Loiacono Literary Agency is a comprehensive, full-service literary agency that offers editorial, marketing, promotion, and sales representation for its authors. From conception to fruition, we offer information and support to the author and publisher for the life of the book.

“What is the intent of the author? Of the publisher?
What is the potential market and does the book meet that need?
To what extent is the quality of the writing a factor?
The integrity of the business will be sustained.
We are idealists. We love books. We still love to read.”

-Virginia Kirkus, 1893-1980

God wants you to know that it’s easy to make a buck. It’s a lot tougher to make a difference.
Tom Brokaw said that, and he was right. The Universe invites you now to be someone who is making a life, rather than a living. Move toward your passion. Express through your daily work and your daily activities what it is that lights up your soul. Do not believe those who say that you cannot do this. Do it anyway. No, really. Do it anyway.

Love, your Friend …

Neale Donald Walsch

            So true! We do this because we are passionate about your success.

‘Can’t’ truly is not in our vocabulary.

An Overview of Our Agency and the Publishing World

At Loiacono Literary Agency, we have always taken a literary agent’s role to an all-encompassing and unprecedented level by editing, polishing, submitting, marketing, and promoting. But as the competitive market tightens, we find it imperative to adapt, offering the serious writer a more inclusive partnership. The advantage of signing with us is two-fold. Our initiative not only supports a mutual investment but promotes a rewarding and successful writing career. With our 99% success rate in securing publication for our clients, our record not only speaks to our work ethic, it reinforces our motto — Where ‘can’t’ is not in our vocabulary.

In the constantly changing publishing world, it is no secret writers face obstacles our agency strives to minimize. You might ask yourself:

What does the cutthroat writing and publishing world look like? Ian Irvine On the Truth About Publishing 

• 600,000-1,000,000 books are published each year (two-thirds self-published).
• From the thousands of traditional book submissions, only 5% are picked up with another 10% deemed worthy but not salable.
• In the self-publishing category, roughly 15% can be considered good but requires a writer to devote 90% of his time to marketing and less time writing, leaving 85% of self-published works in the mediocre pile.
• The average number of books a non-bestselling author sells is 250.
• The average income for an author sits below poverty level at $10,000.
• Over 500 independent bookstores have disappeared in recent months.
• Small presses receive as many submissions as large houses, making it just as difficult for authors to break through without an agent.
• According to the Pew Research Center, a quarter of American adults have not read a book within the last year and the number of non-book readers has tripled since 1978.
• Book sales have declined 37% since its peak in 2007.
• A book has less than 1% chance of being stocked in a bookstore.
• Book marketing and promotion has shifted to authors.
• Movies, television, and video games have co-opted book reading.

With this daunting landscape, challenges force authors to make tough decisions, one of which includes the pros and cons of seeking representation.

What does Loiacono Literary Agency do?

• Review submissions for established and first-time author manuscripts, accepting works we enjoy and believe in.
• We thoroughly edit and polish our clients manuscripts, create submission packages, and shop them until the manuscript is sold; working closely with the author through hands-on editing and revision until the submission package is the best it can be.
• All agents research publishers, editors, and authors to ensure a good publishing fit, submitting polished manuscripts to publishers, big and small, until an offer is made. With an extensive database, LLA will continue submitting until all avenues are exhausted. We never give up. It only takes submitting to the right editor.
• Discuss any offers with the author, going over all the pros and cons, allowing the author to make the final decision.
• Secure the best contract, utilizing a lengthy Publishing Contract Check List.
• Send monthly Progress Reports, detailing when, to whom, and what the feedback/response was for each submission.
• Provide continuous information and support; giving advice and guidance on creating a platform and author image.
• Provide comprehensive marketing, promotion, and social media presence, before publication and as long as the book is under contract.
• Develop an author page on the LLA website to include events, media, reviews, and all pertinent info about the author and his works.
• Our webmaster continually posts new information and updates sites, as well as offers author website construction information and maintenance.
• We evaluate statements and make prompt payments, per the publisher’s schedule.
• LLA’s agents are more than ordinary agents. We are story developers, editors, writing instructors, mentors, social media gurus, and believers in our authors and their works, performing services unheard of in other agencies. Yet, we find it necessary to evolve.
• At LLA, we devote ourselves to editing, marketing, mentoring, promoting, and providing personal attention to each one of our authors. We are always in search of gems in baskets of stones; be it outstanding authors, great reviewers/sites, or ways of getting our authors on the radar and keeping them there. In doing so, we are no longer working as a strictly commission-based agency and are joining a trend other agencies are implementing. The first year we represent a manuscript is $500.00, then $250.00 each consecutive year until it has been placed with a publisher (see our success rate above). Upon securing a publishing contract, compensation is 15% of net revenues. It was a difficult decision, but it has proven effective in representation of writers who are serious and willing to have a vested interest in their careers.
• Our authors are members of the LLA family and families nurture. We see the potential in the writer and their work(s); create, compose, and construct with the author until there is a viable manuscript that is embraceable and sellable. From conception to adulthood, each manuscript is a living addition to LLA.
• In reviewing publishing options, the traditional path still offers an author the golden standard of credibility, recognition for more prestigious awards, more writing time, easier bookstore distribution, a professional team presence, and the potential to become a brand-name author.

Let our agency serve you with years of experience and a genuine appreciation of literature. Whether we secure a contract from one of the Big Five publishing houses or with a midsize/smaller one with quicker royalty payout, Loiacono Literary Agency is dedicated to turning your dream into a reality.

For more information, please contact Jeanie Loiacono [email protected].