Literary Agent Careers

Literary Agent Careers & Internships

Hands-on mentorship for emerging agents. A competitive, collaborative agency home for experienced agents. A 12-week remote internship with Kayla Bramante.

Looking to become a literary agent or join a new literary agency?

Storyteller Talent Agency considers both promising agent-track professionals and established literary agents seeking a new agency home. New agents receive hands-on training and mentorship. Tenured agents receive a competitive commission structure, collaborative support, team revenue sharing, and access to Backend Books—advanced literary-agent software developed by STA for its agents.

STA also offers a 12-week remote internship with Agency Director Kayla Bramante.

How to prepare to become a literary agent

At STA, preparation means showing editorial judgment, market awareness, professional communication, discretion, and reliable organization. Reading widely is a starting point; candidates should also understand the work of representing an author and building a sustainable client list.

  1. Study the market you want to work in. Follow recent books and attributable deal announcements. Learn how genres, audiences, publishers, and imprints relate to the projects you hope to represent.
  2. Practice explaining an editorial decision. Be ready to discuss a book’s strengths, intended readership, comparable titles, and why you would or would not pursue it.
  3. Understand the business responsibilities. Agent work includes author communication, publisher research, submissions, rights and deal tracking, and long-term career planning, as well as reading manuscripts.
  4. Choose the relevant STA path. Explore the 12-week internship, the emerging-agent track, or the experienced-agent application below. Review the stated responsibilities and compensation information before applying.

These are STA’s selection priorities. An application does not guarantee a place or representation responsibilities. If you are an author looking for an agent for your own work, use Published Authors or Queries.

Starting Your Career

Become a literary agent

For selected agent-track candidates, STA provides practical training and direct mentorship designed around the real work of author representation—not a generic course or passive observation program.

  • Evaluate queries, manuscripts, author platforms, and commercial potential
  • Learn editor, imprint, publisher, and comparable-title research
  • Build submission strategy, proposals, pitch materials, and follow-up plans
  • Develop confident author and publishing-industry communication
  • Understand contracts, deals, commissions, and subsidiary-rights opportunities
  • Build a thoughtful client list with ongoing agency guidance
Apply on the agent track

Your Next Agency Home

Join or switch literary agencies

Experienced and tenured literary agents deserve an agency structure that respects their experience, supports their growth, and removes avoidable administrative friction. STA welcomes direct inquiries from working agents who are thoughtfully considering what comes next.

  • A competitive commission structure for established agents
  • A separate team revenue-share pool tied to agency-wide success
  • Weekly strategy, training, and problem-solving with the agent team
  • Quarterly meetings for deeper planning and agency alignment
  • Connected tools for clients, submissions, rights, deals, and commissions
  • A team philosophy built around shared information and shared wins
Start an experienced-agent conversation

12-Week Remote Program

Intern with Agency Director Kayla Bramante

This internship is a hands-on learning and training experience in the publishing industry, on the agenting side. As an intern, you will complete the program with tangible skills: understanding how agents evaluate manuscripts, pitching those projects to editors, and cultivating relationships with editors across publishers and imprints.

The weekly commitment is 10–15 hours per week, including participation in the STA weekly team calls on Fridays.

Interns start by reading, evaluating, and discussing manuscripts with Kayla. They sit in on calls for representation, prepare proposal and submission materials, and join editorial calls.

The internship program with Storyteller Talent Agency is 12 weeks. Upon successful completion, interns leave with a recommendation letter, and with the skills and confidence to jump-start a career in publishing.

Required skills

  • A love for reading
  • Administrative and business acumen
  • High communication skills
  • A schedule that allows 10–15 hours per week during normal business hours (9 AM – 5 PM EST)

How to apply

The position is remote. Email kayla@storytellertalent.com with:

  • A resume and cover letter
  • Your top five favorite books, shows, or movies
  • A link to your Instagram and/or LinkedIn
Apply for the internship

I really look forward to connecting with all of you!

The STA Team Model

An agency designed for collaborative literary agents

Literary agent work can be independent without being isolating. STA combines individual ownership of client relationships with a team structure for training, market intelligence, accountability, and practical support.

Friday Team Calls

Weekly calls cover client work, submissions, editor outreach, contracts, deals, market changes, and agent training.

Quarterly Meetings

Longer quarterly sessions create room for planning, professional development, team priorities, and agency strategy.

Agency Revenue Share

Five percent of STA's agency-side fees funds a pool shared among its literary agents, rewarding collective success.

Hands-On Mentorship

Selected developing agents receive practical guidance as they evaluate projects, build lists, submit work, and represent clients.

Software Built for Agents

Backend Books

Backend Books is STA's private literary-agency operating system, developed by Storyteller Talent Agency for its agents. It combines advanced client, book, work-in-progress, submission, deal, and commission tracking with a shared, ever-expanding database of U.S. and foreign editors, imprints, and publishers for the entire STA team. Coming soon: an acquisition-intelligence layer built around acquiring editors.

Explore Backend Books
Clients and contact records
Books, series, and works in progress
Submission tracking and status history
Shared U.S. and foreign editor directory
Publishers, imprints, and co-agents
Deals, rights, and commissions
Acquiring-editor intelligence—coming soon
Team meetings and shared social calendar
Website update requests
Connected agency reporting

Literary agent role and qualifications

What literary agents do at STA

  • Read and evaluate queries and manuscripts
  • Identify authors and projects with long-term potential
  • Research editors, publishers, imprints, and comparable titles
  • Develop targeted submissions and project positioning
  • Guide clients through communication, revision, and career decisions
  • Track responses, deals, commissions, and rights activity
  • Explore appropriate audio, foreign, and adaptation opportunities
  • Maintain accurate, timely records in Backend Books

What STA looks for

  • Excellent written and verbal communication
  • Strong reading judgment and the ability to explain it
  • Current market knowledge and commercial awareness
  • Professional discretion with unpublished material
  • Organization, responsiveness, and accurate follow-through
  • Interest in author careers—not only individual manuscripts
  • A collaborative approach to knowledge and opportunity
  • Publishing, agency, editorial, bookselling, scouting, rights, or adjacent experience preferred

Now Considering Applications

Apply to join Storyteller Talent Agency

Email a resume and concise introduction covering your publishing background, the categories you know deeply, five recent books you would be proud to represent, and whether you are applying as an agent-track candidate or an experienced literary agent. Experienced agents may also summarize their current focus and what they want from their next agency home.

Apply: New / Agent TrackApply: Experienced Agent

Agent applications and inquiries: kayla@storytellertalent.com. Internship applications use the materials in the internship section.

Literary agent career questions

How do I become a literary agent at Storyteller Talent Agency?

Storyteller Talent Agency considers select agent-track candidates who demonstrate strong editorial judgment, current publishing-market knowledge, professional communication, discretion, organization, and the ability to think beyond one book. Selected emerging agents receive hands-on training and mentorship while learning to evaluate queries, build a client list, prepare submissions, communicate with authors and editors, and develop rights opportunities.

Can an experienced literary agent join or switch to Storyteller Talent Agency?

Yes. Storyteller Talent Agency welcomes inquiries from experienced and tenured literary agents who are considering a new agency home. STA offers a competitive commission structure, team revenue sharing, collaborative agency support, and proprietary software designed for literary-agent work. Specific terms are discussed directly based on experience and fit.

What training and mentorship do new literary agents receive?

Training is practical and tied to real agency work. Selected agent-track hires learn manuscript and query evaluation, client communication, editor and publisher research, submission strategy, proposal development, deal and rights tracking, and long-term author-career planning with guidance from agency leadership and the wider team.

How does the Storyteller Talent Agency team work together?

STA agents join a weekly Friday team call and quarterly agency meetings for training, market discussion, submission strategy, client updates, deal review, and shared problem-solving. The agency also funds a team revenue-share pool with 5% of STA agency-side fees, connecting individual work to collective success.

What software do Storyteller Talent Agency literary agents use?

STA develops Backend Books for its literary agents. The private agency platform provides advanced client, book, work-in-progress, submission, deal, and commission tracking alongside a shared, ever-expanding database of U.S. and foreign editors, imprints, and publishers for the entire STA team. An acquiring-editor acquisition-intelligence layer is coming soon.

Is the literary agent opportunity remote and commission based?

Yes. The literary agent opportunity is remote and commission based. Storyteller Talent Agency never charges authors reading fees, submission fees, application fees, or retainers. Agent compensation and any transition details are discussed directly during the selection process.

Does Storyteller Talent Agency offer a publishing internship?

Yes. The internship with Agency Director Kayla Bramante is a remote 12-week program on the agenting side of publishing. The weekly commitment is 10–15 hours, including the STA Friday team calls, during normal business hours from 9 AM to 5 PM EST. Interns read, evaluate, and discuss manuscripts with Kayla, sit in on representation calls, prepare proposal and submission materials, and join editorial calls. Successful completion includes a recommendation letter. Apply by emailing kayla@storytellertalent.com with a resume and cover letter, five favorite books, shows, or movies, and a link to Instagram and/or LinkedIn.