14 Questions to Ask Before Signing with an Agent

1. What genres does the agent represent and not represent?

2. How much editing does the agent do? T

3. What is the agent's idea of a good career or a bad career for a writer?

4. What is the biggest mistake a writer can make? You want to know what would piss your agent off.

5. What will the agent do if you send in a manuscript that you love and the agent hates? Or feels s/he cannot get behind? Or simply thinks will dilute the quality of your name as an author?

6. What is the agent's ideal client like?

7. What are the agent's favorite books published in the last year? 

8. What changes does the agent think the publishing world will go through in the next year?

9. What does the agent do if a client is unhappy with a book cover? Or if the client's editor is laid off or quits? T

10. How does the agent sell international rights? Does s/he go to Bologna? To Frankfurt? To the London Book Fair? Does s/he have a foreign subrights agent? Also, film rights. Does the agent handle those? Has the agent sold film rights? To what projects? Have they actually been produced?

11. How does the agent feel about author branding?

12. Is there anything an author can do to get on a best-seller's list? Or to win an award?

13. What do you do when an author's career appears to be stalling?

14. Does the agent have an assistant or co-agents in the same agency? What is the agent's vision of the future for him/herself? Is there a number of clients after which the agent will consider no more clients?

More on these questions in The Business of Writing: http://www.amazon.com/The-Business-of-Writing-ebook/dp/B00DMMM768/ref=sr_1_14?ie=UTF8&qid=1373321343&sr=8-14&keywords=mette+ivie+harrison