15 Questions to Ask an Agent on “The Call”

Whether you’ve got one or five calls lined up, here are the questions you should ask an agent on an offer call to know if they’re the right fit for you long-term. 

So you’ve got a call with an agent scheduled! Congratulations! This is a very exciting step in your author journey! Going into these offer calls, authors usually know that agents will ask them questions about their work and their hopes for their author career. Authors know they’re being “vetted” in the call. But I also meet with so many authors who want to get “picked” by an agent so badly that they sometimes forget that agents also want to get picked by authors! Both the agent and the author have a choice to make here. Both of you are vetting each other. So you should go into the call knowing that it is also an opportunity for you to decide whether the agent is a good fit for you. This is where you become your own advocate and put your business hat on. 

Yes, you’ll both talk about the project you queried in this call, but this call is also an opportunity to learn more about what your working relationship with each other is going to look like. An author-agent relationship is a long-term, career-long business partnership. You want to be sure that the agent who represents you and your work is the best person to guide you and advocate for you throughout your career, and that they are also someone you see yourself working with long-term.  

Whether you’ve got calls lined up with one or several agents, here are 15 questions to ask the agent to help you determine if they are the right fit for you:  

1: What is your vision for my book? What revisions do you think my book needs before you can submit it to editors? 

You likely won’t even have to ask this question because it will naturally get brought up, but make sure you walk away from this conversation with a clear idea of what the agent thinks of your book and whether you two are on the same page for revisions. 

2: How editorial of an agent are you? 

Your agent is not your editor, but your agent will work on edits with you. And agents exist on a sliding scale on that front. Some agents are willing to put in more expansive edits than others. It’s good for you to know what type of agent you need and whether the agent you’re speaking to can provide that. 

3: what are you looking for in a client?

This is your chance to know if what they’re looking for is something you can provide. 

4: what is your communication style?

I’m a firm believer that successful author-agent relationships are rooted in communication. But people have different communication styles, so you want to make sure that you two align on that front, especially in an industry where, as authors, you’ve got a lot of feelings and anxieties involved. 

5: how many clients do you represent?  

There is no right answer here. This question is meant to give you an idea of how busy they might be, how much time they would be able to dedicate to you, and what type of clients they work with.

6: who else at your agency might I be working with?

Your agent is your point of contact at the agency. But they’re not the only person working on your behalf. Who else works on your behalf in the agency? Does the agent have an assistant? Who are the people who go through your royalty statements and contracts? Does the agency have a foreign rights team? Will you have a relationship with anyone else or would work be delegated to anyone else? 

7: do you have a timeline in mind for submitting this project?

Would you be able to turn over edits within that timeline, given your other commitments, if any? How would they agent about a different timeline?

8: which publishing houses or imprints do you believe would be a good fit for my book?

This is an opportunity to see if the agent has already started thinking about who to send your manuscript to. Odds are they already have or they wouldn’t have reached out to you, but it’s good to get a sense of whether those imprints align with your vision too. Keep in mind that agents won’t give you an entire submission list, but they should be able to name 3 or so imprints here. 

9: what is your submission strategy?

Agents have different submission strategies, and these can also differ based on what type of book you’ve got. It’s good to get a sense of how the agent works here. 

10: how does your agency handle subsidiary rights and how involved are you in that process?  

This is somewhat related to question 4. Literary agencies have different structures when it comes to subsidiary rights. Some agencies have their agents work with co-agents directly, some have a dedicated foreign rights agent on staff. Some work with a foreign rights agency that works on behalf of the literary agency. And the percentage of commission the agency takes might depend on that. And there are pros and cons to each of these to consider, based on what you’re looking for. 

11: where do you see my author career going?

Again, you want to work with this person long-term! How would the agent fit into your career if you see yourself switching genres? If you want to establish a certain author brand? 

12: can I speak to one of your clients?

An agent should be prepared to say yes here. Other clients can give you some insight into what it’s like to work with this agent. The agent should be able to connect you with a couple of their clients… Unless you’re their first client! That said, the first time I offered rep, I had lined up authors I’d worked with as an assistant as a reference instead. 

13: what happens if this book doesn’t sell? 

Not all books sell. It’s sad, but it’s true. You want to make sure that the person you’re signing with will be capable of selling your next work, and believes in your writing career. You also want to make sure that their strategy in this case aligns with you. 

14: how will be work together after my book sells?

Ask the agent how involved they will be once your book contract is signed. Ask them what to expect from your relationship past the sale! It will give you an idea of whether you’re on the same page with the kind of support you want or need. 

15: if I sign with you, what will happen next?  

If you’re like me, you want to know what to expect the minute you say “yes.” When should you expect to receive your edit letter or edit call? Is there a sort of orientation process that the agent provides? Or a client guide that you have to go through? When do you get to announce that you’re represented?