LifeWork Communication's Literary Agency

At LifeWork Communications we realize that a book may have the realistic potential of being a huge sellor coup right out of the gate. In this event we will partner with a larger publishing house as your literary agent to make sure it's marketing potential is realized.

A. Because publishers have roomfuls of accountants, attorneys and editors who work to ensure the best interests of their company are met. They utilize sophisticated financial analyses and legal maneuvering to get what they want. They may seem like your best friend, but they're working for their bottom line. We balance efforts, ensuring that every clause in the 20-page legal document outlining the publishing relationship is aggressively negotiated on behalf of the author. One client saw the before-and-after efforts and wrote a letter saying that the contract we'd negotiated for him was a "work of art." I take pride in that. We are the author's champion and best cheerleader. We can brag authors up and say things about them that are awkward if coming from their own mouths. Proverbs says it best: "Don't call attention to yourself; let others do that for you."

Q. Why aren't all authors represented?

A. Maybe for the same reason some people build their own homes. They just want to somehow try and do it all. It generally doesn't end well, and authors who handle their own negotiations leave much on the table. It's even worse when they have a spouse handle the negotiation. Or their personal attorney, who generally has no experience in intellectual property law. On a recent trip to New York, I asked a top editor when she'd last signed an unagented author. She said it had been about ten years ago. When the manuscript first arrived, the editor said, she called the author, suggested she get an agent, and gave her the names of four or five she'd worked with. The author declined. The editor then sent her the names of several authors who were represented and asked her to call them to get their perspective. The editor said she went to those lengths because she didn't want the author coming back five years later, complaining that she'd been taken unfair advantage of. She also said it helped preserve the editor-author relationship to have a professional handling the business details.

Q. What are the details of the financial arrangements you handle for authors?

A. Among an agent's many jobs is ensuring that all marbles end up in the right bags. The specifics are clearly detailed in written agreements between author and agent, outlining the agreed upon split (with the agent getting 15% of all monies payable to the author); and author and publisher, reflecting the financial terms we negotiate on the author's behalf. At the end of the day, an author's marble count depends on their agent's negotiation strength.

Q. What impacts your negotiation ability?

A. It is always boosted by the power of an author's words and things like prior acclaim and current platform. Having a strong agent who's not afraid to swim with sharks is a huge benefit. Having time to work the deal is always in the author's favor. We can do better for an author if mortgage payments and taxes aren't in arrears and there's food in the pantry. It's never good for an author to be anxious for a deal in the next week. We can move that quickly if necessary, but it can have a negative impact on the advance. As desperate as an author may be, it's best not to let the publisher hear your stomach growl.

Q. How are payments in the agreement typically doled out?

A. With major houses, typically in thirds: on execution of the agreement, delivery and acceptance of the manuscript, and publication. Some publishers pay in halves; others in fourths, with the final payment coinciding with paperback release or a year following initial publication. Once the advance is earned back, royalties typically pay between 10% and 15% of a book's cover price. Payments are often routed through an agency, which will bank the money in an escrow account and forward the percentage due the author. We do things differently at LifeWork Communications. To get money to authors quickly (and avoid the temptation of sailing to Tahiti on their nickel), we specify that publishers send 85% of the advance and subsequent royalties straight to the author, and 15% to us. It keeps things simple and honest and fast.

Q. Do authors agent-hop like some musicians, always hoping that will get them further faster? How does one change agencies without hurting feelings or burning bridges?

A. Most authors are loyal to the hilt and stick by their agent through thick and thin. Regarding the core issue on making a change, regardless of whether there is merit to such a decision, breaking up is hard to do. But as Jerry McGuire said, "This ain't about your friends, it's about your business." All to say, if an author is intent on the axe, he/she shouldn't teeter around forever and a day agonizing about it. Sharpen the blade and do the deed. An agent isn't making anything if the author isn't, and so losing a non-earning client doesn't generate significant emotion. Allude to this in the letter, mentioning that a relationship should be mutually beneficial, and that the time has come for all parties to derive more benefit. Courtesy remains an enduring quality. One shouldn't waver by saying this is something you're thinking about. It's something you've decided. Though changing agents may not land an author a seven-figure contract, don't hesitate. Writing is demanding, emotionally draining work. The last thing anybody needs is the encumbrance of an agent who's not getting the job done, however that's defined.

Q. I understand that your agency commission is 15%. Is that ever negotiable?

A. Everything is done at 15%. We've held to this standard consistently, citing value-added services like hands-on attention before, during, and after contract negotiation and execution. Also, the consistent presence of an author advocate all along the way on a host of issues, often involving other projects for which we receive no income because we are committed to long-term support and career success. We won;t just make deals and disappear. We will monitor your publishers' performance and lobby constantly for our clients, not simply to hold publishers accountable but also to help infuse creative ideas and spur action they might not otherwise have taken. And then there's the need to stimulate cross-promo efforts between publishers when an author has active titles with several houses.

Q. So sales aren't based just on the quality of writing?

A. Some writers get better with each book and you see an incremental increase in sales over the years. But in general, you'll find there's a really good agent attached to projects where there's been a runaway increases in sales. That's the difference an agent makes. It's the agent who ensures the publisher is thinking and performing strategically for authors when vision and implementation get diffused across multiple people, departments, and years. It's the agent who pushes marketing and sales teams to position and support books intelligently across all markets. It's the agent who does the fine-tooth combing and negotiating of the contracts. That's why good agents earn every dollar.

Q. How long do you receive your commission on a particular project?

A. The commission continues for the life of the project, as do the benefits authors derive from our work on their behalf. If this weren't the case, a client could decide on a whim they don't like the way I do my hair or drink from a straw, and thereby change provisions to which we'd agreed.

Q. What is the term of your agency agreement?

A. Most agencies have 2-5 year terms to protect themselves from termination, but I don't believe in that. We can be fired at will. An author will know if we're doing a great job from our first negotiation, but if things sour I don't want us artificially bound by a period of time. Everything we do is about relationship and service. We're superb at both, which is why our clients are extraordinarily loyal.

Q. What does LifeWork look for, fresh writers or established writers?

A. Ultimately it boils down to words on the page. How good are they? Freshness counts. We're always looking for new voices and great writing. Always. Having said that, I recently received a proposal from an unknown. I circulated the material and the agents raved about the author's unique style, thought-provoking insights--and then reminded me that publishers wouldn't be interested. In the genre this particular project fell into, publishers prefer authors with names and established platforms--people who bring large constituencies to the table.

Q. That's discouraging for the first-time writer who doesn't have a national TV show.

A. It's a tough biz. But the reality in bookstores isn't much different than grocery stores and hardware stores. Name brands sell. This becomes even truer as small retailers lose ground to the big boxes. Books have become commodities and have shorter lives on shelves than a box of Cheerios. And yet, the cream always rises. If the words are great, the manuscript will eventually get published. Great writing is noticed, and eventually an agent or publisher will get excited and become the personal champion for the project. We can't take on everything we like from first-time authors, but we generally try to advocate for a half dozen unknowns and up-and-comers each year. It may take shopping them to twenty publishers and getting turned down 19 times, but all we need is one yes.

Q. Any other tips?

A. Read books in your genre. If you're doing suspense, be a student of words and study how guys like DeMille and Grisham do what they do. What grabs you about their particular works? How do they sustain the drama and build believable characters? What makes you keep reading? How do they turn the corner whereby you're dying one minute and laughing on the floor the next? If you want to conquer the marketplace, you need to know what readers want. These authors do it better than anybody else. If it's suspense you're after, give readers the same can't-put-it-down intensity. The same white knuckle fear. But then make it your own and make it distinct.

Q. What about book and writer's conferences, are they worthwhile? Do such affairs generate good leads and connections to top-notch agents?

A. Wherever two or three authors and an agent are gathered, go. Here's a secret. Even when an agency doesn't accept unpublished authors, they're always prowling for the next big book from an unknown. Though we've landed many titles atop the New York Times bestseller list, our agents still attend four or five regional conferences annually. Other agencies do the same. And so, get thee to a conference and corner an agent in a hallway, after a session, during a meal, or after hours.

Q. Do you get a lot of "I've written the next Left Behind" from potential authors?

A. Every work needs to stand on its own. Authors frequently equate their work with whatever is hot at the moment, and trumpet that it's the next whatever. Instead, just write the best story you can, take the feedback you've been given, revise accordingly, and if it's good it will eventually be published. If it's really good, people will buy it.

Q. What do you say to authors who are toying with quitting their day job?

A. Don't. Maintain a job (or get one), and only quit if there's a significant track record of writing income exceeding what you've made elsewhere. The reality is that most authors have regular jobs and write in the stolen hours--when everybody else is sleeping or watching TV or going to dinner or the mall, etc. They conceive books while they're ironing or showering or driving, and then carry the book in their heads until they have time to get it on paper. It's not an easy life. And so, if you can not write, don't. If you can't not write, then yes, start looking for a job, do what you need to do to get by financially, and steal the writing hours wherever and however you can. Somehow in its own time the book(s) will get done. What you don't want is to compound the pressure of being broke atop the already difficult and emotionally draining job of writing.

Q. What is a common reason you reject manuscripts?

A. We publish and represent authors and books that are for the most part family friendly.

Q. How do you know what advance to seek? Do you typically set a floor on the advance you are looking for?

A. I repped a book several years back with the guy who trained cops for the LAPD. Prior to that he handled some of their high profile hostage negotiations. One particular day he was dealing with a loony who was ready to blow up something or other and take a bunch of people out if his demands weren't met. My client asked the nut what he wanted. Guy says, A million dollars and an airplane. That story comes in handy with many of my negotiations. I tell publishers, me too. I want a million bucks--but I'm negotiable about the airplane. They get a good laugh, and we move from there, up or down, depending on the individual circumstances. In most cases, the agents typically won't seek a floor, or the lowest acceptable bid on a project. If you ask a publisher to establish the floor at a certain level, they typically expect a last round topping privilege. That sounds fair, but if other houses are involved in the bidding, it makes an auction somewhat pointless, because the floor publisher can step in at the end of the day and get the book for, say, 10% higher than the highest bidder. I'd rather keep the bidding less formal, and allow the author to make the final selection of publisher based on a variety of factors. Our job is to ascertain which house really, really wants the property. It's not about a trophy hunt or filling a slot in the catalog because of a project that fell through. Our agents look for a publisher who will eat, sleep, and breathe this book. Who will sell it better than anybody else. Who will involve outside designers and publicists to position the book well and let people know it exists. Who will ultimately sell more copies.

Q. Do you always choose publishers based on who pays the highest advance?

A. There's many cases where an author takes a lower amount because the high bidder may not be the best match. Also, we're very careful before we move an author away from a house where there's been a long, abiding relationship and everything clicks.