How do I go about finding a legit agent? Is an agent paid up front, or
does agent take a percentage of the book sales?

Thanks, as always, Angela!

SB

You can find a list of non-fee-charging agents here:

The Association of Authors’ Representatives

Never, ever sign with an agent who charges you an up-front fee. Real literary agents earn their money selling your book to a publisher! Agents who charge reading fees and other similar “fees” are profiting from authors, not from sales of their authors’ books. If they’re taking money from authors up front, what is their incentive to sell the authors’ books? There isn’t any!

There is no real licensing requirement for literary agents so, basically, anybody can put that title after their name. Thus, there are lots of so-called literary agents online that are anything but. You must be very, very careful these days. So, I always refer authors to the link above.