But the vast majority of the sharks go unpublicized and unpunished, leaving them free to deprive unsuspecting writers not just of their cash, but of their hopes and dreams. The good news is that you can protect yourself, with a little information and a lot of caution. Below are some tips and resources to help you do so. If a literary agent requires an up-front fee. Up-front fees are absolutely not legitimate.
Reputable agents make money solely from commissions on the sale of literary properties.
Anything else is non-standard practice, no matter what you may hear. This is where the problem arises. Since a profit has already been made, the incentive to submit to a legitimate publisher is diminished. With writers becoming more educated about reading fees, questionable agents are increasingly taking to calling their up-front fees something else. This is no more legitimate than a reading fee.