Key Updates and Highlights

From the 2026 Revised Canon of Ethics

While the AALA has revised its Canon of Ethics from time to time over the years (most recently in 2022), this year’s revised Canon represents a comprehensive reevaluation of the literary agent’s role in today’s publishing and media landscape.

Context

The Canon was originally created in the twentieth century and was rooted in the practices of the publishing business of the twentieth century. In the twenty-first century, publishing, along with the overall media landscape, has undergone a dramatic transformation. We have seen publisher consolidation, the advent of entirely new publishing models, the rise of digital media, social media, mobile technology, the challenges of AI, et.al., as well as the loss of physical retail space and traditional review media.   Author/creators increasingly operate across a wide range of platforms, services, and competencies. Demands on agents, from publishers and from our clients have changed as well, necessitating some big shifts in the role of the agent. 

In 2022, the AALA took a big step forward and changed its longstanding membership model, opening up membership to anyone who works in-house or in association with a literary agency, not just individuals who sell rights to specific properties. This paved the way for assistants, royalty and contracts managers, social media directors, and other specialists to join.

In the current market, publishers’ expectations when judging submissions have changed. Further, Author/Creators are expected to perform more services in support of their own publications, and they have been turning to their agents for help. As a result, an agent’s job has expanded significantly, from increased editorial work pre-submission to helping to establish and solidify an Author/Creators’ platform and visibility. Some agents have developed expertise in relevant areas; some agencies refer clients to third-party providers; and other agencies have hired professionals whose major focus is marketing, promotion, publicity, web design, social media,  etc. 

Material Changes

This briefing document highlights only some of the key changes to the Canon, particularly those relating to this expanding role of the agent and the services some agencies now offer and that clients request.  We have also reorganized and reformatted the Canon and made the language more concise to make it easier for members and others to use as a guide and tool, adding headers for navigation and bullet points for clarity. Other modifications relate to our current membership model, address new publishing models and payment streams, and elaborate on our guidelines around transparency and disclosure.

 Under the Old Canon:
  • Members may not receive a secret profit in connection with any transaction involving a client. If such profit is received, the member must promptly pay over the entire amount to the client.
  • Members may not solicit or accept any payment or other thing of value in connection with their referral of any author to any third party for any purpose.
Under the Revised Canon:
  • Members may not receive a secret payment in connection with any transaction involving a client.  If such a payment is received, the member shall promptly pay over the entire amount to the client.
  • Members may not seek or solicit any payment or other thing of value in connection with their referral of any author to any third party.  
  • Referring clients to third parties must be made with the client’s best interests in mind: referrals must be made solely based on the third party’s suitability, considering the client’s needs, wishes, budget, schedule, etc.
  • If a third party is known to pay referral fees or other things of value to those who refer to them, that must be disclosed to the client at the time the referral is made.  
  • If a member accepts any payment or thing of value from a third party, that financial relationship and the amount or thing received must be timely disclosed to the client to ensure that the client is aware and agreeable to such an arrangement
Rationale for the Change:

In today’s  highly  competitive   marketplace, manuscripts and book proposals must be as fully realized as possible prior to submission, and creators are expected to take an ever-more active role in pre-publication and ongoing marketing and promotion to support their books. 


This section was expanded to take into account the increasing demands placed on creators and the proliferation of third parties offering services   that could help them (e.g. developmental and line editing; website development; newsletter and social media creation; platform and brand building consultation).  

We  acknowledge  the not-uncommon business practice of vendors paying referral fees to the person who made the referral.  In the new canon  we establish a clear ethical framework for members to advise their clients on third party services.  We maintain our prohibition on secret profits or soliciting payments for referrals.   We require  (1) that members make referrals with the client’s best interests in mind and (2) timely, full transparency and disclosure regarding any payments the member might receive from the third party.

 Under the Old Canon:
  •  Members may not charge any reading fees for evaluating work for possible representation. 
  • Payments received by members for teaching classes or from writers’ conferences, whether virtual or in person, which may include payments that specifically apply to such evaluations, shall not be a violation.
Under the Revised Canon:
  • Members may not charge any reading fees for evaluating work for possible representation.
  • Members who participate in writers’ conferences or teach classes at schools may receive compensation from entities that run them, even if part of the members’ duties involved evaluating literary works. However, members may not accept compensation for evaluating literary works directly from creators.
Rationale for the Change:

The Revised Canon continues to prohibit reading fees for evaluating works. The Association believes that the practice of charging clients or potential clients for reading and evaluating literary works (including query letters, outlines, proposals, and partial or complete manuscripts) is subject to serious abuse that reflects adversely on our profession.

The AALA also believes there is great value for the publishing community when members, who have pledged to uphold these ethical standards, teach classes or participate in workshops, so long as they are not paid reading fees directly by writers.

 Under the Old Canon:
  • Members may provide editorial services in exchange for a fee to authors who are not clients. 
  • Members who render such services must make clear to the author in writing in advance that the rendering of such services does not indicate or imply that the member will represent the author as a literary agent. 
  • If, during or after the rendering of such services, the member agrees to represent the author, the member must then return in full all payments received for such services prior to submitting the work and waive any further payments for such services for that author.
  • At no time may members respond to an author who approaches them only for literary representation by instead suggesting or directing the author to pay for editorial services by the member or by anyone else financially associated with the member or member’s agency. Members must provide paid editorial services only to authors who have approached them directly for such services.
  • Literary representation of any author must not be contingent upon the author engaging in any such paid editorial services, nor shall a member retroactively charge for editorial services in the event a client’s project is not sold.
Under the Revised Canon:
  • Member agents may not charge clients for editorial services in preparation for the agent’s submission of a work to publishers. 
  • If a member is hired by a non-client author to perform editorial services and the member later agrees to represent the author as their literary agent, the treatment of monies paid for editorial services performed prior to representation shall be subject to mutual agreement between the member and the prospective client.
  •  A member may not retroactively charge for editorial services.
Rationale for the Change:

Our purpose here is to clarify and simplify our stance on paid-for editorial services for clients and for non-clients.


The Revised Canon continues to prohibit charging clients for editorial services in preparation for submission; the AALA believes such editorial work is an integral part of the agent’s role in placing projects.


When a member has been hired by a non-client to provide editorial services and then, at some future point, the member offers representation to that author, we are asking the parties to come to an agreement that works for them both regarding those prior payments.

 Under the Old Canon:
  • This is a new section of the Canon of Ethics.
Under the Revised Canon:
  • A member or a member’s agency may employ staff or specialists to aid clients in other areas such as marketing, promotion, web design, or other work, for a fee to be mutually agreed. 
  • However, literary representation of any client must not be contingent upon the client engaging the member or any third party referred by the member for other paid services. 
  • Members who provide clients with such other paid services must inform clients in advance that they are not required to use the member or their agency to perform the services and are entitled to use the services of third parties of their own choosing.
Rationale for the Change:

We believe our members should have flexibility and independence in the services they provide and their compensation, while avoiding the potential for abuse.


This new clause allows our members to provide additional services in response to client needs, while establishing a clear framework for doing so. This kind of support, when done well and ethically, can be immensely valuable to creators.


With this update, AALA stands by its ethical principles. No Author/Creator should feel pressured to sign up for any additional services just to obtain or maintain representation. Literary representation should and must be independent of whether clients pay for such additional services.

 Under the Old Canon:
  • This section previously related only to paid editorial services. 
Under the Revised Canon:
  • Members may offer editorial or non-editorial services (e.g. web design, social media consultation, creation of promotional content) to non-clients. However, the member must make clear to the non-client in writing in advance that the rendering of such services does not indicate or imply that the member will represent them as a literary agent. 
  • Further, if the member will not personally provide the service, the member shall disclose who will be performing the service and their relationship to the member.
  • To avoid the possibility of abuse, members may not respond to an author who approaches them only for literary representation by instead directing the author to pay for services by the member or by anyone financially associated with the member or the member’s agency
Rationale for the Change:

As discussed above, as creators are asked to do more, they increasingly turn to agents for help. We want to avoid a situation where an un-agented creator might be lured into paying for an agent or agency’s services in the hope that such payment would induce the agent to take on the creator and their project for literary representation. This new section of the Canon sets guardrails to establish a clear ethical framework for members to provide paid-for services to non-clients.   

 Under the Old Canon:
  • Subject to the terms of this Canon, members shall not represent both buyer and seller in the same transaction. [ e.g., Agents were not permitted to act as publishers or paid producers of their clients’ work.]
Under the Revised Canon:
  • Subject to the terms of this Canon, members shall not represent both buyer and seller in the same transaction.
  • While the AALA does not encourage its members to act as publishers of their clients’ work because of the inherent conflicts, doing so may be permissible if the member and client fully execute the “Consent Regarding Publication” or a similar agreement containing all of its substantive provisions.
Rationale for the Change:

As self-publishing and hybrid publishing continue to gain popularity and traction, and both indie and mainstream publishers find new ways to collaborate with agents, AALA members are more often being asked to help clients get their work published in non-traditional ways. This Canon revision is meant to apply to situations such as when a member:  

  • sits on the board of a publishing company, whether it’s for profit or not for profit,
  • advises a publisher on acquisitions or is active in some way at an imprint, 
  • plays a role in the licensing of the creator’s rights that goes beyond the agent’s traditional role.

The AALA recognizes the inherent conflicts and the potential for confusion when a member acts as an agent for some of an author’s works but under certain circumstances steps outside that role to work on the publishing side for other works by the author.


The “Consent Regarding Publication” document delineates the ways in which the roles of agent and publisher differ. The greatest difference is that, as an agent, the member acts as the creator’s fiduciary. And, when the agent serves in any way as a publisher, the member and the author have an arms-length, non-fiduciary business relationship.


Our intention is to create a structure based on transparency and consent that provides clarity for both the author and the agent.

Conclusion

We emphasize that the overall purpose of the Canon has not changed. AALA members are committed to the highest standards of conduct, integrity, and accountability in the performance of our professional activities. Full commitment to honorable and ethical business practices is crucial to our work. This commitment extends to supporting our members with the resources and advocacy they need to thrive, while remaining responsive to the evolving dynamics of the publishing industry.