Working with Browne & Miller Literary Associates

Browne & Miller Literary Associates is committed to helping our clients produce work of the highest editorial quality and achieve their writing and career goals. The author/agent relationship is a partnership that we take very seriously and we never lose site of the fact that we work for our authors.

Preparation...
Querying a literary agent is the first step in securing literary representation. Please visit our How to Query Us page for detailed information on how to properly introduce us to your project.

Initially...
If we determine that yours is a project we would like to represent, we will offer you an Agency Agreement.  This is a basic contract which details our obligations to each other for representation of your book. Our Agency Agreements are on a project-by-project basis, so are limited to an individual work.

Readying for Submission…

We will provide you with detailed editorial comments on your manuscript or proposal, with the intent of readying your project for submission to publishers. Once the proposal or manuscript is in acceptable form, our office will make copies of the material (for which we will charge you). We then “pitch” the project to selected editors over the phone and submit manuscripts or proposals with detailed, custom-crafted pitch letters. We do not cold submit; a project is always personally pitched to an editor before it is sent. We typically make multiple submissions, meaning several editors will receive the manuscript or proposal simultaneously.

If we receive an offer...
If we receive an offer for your project, we will contact you immediately with the terms and advise you based upon our experience with that publisher and editor. You ultimately decide whether or not to accept any offer.  If you accept an offer for your book, we will negotiate your contract with the publisher in good faith.  We will try to reserve as many subsidiary rights in the Work as possible (such as foreign translation, first and second serial, audio, and film & television rights), so that we may exploit them for your benefit.  The publisher will pay all monies for your book to us, including the advance. Per the AAR Canon of Ethics, we make payments of domestic earnings due clients promptly, but in no event later than ten business days after clearance; revenues from foreign rights over $50 are paid to clients within ten business days after clearance. Our agent's commission is 15% of all domestic earnings from the book, and 20% of foreign earnings (which we usually split with a foreign co-agent) as long as the book remains alive (in print). We work on spec, so do not make any money unless we make a sale.

If you do not receive an offer...
If your manuscript or proposal is rejected by the editors to whom it was submitted, we will either recommend that you revise your material based upon the consistent comments received from the editors (i.e. they all noticed the same problem) or we will send it out to several more editors “as is” for the another round of submissions.  We send our clients copies of all rejection letters.  If, despite our best efforts, we are unable to place a project with an appropriate publisher, we may return the project to the author and release the author from the Agency Agreement. Once the Agency Agreement is terminated, the author can do what he/she likes with the project, including pursuing other representation, self-publishing, or submitting it directly to a publisher for consideration.