Question 6
What happens if an author's agent moves to a different literary agency? Does the author go with them automatically or do they have to choose? Also if, that author has sold a book with the agent at the previous agency, does that old agency still get a cut of the royalties?
You can find this mentor, Naomi Kanakia, here!
It depends. Usually the client does move with the agent (let’s call them Original Agent) to the new literary agency (let’s call it New Agency), but the former agency (let’s call them Original Agency) is often willing to take on or reassign representation of the author (especially if they’ve sold a book with the Original Agency). For this it’s best to talk to the head of the agency—but if you make inquiries in this way, there’s a good chance it’ll get back to the Original Agent, and it might annoy them. In general, if you’re unsure about your representation, it’s best to strike out fresh and just look for a new agent, because if the Original Agency dumps you into the lap of a New Agent they probably won’t do that great a job, since they haven’t picked you themselves.
It does sometimes happen though that someone at the Original Agency is very enthusiastic about you, picks you up, and does a good job, but that’s very much on a case by case basis.
As I mentioned, usually the Original Agent offers to take their clients to the New Agency—it would be fairly rare for this not to happen. If the client has already sold a book, the royalties will go to the Original Agency. The Original Agent’s cut of those royalties will vary, and it usually depends on the terms of the contract they signed with Original Agency—some agents have contracts that allow them to keep drawing part of their commission even after they leave, but this is very much a side agreement and doesn’t concern you.
When it comes to unsold subsidiary rights for books whose primary print rights were sold by the Original Agent while at the Original Agency, it very much depends on the specifics of your (the author’s) contract with Original Agency. In some cases, the Original Agency will claim a right to commission on unsold sub rights for books for which they sold the primary rights—in these cases, the expectation would be that Original Agency would continue to pursue subsidiary rights sales even after Original Agent has left.
In cases where Original Agency is not claiming this commission, then usually the New Agency will try to sell those rights, but in some cases, especially where New Agency has a dedicated foreign rights agent and where some, but not all, of the subsidiary rights have already been sold off by Original Agency, the New Agency might not find it in their interest to be aggressive in pursuing rights deals for these books (since it still requires the same amount of time for the foreign rights agent at New Agency to read and market the book in question, but the upside is limited since some of the rights are sold off and/or the Original Agent is new at the New Agency and doesn’t have enough power internally to make the Foreign Rights Agent stand up and take notice).
My first agent actually switched agencies shortly after selling my first book. The contract with the first agency did not claim commissions on unsold sub rights, so his New Agency ended up selling the Turkish rights to my book. However, the Original Agency still gets a commission on the primary rights deal to that book and I still get my royalty statement from their accountants even though I’ve long since left both the Original Agent and the New Agency.
Hope this helps!
