The Seymour Agency

What The Seymour Agency does

The Seymour Agency is a privately held literary agency founded by Mary Sue Seymour in 1992 and headquartered at 4100 Corporate Square, Suite 140, Naples, Florida. The firm represents a roster of award-winning and best-selling fiction and non-fiction authors and illustrators, pitching manuscripts to major publishing houses—including HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, and Penguin Random House—and negotiating publishing deals on their behalf. Operations extend beyond the United States through two regional branches, Seymour France and Seymour Mexico, which underpin a global foreign rights service.

The agency's core product is literary representation, encompassing manuscript evaluation, submission to publishers, contract negotiation, and ongoing career management for represented clients. Foreign rights representation is operated as a complementary service that monetizes translation and international publishing arrangements. The agency positions itself on inclusivity, with a stated mission to represent diverse authors whose work reflects varied communities and cultures. The Seymour Agency is not a technology company—it runs a traditional sales-led model in which agents curate, pitch, and negotiate on behalf of authors.

Revenue is generated on a commission basis at industry-standard rates of approximately 15% on domestic deals and 20% on foreign rights transactions. The customer base is dual-sided: authors and illustrators (represented clients) on the demand side and major publishers (rights purchasers) on the supply side. Leadership comprises founder Mary Sue Seymour and President Nicole Resciniti. With 11–50 employees and over three decades of continuous operation, the firm functions as a focused, founder-led boutique in the literary representation market.

Name

The Seymour Agency

Legal name

The Seymour Agency

Website

https://theseymouragency.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1992

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The Seymour Agency is a privately held literary agency founded in 1992 that represents award-winning and best-selling fiction and non-fiction authors and illustrators, with regional branches in France and Mexico for foreign rights representation.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Canton

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Literary Representation and Commission: As a literary agency, The Seymour Agency earns revenue by representing authors and illustrators, negotiating publishing deals with publishers, and collecting commission (typically 15% for domestic and 20% for foreign rights) on successful deals.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

The Seymour Agency is a literary agency that represents award-winning and best-selling fiction and non-fiction authors and illustrators by pitching their work to publishers, negotiating publishing deals and contracts, and handling foreign rights licensing for international markets. The agency also provides manuscript evaluation and career guidance to its clients and operates regional branches (Seymour France and Seymour Mexico) for French and Spanish-language rights representation.

Product overview

The Seymour Agency is a premier literary agency offering a unified representation service for award-winning authors and illustrators. The core product is literary representation, which includes manuscript submission to publishers, contract negotiation, and career management. The agency extends its reach through two regional branches—Seymour France and Seymour Mexico—handling foreign rights for French and Spanish-language markets respectively. The agency represents diverse content across multiple genres including fiction, non-fiction, children's books, and young adult literature.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Literary Representation Services Core service offering representing award-winning and best-selling fiction and non-fiction authors and illustrators for publishing deals, manuscript evaluation, contract negotiation, and career development.
• Foreign Rights Representation Representation services for selling publishing rights to international markets and publishers on behalf of represented authors.
• Seymour France The agency's French branch office serving French-language publishing markets via theseymouragency.com/francais/.
• Seymour Mexico The agency's Spanish-language branch office at theseymouragency.com/espanol/ serving Latin American and Spanish-language publishing markets.

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Direct peers

• Writers House: One of the largest US literary agencies representing fiction, non-fiction, and children's authors to major publishers. Direct peer in the traditional commission-based literary representation model serving a similar author and publisher base.
• Trident Media Group: Established literary and media agency representing authors across genres with foreign rights capabilities. Direct peer offering similar manuscript submission and contract negotiation services to publishers.
• Folio Literary Management: Mid-sized literary agency representing fiction, non-fiction, and children's authors with full-service foreign rights representation. Comparable in scale and operating model to The Seymour Agency.
• Sterling Lord Literistic: Long-standing literary agency representing a diverse roster of authors across fiction and non-fiction categories. Comparable peer operating the same commission-based representation model with established publisher relationships.
• Andrea Brown Literary Agency: Literary agency specializing in children's, YA, and adult non-fiction authors. Comparable to The Seymour Agency's children/YA representation segment with similar publisher pitching workflows.
• BookEnds Literary Agency: Full-service literary agency representing fiction and non-fiction authors across genres. Comparable mid-sized peer with similar commission structure and publisher submission process.
• Jane Rotrosen Agency: Literary agency focused on commercial fiction, romance, and non-fiction authors. Comparable peer with overlapping romance and women's fiction representation overlap with The Seymour Agency's roster.
• Harvey Klinger Agency: Established literary agency with broad fiction and non-fiction representation including foreign rights. Comparable mid-sized peer operating the traditional agent-publisher intermediation model.

Broad incumbents

• WME (William Morris Endeavor): Global talent and literary agency representing authors within a much broader portfolio of entertainment, sports, and media clients. Larger incumbent operating in the same author representation space but as part of a much wider talent representation business.
• United Talent Agency (UTA): Major talent agency with a publishing and books division representing authors alongside broader entertainment and media clients. Larger incumbent in the same literary representation space with significantly more diversified service offerings.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/seymouragency
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/theseymouragency

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about The Seymour Agency