Live webchat: A literary agent answers your questions

This Q&A is now over. Read Karolina's answers below

Since the relaunch of guardian.co.uk/books, we've been asking you to tell us what you'd like to see on the site. One interesting request came from Degrus, UnpublishedWriter, and RolandKempston who suggested that we corral members of the publishing industry and get them to come online and explain what, precisely, they do. To that end, we've set up a series of five webchats with books professionals, which should hopefully cast light on the production process all the way from manuscript to bookshop.

We begin this Friday with the agent – a mysterious figure whose most obvious role is to get the best price possible for books, but who can also act as friend, first reader, counsellor and shoulder to cry on.

Online to explain her role will be Karolina Sutton, from one of the UK's premier literary agencies, Curtis Brown. She represents a range of fiction and non-fiction authors, from award-winning debut novelists to bestselling crime fiction writers. Her clients include Andrea Ashworth, Patricia Cornwell, Alan Garner, Siri Hustvedt, Naomi Klein, Haruki Murakami and Tobias Wolff.

She'll be here to answer your questions from 1pm to 2pm this Friday, 13 May. Feel free to start posting questions now, so she'll have plenty to get to grips with, and come back on Friday to read her replies.

Next week we talk to an editor: Francis Bickmore, of Canongate.

You asked, Karolina answered

Click on the link to go to the full answer. We've shortened some questions, just to make things a bit easier to follow

@ms273: Why are literary agents (who serve the role of a middle man) required in the publishing process? Why isn't there a better submissions process to publishing companies? Why is self-publishing your books frowned upon?
An agent's primary role is to secure the best financial and contractual terms for their client, as well as use their knowledge of the market to advise authors in key business and editorial decisions. An open submission process would rather fail in that respect. As for your question about self-publishing, it is frowned upon when it lacks quality control. And it doesn't make authors happy.
@kushti: I was shocked to be be told by my own agent that 99% of submissions they receive are from people who can't write. What would you estimate your percentage to be?
99% may be right, but agents are famously indefatigable and live in hope.

@vertical: As an agent, how much might you ask an author to change their novel before presenting it to a publisher? Is agent input increasingly important at this early stage?
It is a truth generally acknowledged that when editors read, first and foremost, they look for reasons to say no...

@Tams: How many drafts would you say successful manuscripts have had before you read them and think "yes"?
Until it's ready to be submitted and you feel there is nothing else you can do to improve it. There are no rules.

@cacooper: Why do most agents insist on hard copy submissions? If an agent says they are happy to accept both, do you think you disadvantage yourself by submitting by email?
If invited to do so, you can submit by email. You won't be disadvantaged.

@AmJam1: Do you think creative writing courses are worth the money?
I don't think anyone is born with the ability to write, although they may have a talent for storytelling. If you can teach yourself how to do it then why waste money on a course, but if you prefer being taught then there are myriad options.

@AggieH: Is it still conceivable that an author could be talented and reclusive, perhaps writing under a genuine pseudonym?
How do I put this? It wouldn't be music to a publisher's ears to hear that an already difficult job will be made ten times harder.

@beastess: How can an author with a successful track record find herself without a publisher or agent?
Whole genres can disappear in a matter of a few years, leaving successful authors without a job. A quality that took a writer to the top of a bestseller chart may suddenly become unfashionable...

@Northumbriana81: I would like to ask Miss Sutton what are her feelings re the 'click to publish' Amazon venture? How dangerous do you feel this is to talented new writers who can publish instantly rather than honing their craft?
E-book self-publishing will appeal to some authors, but not the majority. It will mostly work for genre authors who know how to price and promote their books cleverly...

@InkMuse: All my agent rejections told me that I have a lot of skill writing-wise, but they didn't connect with one aspect or another. If I am making it past the "being able to write" stage (99%) and still failing within that 1%, then 1% still must be a TON of writers who write well.

@9cupsoftea: What is your process for actually reading submissions? Do you set aside a time during work to rigorously read each submission, or is it more like casually skimming through pages whenever you find time?
When I started as an assistant, reading during office hours was frowned upon because that was when we looked after existing clients' interests. I quickly learned to read before and after work. Agenting is not a nine-to-five job.

@KidneyKidney: How does someone become a literary agent?
I started as an assistant to two literary agents and learned the ropes that way. It's a bit like an old-fashioned apprenticeship. You need to learn it in practice. I made a lot of coffee for very many authors in my first year.

@theboojum: What aspects of your job give you the greatest personal satisfaction?
The most pleasurable part of the job is the rush of excitement when you receive something promising, then the relief and joy when it doesn't run out of steam after the first fifty pages...

@InkMuse and others: Why is it harder to find an agent who wants to represent you than a major publisher who is interested in your work?
I wouldn't want to represent every book that has a potential to be published. A single agent can only take on a limited number of clients and we have to invest our time in long-term relationships that will be mutually rewarding. Otherwise, we would run the risk of spreading ourselves too thinly and disappointing everybody.

@UnpublishedWriter: Why do Agents ask that you contact them one at a time when it takes them 2 or 3 months to reply?
You may contact a number of agents at the same time as long as you make it clear it's a multiple submission. It's bad form to ask an agent to read your work only to call them a few days later to say you have signed up with someone else.

@jamesgwriter: Are short story collections still something that don't really excite agents that much, or do you think they are become more popular?
How many short story collections have you bought in the last five years?

@vargasfan:
How many new novels would get bought without the clout of publishers and agents behind their marketing? I bought six collections of short stories last year, but I had to hunt them down.
Fair enough. I love short stories and I sell them, but probably fewer than ten collections are publsihed in the UK every year...

@vargasfan, @jamesgwriter, @KidneyKidney: How many short story collections have been published? Isn't it a chicken and egg situation?
All the proud short story collection buyers - where are you when we look at royalty statements for collections, which on average sell fewer than two thousand copies? Joking aside, there are great opportunities for short stories if you are not expecting a lot of money. I personally love them.

• Publishing
• The publishing professionals
• blogposts

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEoKyaqpSerq96wqikaJqfpLi0e8GopqSrkqG8qHuRaWhqZ52WxnB9j2ijoq6VYsSmrsKhmK1lnJ7Bpr7Aq7BmmZeau7V5wKeqsJ2iqHq6u9SrZKqtlajBqrvNrA%3D%3D