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Literary Agent

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Literary Agents represent authors — primarily novelists, nonfiction writers, and memoirists — in negotiations with acquiring editors at publishing houses, selling manuscript rights in exchange for a 15% commission on advances and royalties. In India, the market is nascent: fewer than 30 full-time agents operate domestically, with Anuj Bahri (Red Ink Literary Agency, Delhi) and Kanishka Gupta (Writer's Side, Delhi — India's most prolific agent with 200+ published authors and Bridget Jones-scale international deals) anchoring the formal ecosystem alongside individual operators who manage cross-border deals with UK houses (Bloomsbury, Hodder, HarperCollins UK) and US imprints. Agent income is entirely commission-based — no retainer, no salaried floor — making it a high-risk, relationship-intensive business that compounds slowly: an agent who places 8-10 books per year at modest ₹3-8L advances earns ₹36K-1.2L per placement (15%), scaling to ₹7.5L-30L per deal on international advances of $50K-200K. The career builds on 5-10 years of book-industry experience — editorial internships, publishing-house roles, or book scouting — before viable client relationships and deal flow accumulate.