Submitting to Publishers While Unagented

There are different types of publishing opportunities out there, and each of them means different things for authors when it comes to having an agent. 

Traditional Publishing 

For most traditional publishers, including the Big 5 (Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster) and their imprints, you must have an agent in order for your submission to be considered by an acquiring editor.

These publishers routinely only accept “agented submissions,” meaning that an agent is the one submitting the manuscript for consideration.  

In the past few months, there have been traditional publishers opening to unagented submissions, especially from BIPOC and other marginalized authors (like this call from Scholastic). Publishers and editors are also increasingly getting involved in twitter pitch contests.

If you’re a creator who gets an offer from a traditional publisher via an open call, pitch contest, or something similar, take that offer and contact literary agents who represent your age range and genre, letting them know you have an offer in hand from a traditional publisher. If they choose to represent you, they’ll make sure that you get the best possible terms in any subsequent contract negotiations. 

Independent (“Indie”) Publishing 

Indie publishers are smaller publishing houses, sometimes run as a non-profit, which publish a smaller volume of books each year than traditional publishers. They may have a specific genre that they publish in, or a certain type of author they’re looking to champion. 

These publishers sometimes require that you have an agent in order to submit to them. Others take direct submissions from authors. This depends on the publisher, and you’ll have to check their submission guidelines. 

If you choose to query an indie publisher, and you get an offer, you can do the same thing as with a traditional publisher - contact your top-choice agents, let them know you have an offer in the query, and then if you’re offered rep, have them negotiate the contract for you. Or, you can choose to just accept the terms they offer you (or try to negotiate for yourself!). 

One thing to note: indie publishers won’t charge you to publish your book. If you’ve gotten an offer from a publisher and then they ask you for money at any stage, they’re a vanity publisher, and you should beware.

Self Publishing 

The one type of publishing where no agent is required at all is self-publishing! If you choose to self-publish, you don’t need an agent, because you take on the role of publisher. This means that you front the costs of editing, cover design, marketing, etc., but you get 100% of the profits instead of getting an advance and then royalty checks if you “earn out” your advance (which means you make enough book sales to pay the publisher back).