By: Richard Mercado
Many aspiring comic creators these days have probably heard of the term “literary agent”. Ever since the rise of middle grade and young adult graphic novels in traditional book publishing, many comic creators have started having a literary agent to represent them and there are many great reasons why! In this article we will be going over what literary agents are, how to search for the right literary agent, and the general process of querying to a literary agent!
Before we dive into all that, let’s quickly go over first what Traditional Publishing is!
What is Traditional Publishing?
Traditional Publishers are book publishers who you would normally associate with selling prose novels (Harry Potter, Twilight, Percy Jackson, etc.). These are the biggest publishers in the world! These include publishers like HarperCollins, Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Macmillan, Hachette, Scholastic, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and more! Ever since the rise of titles such as Raina Telgemeier’s “Smile” and Dav Pilkey’s “Dogman”, both of which have sold more than a million copies, traditional publishing has been getting into publishing more graphic novels. Many of these big companies have started their own graphic novel imprints!
For example:
Macmillan -> First Second
Scholastic -> Graphix
Penguin Random House -> Random House Graphic
Harper Collins -> Harper Alley
These publishers normally get hundreds of submissions from creators so what they would do is to prioritize creators who have representation from a literary agent.
What is a Literary Agent?
A literary agent is someone who will help you get your graphic novel pitch published in the Traditional Publishing space. They can help you refine your pitches as they have an eye of what editors in traditional publishers are looking for. They will help you connect with editors, negotiate contracts, and generally communicate for you to the publishers. Since traditional publishing is still a relatively new space for graphic novels, a literary agent will help you navigate through it. A literary agent will guide you throughout your creative career!
They will also do all this work for free! A literary agent will not get paid until they are able to sell your book to a publisher. A typical percentage cut of a literary agent is 15 - 20% of your advance. While this might sound a lot, a literary agent can also negotiate much higher deals as they know the industry standard on how you should be getting paid.
How to Look for a Literary Agent?
First and foremost, there is a difference between an illustration agent and a literary agent. An illustration agent will typically be helping you get illustration work (covers, children’s books, editorial work) but a literary agent is someone who is specifically interested in stories that you want to tell and how to get that story published.
Looking for an agent requires a heavy amount of research on your part as a creator. You can start your research by reading graphic novels! If you want to be in the traditional publishing space, you should read up on graphic novels that are successful in this market. Check out which creators you like or which cretors you feel is similar to the comics-style or storytelling that you do. You can then check who their literary agent is!
Comic creators and literary agents are usually on twitter. You can check the profile of popular comic creators on twitter and you will usually see “represented by @_____” on their bio, which is their literary agent. Literary agents also typically post a link to their manuscript wishlist, and there you can see what type of stories that they are looking for.
There are also websites now that collate the list of literary agents! You can check agentsforillustrators.com and niki-smith.com/about/graphic-novel-agents/ as both sites compile a list of literary agents that you can look at!
Pitching Events
More popular recently are pitching events on twitter like DVPit and PitMad. These are events on twitter where you can post pitch and literary agents will like and comment if they are interested. This is a much easier way to reach out to a literary agent as they have then seen your work and you have made a connection with them. Check out the rules and regulations of each event so you can prepare beforehand:
DVPit: dvpit.com/about
PitMad: pitchwars.org/pitmad
*Take note that DVPit is focused on marginalized creators, so if you are white and cis, you cannot participate in this event.
Pitch Packet
Before querying a literary agent, you MUST have a pitch packet ready to send. Here is an ideal format in how to structure your pitch packet:
Cover Page - It can be as simple as an illustration from your comic pages. The cover page must contain the name of your pitch and your name.
General Information (1 Page) - Contains 1 - 2 sentence description of your pitch, genre, length, target audience, comparable titles and contact information.
Sample Pages (10 - 15 Pages) - Ideally this contains 1 - 2 scenes that best tell what your pitch is about. This can be the first 15 pages of your book or a scene somewhere in the middle.
Synopsis (1 Page) - Contains the summary of the WHOLE graphic novel from beginning to end. You must be able to condense your story into 1 page.
Story Breakdown (3 - 5 Pages) - Contains all the story beats of your pitch. You can split your story here into the three-act structure. You can be much more detailed here. This can be formatted as an outline with bullet points or full paragraphs.
Character Bios - An image and a short description of your characters.
About the Author
*For a more detailed guideline on how to create a pitch packet, you can check out Go Komikimok’s guide on how to create a pitch packet: https://twitter.com/gokomikimok/status/1337061018292412423?s=20
Querying a Literary Agent
Once you have a pitch packet ready, it’s time to check the submission guidelines of the literary agents that you will be querying. Check out the website of the literary agent that you are querying for the guidelines. Literary agents have different guidelines, so you must check properly. Some might require to just send an email while some agents have a submission form. You need to also check if the literary agent is open to queries or not. Unless they took interest in your work from one of the twitter pitching events (DVpit, PitMad), if the agent says they are closed to queries, you cannot query them.
*A big thing to note is that some literary agents do not have specific instructions for graphic novelists. Sometimes you will read instructions like needing the whole manuscript before submitting. These pertain to prose novelists and not for comics creators. Unless the literary agent has specific guidelines for graphic novel submissions, assume that what you just need is the pitch packet.
Query Letter
One of the main requirements of querying is having a query letter. The query letter is like a cover letter explaining who you are, what your pitch is, and why you are pitching to this agent. You can format your query letter like this:
_______________________________
Subject: [Your Name] - [Name of Pitch] - [Graphic Novel Pitch] [DVpit/PITMAD (if they liked your work in these events)]
Ex. Richard Mercado - Alienated - Graphic Novel Pitch - DVPIT
Good day ____ (name of agent),
First Paragraph: Introduce yourself, why you thought of querying this agent (check their manuscript wishlist on what stories they want to see/which artists they represent that you know personally or you love)
Second Paragraph: Logline of your Graphic novel (1 - 2 sentences). Must be short, concise, but enticing.
Third Paragraph: Promotional Synopsis. Summarize what your story is about but DO NOT give away the ending. Leave a hook so that the agent will be enticed to look at your pitch packet.
Fourth Paragraph: Why are you telling this story? Think about the reason you are making this graphic novel in the first place and why you want it published.
*Extra Paragraph: If editors have expressed interest at your work beforehand (like from editors day), you can add this!
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What’s Next?
Once you have your query letter and pitch packet sent, typically you wait a few weeks before you can get a response, depending per agent. Some agents might reply quickly while some might reply after a few weeks. Literary agents tend to reply faster to graphic novel submissions than prose submissions.
You can send to around 4 - 5 literary agents at a time. It is perfectly normal that you do not get interest in the initial round of submissions. Sometimes an agent might reply with revisions, and you should take time to accept feedback and revise rather than rushing.
If an agent hasn’t replied to your query in 3 - 4 weeks, it’s perfectly fine to send a follow-up email. Some queries, especially cold queries, can get accidentally thrown in the spam folder as literary agents get tons of emails.
The Phone Call
Once a literary agent has expressed interest and the two of you have had back and forth email communication, eventually, the literary agent will request a phone call with you. This is a BIG step as this usually means that the literary agent would want to represent you. The agent would usually ask further questions about your story, your career path, what kind of stories you want to tell as well as what the agent can provide in terms of a plan for submitting to editors, feedback to improve your pitch, and what their own idea is in how to market your pitch so that it can be sold to publishers.
Make sure to be prepared in this phone call. Have a list of questions ready (you can even print them out) as well as pen and paper so you can jot down notes from your conversation. Some questions you definitely need to take note are what they thought about your pitch, what their submission strategy is, and what the details are of your literary agent contract. A literary agent must be willing to answer all these questions. Do not be shy in asking as this is a partnership! You should also ask if you can talk to other clients that they have so you can ask them about their own relationship with the literary agent. Lastly, make sure to be respectful in your conversation!
After the Call
After your call with the literary agent, check your notes and your overall impression of the literary agent. It’s perfectly fine, even at this stage if you feel that you did not mesh well. Do not immediately go with the first agent that expressed interest in your work. Ideally, you should have a phone call with at least 1 or 2 other literary agents so you can compare the differences and which one fits you the most. Take note that ideally, the literary agent will work with you throughout your whole career so you should be able to jive with them.
Once you get the contract from the literary agent, you should review it thoroughly. Check the amount they will be receiving per sale, what rights do they own and what the termination agreement is. If you understand something in the contract, you should ask the literary gent and they should be more than willing to explain it. If they don’t want to explain, that’s a bad sign.
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Final Thoughts
Searching for a literary agent is a big step for any comic creator’s career. Make sure before jumping into this quest that you’ve asked yourself personally if you are ready to do it! Make sure you’ve thought about what kind of comics you want to publish and you’ve done your research on where you think your work fits in the comics industry. You can check Anja Racke’s article on “A Guide to Comics Publishing Pathways”: https://levelgroundcomics.wixsite.com/mysite/post/a-guide-to-comics-publishing-pathways
Here you can read about the different platforms of where comics are published. Take your time to learn about the industry so that once you are in the querying process, you are in familiar ground. Feel free to contact Level Ground Comics if you have any more questions, and good luck on finding the right literary agent for you!
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