The role of an agent involves representing the author throughout his career. But it actually entails several roles: pioneer, educator, negotiator and confidant.
The agent must first find writers, whether through recommendations, searches in literary journals, newspapers, social media or academia. You should then help that writer to get their ideas and work into the best possible shape before sending them to publishers – this could be a large, structural or line-level edit – or simply a conversation to help the writer better articulate or envision what they want to say.
Agents need to know the industry well – editors and publishing houses, of course, but also the market – what sells and what doesn’t, where there are gaps their author could fill, what trends are gaining ground. both literary and the wider cultural context. The agent will present the author’s work to publishers and discuss the best deal, looking at licence fees and contract terms for the author in all forms – book rights both in the UK and overseas, which can include translations, audio, e-books. film and TV rights. As well as making deals, you can discuss with the author any number of decisions arising from the publication: cover, copy, advertising and marketing campaigns.