If a novel is the world, then its literary agent is Atlas.
In our second week of the program, our SPI class split for our first iteration of industry visits. While some of us ventured to Dey Street Books, my group headed to one of the most well-known literary agencies in the U.S., Writers House. We headed downtown to 120 Broadway, a beautiful building, whose bronze doors and high-ceilinged arcade spoke to an old world regency. We were escorted to the elevators and on the 22nd floor, we were welcomed into the Writers House offices and ushered into a quaint meeting room lined with shelves of books.
We were received by Chaim Lipskar, Associate Agent at Writers House, who delivered a brief presentation about the operations of Writers House and offered a glimpse of his professional responsibilities and lifestyle. Literary agents work intimately with authors, both established and aspiring, to sell their manuscripts to publishers, and hopefully negotiate a substantial advance. But that’s really only what someone who doesn’t aspire to pedantically avoid cliches would call the tip of the iceberg. As glamorous the job of a literary agent may appear in the realm of popular culture, the path there begins with getting your foot in the door as an agent’s assistant. To be a successful agent’s assistant, you need a strong attention to detail in every stage of the publishing process, Chaim advised, particularly the tedious parts. But it pays off when you’re passionate about the business of literature.
An assistant to a literary agent arguably wades even deeper into the weeds (and the slush pile), wearing many editorial, administrative, and even accounting hats. They often take on the more humdrum work so that the agents can work their magic – but everything assistants do, from managing an agent’s calendar, to tackling that hundreds-long list of unsolicited manuscripts, to confirming royalty rates, to providing cookies and sparkling water to visitors–helps lay the foundation for a successful agent-author relationship.
Building a lasting relationship with a writer and stewarding his or her artistic vision through the crucible of conception, acquisition by a publisher, developmental editing, copyediting, publicity campaigns and media appearances, through to the actual book launch and beyond, comprises the bulk of an agent’s responsibilities. In addition to copious amounts of reading, of course.
Rejection is also at the heart of the business, says Stacy Testa, Senior Agent at Writers House, whose recent portfolio includes titles as diverse as the anticipated historical fiction Eleanore of Avignon by debut author Elizabeth DeLozier (Nov 2024) and the adorably heartrending Welcome to the Grief Club by Janine Kwan (2022).
An agent might be passionate about a certain book or client, but very often, publishers do not share their enthusiasm. It is the deals that do succeed which make it all worth it, “The feeling of seeing your client’s book in the store for the first time,” Stacy said , “is unforgettable.”
So the next time you see an author’s acknowledgement to their agent in your favorite book, be glad that their Atlas didn’t shrug!
Teresa Postema is a graduate of the 2024 NYU Summer Publishing Institute. She is currently working at a farm stop in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She hopes to start a career in the publishing industry soon, in editorial, sales, or academic publishing
