent is simple, and with a lot of persistence and a little luck, you can go to work finding the next writing talent.
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Instructions
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Find a job as an intern or in an entry-level position at an established literary agency. Even positions focused on secretarial or administrative tasks can help you gain access to the publishing industry.
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Volunteer for a local literary journal. Local literary journals offer you the experience you need editing manuscripts, so you will have applicable skills assessing the quality and salability of manuscripts as an agent.
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Network with industry professionals. This means "living" the literary life that consists of writing stories and submitting them for publication, attending literary conferences and writing book reviews. Submitting stories for publication can help you make contact with editors and publishers, and attending literary conferences like the Associated Writing Program (AWP) writing conference (see References) will enable you to meet editors and publishers. Writing book reviews demonstrates you have the ability to judge the quality of a book, and this quality can help you know what publishers want or need.
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Learn how to "pitch" projects developing a logline, a synopsis and a table of contents (TOC) for hypothetical projects you could potentially sell to a publishing house. A logline consists of a single, attention-grabbing sentence that captures the book's essence, and the synopsis is a one- to two-page summary of the entire book. The table of contents is a one-page overview of the chapters and allows potential publishers to assess the content of the proposed book. Knowing how to communicate book projects using only these three tools ensures you can communicate with publishers and helps you out-compete other job applicants.
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Obtain experience as a "freelance" agent. Pitch actual projects to major publishing companies that accept unsolicited pitches from freelance agents until you successfully place at least one title. Acting as a freelance agent helps you build valuable experience that can help you compete for an open agent position at an established publishing house.
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Track the number of successful title placements you pitched to publishers as well as the sales records of each title. Such information regarding your freelance efforts helps you quantify your ability to broker a book deal for an established publisher. You make your task of competing for a position in an established publishing company much easier if the hiring editor knows you already have achieved some success identifying books that sell.
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Check for assistant-agent openings at small presses throughout the country or for online agents as well. Getting your foot in the door as an assistant to an established agent will provide you the experience and the direct contacts that will help you obtain an agent position.
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Maintain your networking efforts that should include meeting with authors, reading submitted materials and composing rejection letters until you are thoroughly immersed in the publishing industry.
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Tips & Warnings
Remain aware that most agencies exist in New York City, so you may have to relocate to find the job of your dreams.
It might seem paradoxical that you have to act as an agent to become an agent, but developing freelance experience helps a publisher know you can succeed in an agent position. Identifying books that will potentially sell and subsequently placing them with publishers shows initative, judgment and business acumen that will help you out-compete your job-seeking competitors.
