A literary agent's core value is judgment—reading manuscripts, identifying talent, matching books to the right editors, and negotiating deals. None of that requires a spreadsheet, an inbox follow-up, or a calendar invite. But the operational infrastructure around that judgment work is substantial, and without dedicated coordination, it quietly consumes the hours that agents need to read and represent.
Virtual assistants are giving literary agents their time back.
Submission Tracking and Query Management
Query management is one of the most volume-intensive operational tasks in a literary agency. Established agents receive hundreds to thousands of queries per year. Each query requires a logged response—whether that is a form pass, a request for more materials, or an offer of representation—and the materials that advance need to be tracked through the full submission process.
According to a 2025 survey by the Association of Authors' Representatives, agents managing their own queries without administrative support spent an average of 9 hours per week on query triage and status tracking. Agents with dedicated assistant support for query management spent fewer than 2 hours per week on the same tasks—a difference of 350-plus hours per year.
"I was reading queries on weekends because they were piling up during the week," said Diane Kowalski, a literary agent at a boutique New York agency representing literary fiction and narrative nonfiction. "My VA now manages the query inbox, logs every submission, sends acknowledgment responses, and flags anything that fits my stated interests. I spend my reading time actually reading, not sorting."
Virtual assistants handling query management log incoming queries in submission tracking systems like QueryTracker or agency-specific databases, send acknowledgment and status communications using agent-approved templates, flag queries matching the agent's stated preferences for direct review, and maintain submission status through the full consideration cycle.
Publisher Submission Coordination
When an agent goes on submission with a manuscript, the coordination work intensifies. Editors at multiple houses need to be contacted, materials distributed, follow-up timed appropriately, and responses logged and communicated back to the author. Managing an active submission to 15 editors across 12 publishers while simultaneously running an active client list is a significant coordination challenge.
The Publishers Marketplace Agent Survey 2025 found that agents who maintained organized submission tracking systems—including systematic follow-up cadences—received formal editorial feedback on 64 percent of submitted manuscripts, compared to 41 percent for agents with informal tracking. More feedback means better information for both the author and the agent's strategy.
VAs handling publisher submission coordination maintain submission trackers showing which editors have materials and for how long, send scheduled follow-up inquiries at defined intervals, log editorial responses and route them to the agent for strategic consideration, and communicate submission status updates to authors on the agent's behalf.
"Our VA's submission tracking spreadsheet became the single source of truth for every project," said Michael Torres, a senior agent at a mid-size literary agency. "I used to know the status of submissions by feel. Now I know it by data."
Author Communication and Relationship Management
Literary agents maintain ongoing relationships with their full client roster—not just the authors with active submissions. Regular updates, contract review communications, royalty statement analysis, and career planning conversations all require organized, responsive communication.
A 2025 survey by the Agents and Managers Forum found that agents with a client roster of more than 20 active authors spent an average of 7 hours per week on routine author communications—status updates, document routing, and question responses—that did not require the agent's strategic input. VAs handling that communication layer allowed those agents to spend more time on the conversations that did require their full attention.
VAs in author communication roles send milestone update emails when a submission moves or a deal stage advances, route contracts and financial documents for author signature, coordinate with authors' tax or financial advisors on royalty documentation, and maintain organized records of each author's project history and contract terms.
Agency Administration and Operations
Running a literary agency involves standard business administration—vendor invoicing, rights tracking for sold titles, royalty accounting coordination, and database maintenance. These tasks are essential to the business but are pure overhead for the agents themselves.
VAs in agency administration manage contract filing and version tracking, coordinate with publishers on royalty statement delivery, maintain rights reversion tracking for backlist titles, and handle general office administration including travel booking for industry conferences like BEA or Frankfurt.
Literary agents ready to scale their client capacity and reclaim reading time should look at what dedicated VA support can provide. Stealth Agents works with publishing professionals who need experienced operational support for high-volume, detail-oriented workflows.
Sources
- Association of Authors' Representatives, Agent Workload Survey, 2025
- Publishers Marketplace, Agent Submission Tracking Survey, 2025
- Agents and Managers Forum, Client Communication Study, 2025