Back in the day any writer could send his or her manuscript to a publisher and expect it to be read and either accepted or rejected in just a month or two. Direct submissions by authors were called "over the transom" submissions because many old-time publishing company offices had a window over their office door and authors could deliver their manuscript through that portal after hours.
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Today that picture has changed considerably. The larger the publishing company, the less likely they are to accept direct submissions from authors. Why? There are two main reasons. The first one is that publishers are inundated by manuscripts and they simply do not have the staff to read all the manuscripts that come to them. The second reason is because of legal liability. Publishers have been sued because they read and rejected one book, but published one similar to it. The rejected authors thought their manuscript was stolen by the publisher and sued for damages.
Publishers discovered that they could have someone else evaluate the merit of manuscripts without even paying them themselves, and they could also limit their liability if the manuscript was brought to them by a third-party. Who is that person? It is the literary agent. The role of the literary (or book) agent is to find high-quality manuscripts from qualified authors and to submit them to publishers. The publisher does not pay the literary agent for doing this; the agent receives a commission from the advance and the on-going royalties of the author.
Donald L. Hughes is the editor of ChristianWritingToday.com (http://www.ChristianWritingToday.com). He has over 30 years experience as a Christian writer, editor and publisher. ChristianWrtitingToday.com provides information and inspiration for Christian writers and those who want to become one.
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