How to Get an Agent (Part 2)
How do I get an agent? That’s one of the questions I get most from aspiring illustrators. In Part 1, we talked about your portfolio readiness, types of agents, how to find them, how to let them find you, and how to apply to agents.
In Part 2 today, we’ll cover what to do before you sign up with an agent (if you get offered representation) and how to deal with rejections (if you don’t get offered representation or don’t hear any responses from agents).
Let’s get started.
What to do before signing with an agent
If you’ve gotten an offer of representation from an agent, firstly, congratulations! But don’t rush into signing with them before you do these 3 things:
Arrange for a call (preferably video)
You should always speak to a potential agent first before agreeing to anything. If they’re trying to push you into signing a contract without even speaking to you first, that’s a huge red flag.
Having this initial phone call is a way for you and the agent to get to know each other. If you’re not sure what to talk about in this call, here are some ideas:Discuss your goals as an illustrator and how you can work together to achieve those goals.
If you need a lot of help developing your portfolio or career goals, ask them if this is something they can support. Not every agency does this.
Find out how will they market you to their clients and if you need to pay for additional marketing.
Ask them what markets they focus on. For example, some smaller agencies may only focus on one area (e.g. trade publishing), and if you want to have opportunities to work across multiple industries, you need to know if they can help you with that or that’s something they won’t do at all.
Ask about the commission percentage they take. As mentioned in Part 1, literary agents usually take 15% while illustration agents can be between 20-50%.
Find out if you are allowed to keep existing clients you already have and/or if you are allowed to source your own clients while working with the agent. If yes, ask what percentage of commission (if any) they’ll take for these.
Besides work goals, you also need to consider if your personality and values align with the prospective agent. Ideally you’ll want to have a long-term partnership with your agent so you definitely want to get along with them. Having personality, values and communication styles that mesh well with them will help maintain this. This initial phone call will give you some indication if you’re a good fit for each other.Talk to other illustrators
Even if your conversation with the agent goes well, you should still do more research by asking other illustrators that’s already signed with them. Different artists have different experiences so try to ask more than one.
I recommend that you email these artists instead of DM-ing on social media unless you’re already friends. In your email, explain that you have been offered representation with this agent and you’d just like to get their opinion and experience and if they recommend if you sign on too. Most illustrators will be quite happy to respond but please do not badger them if they don’t.
If you know of illustrators who left the agent, reach out and ask them why (if they don’t mind sharing). It’s not always a negative reason why someone leaves an agent, but it’s helpful to understand if their reason for leaving may be a potential issue for you with the agent.Understand the contract and terms & conditions
If you’re happy to go ahead with this agent, they will then send you a contract to sign. Please make sure you really understand the contract and terms & conditions before you sign it.
Check if there are any clauses that don’t match up to what they already told you in your conversations (e.g. the commission %, notice period if you want to leave, etc). This could be a genuine mistake that they can correct in the contract before you sign it. If they’re adamant about not changing clauses that contradict what you’ve already discussed, that’s a red flag.
Legal documents like contracts aren’t the easiest to understand, so I encourage that you get some expert opinion on it. In the UK, I believe the Association of Illustrators (AOI) provide contract review and advice services if you are a member.
Dealing with rejections
Almost every illustrator has had the experience of being rejected by an agency - either with completely no response or a formal rejection. I won’t sugarcoat this - rejection is hard, and it is difficult not to take it personally. Here are some of my learnings and advice if you’re dealing with this:
Turn this into a learning experience
When you get a rejection, try to get an opportunity to learn something from it. Ask for feedback - either from the agents who have rejected you, or through portfolio reviews with art directors, other agents and/or other professional illustrators. Professional critiques and feedback will give you some idea why you didn’t get accepted by the agent. Do you notice a pattern in these feedback? If yes, that’s a good indication that’s something you need to work on - take these feedback and craft a plan to improve your portfolio before your next round of applications to agents.
Keep persevering and improving your craft
I know this is easier said than done, but perseverance is very important in the face of rejections. Allow yourself to wallow and be sad about rejections for a bit (we are all human!), then move forward and use this as motivation to keep getting better at your skills, and to try again. No matter how good you are, there is always room for improvement. Constantly working on your craft will also help you evolve your work and style as an illustrator, and this could lead to other opportunities and another agent that is a better fit for you.
Be gracious in your response
If you do hear back from an agent and it’s a rejection, be gracious in your response. Thank them for their time, and ask for feedback (see point 1) if they hadn’t already provided some. Although it stings to get a rejection, don’t burn your bridges by not replying or worse, being rude. Sometimes your art isn’t the right fit or level for the agency at the moment - you could try again in the future. Do not close the door permanently.
Reminder #1: An agent is not a guarantee of work
There is a misconception that having an agent means you’ll always have a constant stream of work. Yes, an agent’s job is to get you illustration jobs, but they cannot guarantee it.
I’ve experienced this myself - I was with my first agent for almost a year and got no paid work.
There are many possible reasons why an agent can’t get you work - maybe they’re not pitching you to the right people, or your portfolio may not be the best fit for the work they’re pitching you for, or it’s just bad luck, etc.
Whether or not you have an agent, you should always still have your own marketing plans to promote yourself or find potential clients. This leads me to the next reminder….Reminder #2: You don’t need an agent to get work
An agent is not necessary to get paid work, except in instances where you cannot submit unsolicited pitches. This is usually only in the publishing industry where many publishers do not accept book pitches from a un-agented author-illustrator.
If you're looking to do book illustrations or art licensing, you do not need an agent as long as you have the drive to seek out work, pitch regularly, and are comfortable dealing with the contracts and financial negotiations yourself.
I rely on both my own pitching efforts as well as my agents’ to get work as an illustrator. Speaking from my own experience, all of my bigger client collaborations (Netflix, Trader Joe's, Disney) were not through my agent. However, my agents did get me all my book illustration projects.
I hope you’ve found these insights into agents helpful to your journey as an illustrator. If you have any questions/comments on the above, leave a comment or drop me an email.
