What working with us costs.
Two answers, because there are two different kinds of work. Representation runs on commission and costs you nothing up front. Everything we write, edit, or build is scoped and quoted for the book in front of us.
We're paid when you're paid.
No reading fees. No submission fees. No retainers. If we take you on, we earn a commission on what we sell for you — and nothing at all until we sell it.
Commission is deducted from publisher payments as they arrive — never invoiced to you separately. Preparing your submission is part of representation and carries no separate charge: the pitch, the proposal package, the editor list. Work on the book itself — ghostwriting, editing, a manuscript that needs another pass — is a separate engagement, and it's quoted separately.
These are our standard rates. The terms that govern any particular book — including film, audio, and other subsidiary rights — are set out in full in the representation agreement, which you'll have in hand to read before you sign anything. This page describes how we work; it isn't the agreement.
Every book is different, so every engagement is quoted.
Packages vary widely, and that isn't evasion — it's the actual shape of the work. A 40,000-word business book built from six interviews is not the same engagement as a memoir that needs archival research and a platform built from nothing, and the two shouldn't carry the same number.
What moves it:
- How much of the writing is ours and how much is yours
- Length, research depth, and how much usable material already exists
- Interview format — virtual sessions or in-person days — and how many it takes
- Your timeline; a compressed schedule costs more to staff
- Whether proposal development, platform, or podcast work is in scope
Rather than publish a price list that would be wrong for almost everyone who read it, we'd rather build you a real plan. Our intake asks about your book, your audience, and where you are in the writing, then lays out what we'd actually recommend — and what it would cost.
Get your plan →