How To Make Sure That Literary Agent or Publisher Is Legit!

For as long as there have been writers trying to get published, there have been people trying to make money off of them — in both legitimate and not-so-legitimate ways. But, times, they are a-changing, which means the old scams are new again and the new scams are new. So, how to make sure that literary agent or publisher is legit?

What’s the Difference Between Agents and Publishers?

Publishers are the people who buy your polished manuscript, then edit, publish, and distribute it. If you’re lucky, they even do some marketing.

Some publishing houses, primarily the 5 big traditional publishing houses, and all of their imprints (genre-specific publishing houses that are subsidiaries of a company), often don’t accept “un-agented works”. They won’t accept manuscripts the writer sends in! Yes, it’s gatekeeping, but it’s a fact of traditional publishing.

Agents are the people who help you negotiate that literary contract. While you can get a lawyer, book deals are a very niche market, and lawyers unfamiliar with the space often misstep.

Agents should also know your market — which publishers are looking for what sort of works, what tropes are currently selling, etc. Many of them have already established working relationships with those publishers, so they know how to pitch your manuscript to them! The best agents, in my opinion, are the editorial agents, who give you edits for your manuscript in ways that help it sell in the current market and take your writing to the next level — then get you a beautiful publishing contract.

Types of Publishers

I’ve talked about Publisher Red Flags before, but let’s address the types of publishers, from the big guys to the small guys. Traditionally, money always flows TO the writer. But, as you get closer to Indie Publishing, you may need to pay for some expenses.

Traditional Publishing

The Big Five

Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins Publishers, Macmillan Publishers, Penguin Random House, and Simon & Schuster and all of their imprints. A few big examples, depending on your genre: Tor Publishing is a Macmillan imprint, Harlequin is a HarperCollins imprint, and Bantam Books is a Penguin Random House imprint.

Traditionally, if they buy your book, you get a big shiny advance (usually in 3-5 chunks, across 1-3 years at particular milestone). And then you don’t make another dime until your book sells enough to pay off your advance (or ‘earn out’) — at your percentage. Because everyone else is getting a chunk.

Other Traditional Publishers

There are others, from Disney to Scholastic that work the same way as the big 5.

Medium-Sized Publishers

These offer smaller advances, and usually champion more niche books, but do pretty well for themselves – and hopefully the books they take on.

Small Press

Now, these aren’t as well defined, but I’m just gonna rank them here and describe what you get.

Tier One

These will still buy your book – maybe a couple grand for an advance. They’ll do the editing and get you a pretty good cover. They’ll do a little marketing — sending out advance copies, getting you reviews, bringing your book to the shows they’re at, and maybe a blog tour. But, a lot of the marketing heavy lifting is on you.

Tier Two

These will cover the publishing expenses for you, and take your book to any shows they’re at, but that’s about it. You’ll be making your royalties as soon as the publishing expenses are covered because there’s no advance to ‘earn out’.

Some of these publishing houses are labors of love, born from independently published authors who went through the whole process and want to help out authors like them.

Tier Three

These are those indie-published authors basically guiding you through the process. You’ll probably have to get your own editor and book cover artist, but at least you’re not going it alone.

Vanity Press

These publishing companies will publish your book, probably any book, for a fee. Often not considered “legitimate”, they’re perfectly fine if you want to publish a family history and get a bunch of copies to share with the family. Or give out copies of your picture book at baby showers. Or for motivational speakers who have a book they give attendees at their talks. They serve a need.

Independent Publishing

It’s all you, baby.

Publishers To Skip

1. When you check a publisher’s other books, and they’re poorly edited with clipart or AI covers.
2. When a publisher has only published books by 1 or 2 authors, and they’re not upfront with being what I’ve called a tier 3 small press
3. Publishers who have nothing out in your genre, unless they talk you through their plan of getting into that market
4. There are some scammy fly-by-night operations that scrub your name and list your manuscript on Amazon. Or run your stuff through AI, and list AI-generated variants based on your writing style. They’re hard to spot, so just make sure you work with a publisher with a track record that you respect.

A Few Notes on Agents

Literary agents work at literary agencies and only get paid if you do. That said, many also wear other hats within the agency — from contracts to accounting, to marketing, especially while becoming established, so they can afford to stay at the agency.

Many established agents have enough clients to keep them busy and pay the bills. So, it can be easier to get a newer agent, because they’re still building their client list.

Agent Warning Signs

• Anyone can call themselves an agent – so, make sure they’re attached to a literary agency. Some fake agents are just recruiters for vanity presses
• A new agent without industry experience (with a publisher) or without an experienced agent mentor — this is a learn-on-the-job sort of position!
• An agent who is signing on a lot of clients in a short time period — I’ve heard of this happening, and they often get overwhelmed and none of their clients gets their best effort
• Watch for agents who sign, and then drop clients within a year or two, after their first book fails to sell
• I want a ‘career agent’, so I’ll be asking about long-term plans for books I haven’t written yet, rather than just a plan for this one book
• Any listings on the Writer Beware website! (Thank you, Victoria Strauss)
• Agents at a literary agency that has a high turn-over rate
• When googling [Agent Name] [Agency] has more complaints than sales on the first page of results
• When their query submission guidelines are wildly different than the standard
• Agents that reject you, but let you know they’re also a freelance editor if you want to pay them. While I understand they need the money and are probably skilled, (see my comment above where I want an editorial agent), it’s also a MASSIVE conflict of interest

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Publishing, as an industry, is a labor of love for most of us. You just have to be wary of the agent or publisher who’s in over their head, and the scammers looking to use you for a quick buck.

Do you have any warnings I’ve missed?
Any horror stories to add to my list of things to watch out for?