I am completely new to this. I have written a story for children which I submitted to Olympia Publishers. They have offered me a contributory contract with £2500 towards costs and 20% royalties. I have not got a clue if this is good or not. This is one story but I have already got a follow up in the planning so want to get this right for me and my family. Any advice is welcome. What do I do next please?
@ Diane: Literary agents is another field where sharks disguise themselves as dolphins.
NO reputable agent charges you an up-front fee! They take a (usually) 15-20% cut of your royalties IF you get published. This means 2 things:
a) They have a vested interest in making sure that you DO get published... So they WORK at this.
b) They won't take you on unless they can be reasonably sure that you will get published. Large agencies can receive 300 unsolicited mss per week. They probably only "go with" 1 or 2... if that.
Make sure that your ms is "perfect" BEFORE you submit it to agents. N.B. that s: agentS!
As you write for children, get the Children's Writers And Artists Yearbook (or look at it in a library reference section) for a list of agents and publishers which specialise in children's books, READ their web-sites, and submit to all the ones that look likely. But following their conditions!!!
La Gr@not@ hopes to be in that list from August onwards.
Diane Little congratulations! Firstly, I am very new to all this, I have illustrated for an author under a fixed fee, but never gone through this process alone. I hope to see your name around!
I have been away for the weekend and had no internet access so first time back on here. I really appreciate all your comments and points of view and have decided to turn Olympia down. I just want children to enjoy my book and be able to write and publish more. I really need to look at an agent. Any suggestions about who and how much it will cost me?