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When You May Not Need an Agent
If you are the author of a highly technical or academic or highly literary or experimental work, you may not necessarily need an agent. You can probably place your book with one of the smaller or more specialized publishers, presses that are happy to consider projects that come directly from authors — and that’s a good thing, because many agents won’t agree to represent books with limited sales potential. In their view, they can’t make enough money on such works to cover their expenses, let alone make a profit.
These smaller presses will generally not offer much in the way of advances. But if you’re just getting started, publishing with them will help you begin to build up a track record and reputation that will be more appealing to larger publishers on later projects.
If you do represent yourself, it will be up to you to figure out who (both publisher and specific editor) to send your book to, write effective query letters, decide what to send (query letter, proposal, or full manuscript), address and mail the packages, follow up, and negotiate the contract. But you may be able to do it yourself if you take your time and get it right — and you won’t have to pay an agent’s commission.
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