Can a literary agent be hired?
I've sent my manuscript to tens of literary agents. Strangely enough, I received no positive response.
My question: Can I hire a literary agent? If yes, how much it costs?
Are there other ways (except of vanity presses) to publish and widely distribute my religious book?
I may probably get a grant for publishing this book (instead of my own expenses). But I don't even know how much to ask, because I don't know how much I need to pay for publishing.
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1 answer
Probably not a professional one.
All agents are hired - they take a percentage of whatever contracts they get you (or which they negotiate for you). You're asking if you can pay extra for an agent to represent an author or an MS which they'd otherwise turn down.
Here's the thing: an agent represents what s/he thinks s/he can sell. If they don't want to take on a book, that means they don't think they can sell it (or, maybe they could sell it, but not for enough money to make the percentage worth the agent's effort). Why would you want to hire somebody who straight-out doubts they'll be able to sell your book?
Taking a percentage works in the author's favor - it means the author doesn't pay if the agent doesn't make the sale. For this reason, agents taking anything other than a percentage are usually extremely suspicious - and there are a lot of fake, malicious, or simply unprofessional agents who will take your money but do nothing to advance you towards publication.
Another point is that an agent's reputation is much of his/her livelihood. A good agent can't take on a manuscript s/he considers to be poor quality, because it will make future pitches for other clients much more suspect.
Other options you might pursue could include e-publishing, which is quite accessible and produces a final product that can be quite widespread, or simply approaching publishers directly yourself, which is still quite doable. Be sure to target publishers with lines of books that are appropriate for the manuscript you'd like to sell!
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