While true that many major picture book publishers do not require you to have an agent to submit your work, having the right agent pitch your work to their contacts certainly can’t hurt in a heavily-saturated market.

Since the industry standard is that agents ONLY WORK ON COMMISSION, you should not be paying out of pocket for a literary agent to represent your work.

However, this also means it is a detriment for these agents to take on work they don’t believe they can sell. Thus, agents are understandably selective when offering their representation.

Quick Upsides to Having a Literary Agent:

• Access to publishers who only review work submitted by literary agents.

• A better chance of getting your work seen by major publishers. Since one of the biggest benefits of having an agent leveraging their insider-access, they will use their networks to get your work sincere consideration from publishers.

  Quick Tradeoffs to Having a Literary Agent

• Since most major publishers allow authors and illustrators to submit directly, without needing an agent, having an agent could mean you’re adding an unnecessary third party.

• Why this matters: As we highlighted, agents normally get paid on commission, so they get paid when you get paid. Meaning, if they land you a publishing deal, they’ll receive 10%-15% of your advance from the publisher and 10%-15% of every royalty check you receive in the future.

Questions to Ask When Wondering If You Should Query Agents

• Do you want your work to be traditionally published or would you rather go directly to market?

• Are you comfortable giving up a percentage of your potential contract advance and book sale royalties (in perpetuity)?

• Are you willing to wait 4-12+ weeks while agents review your polished submission materials to see if they’re the right agent to represent your work?

The choice to pursue representation is an entirely personal decision. If you do decide you’d like to try your hand querying picture book agents, it helps to know which agents (and agencies) are winning the most deals for the clients they represent!

Without further ado, here are the top 20 literary agents in order by number of deals made:

Serial Storytellers: If you an an inkling you’d like to write and/or illustrate more than one picture book via traditional publishing, securing an agent can be of tremendous value. Within a fluid client-agent relationship, you’d be able to concentrate on your original work/commissions while your agent shops your unsold material and brings you new project opportunities!

Caution: An agent should never sign your publishing contract and/or retain any portion of your text or illustration copyright. Their role is to pitch your work(s) to traditional publishers, negotiate optimal deal terms and forward your money to you from the publisher (less their percentage).