Australian Literary Agents’ Association

Code of Practice, Membership qualifications, Structure


Code of Practice

  1. No member shall represent the client of another agency or deliberately seek to represent their work unbeknown to the other agent. If such occasion arises it must be in full consultation with all parties involved and written consent provided.
  2. No member shall prevent a client from leaving an agency. If a client does leave a member agency, then that agency shall have a continuing right to full commission on contracts which the agency negotiated, except for unexploited rights in those contracts.
  3. All earnings on clients’ work must be paid within 21 days of receipt and clearance of funds from the bank.
  4. No reading fee shall be charged to clients.
  5. No editorial fee shall be charged to clients.
  6. All members must conduct their business lawfully.
  7. All members must provide in writing details of their terms and commission to a new client. Clients must be specifically made aware of clauses 1 and 2 above.
  8. All members’ clients’ financial affairs are private and confidential.
  9. No individual member may represent a buyer or a seller in the same transaction.
  10. No member may accept non-disclosed profit in connection with any transaction.

Membership Qualifications

Agents must have been in the business for 3 years representing authors or have been responsible for the execution of a minimum of 10 contracts. Agents who have earned over AUD$250,000 in commission in a two-year period also qualify.

No agent shall be admitted if they are also employed by a publisher.

No agent shall charge a reading fee or an editor’s fee and if they do so they shall not qualify for membership.


Structure

Elections to be held every two years of four Officers: a President; a Vice-President; a Secretary and a Treasurer.

The President, or in his/ her absence the Vice- President, shall preside at all meetings. At the annual meeting of the Association, the President shall present to the meeting a report of the activities of the Association during the year. This shall include a summary of matters recommended for action by the Association.

The Secretary shall give notice of no less than four weeks of all meetings of the Association by email, keep the minutes of such meetings and conduct correspondence and keep records of the Association.

The Treasurer shall keep the books of the Association, collect all monies due, pay all outgoings and present an annual account to the Association at an Annual General Meeting.

No two agents can be appointed as Officers at the same time if they are from the same agency.

Fees: AUD$100 per agency

A General Meeting shall be held twice yearly.

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