dukeofbookingham:

*Curtsies* Hi. So, it’s definitely something I have a better handle on than some simply because I’m in the middle of the process. There’s an explanation of literary agents and how they work here and a step by step process of how to go about getting one here (and there’s even more under the literary agents tag).

But here’s what happens after you’ve signed with an agent, because I don’t think I’ve done a blow-by-blow of that:

1. Revise. Chances are your agent will have some thoughts about what you need to fix in your manuscript before you submit it to editors. I did three different drafts between querying and submission, but it’ll vary from agent to agent and book to book. 
2. Submit. This is the part where you sit back and let your agent do the work. Your agent will probably ask if you have any specific imprints or editors you’d like them to look at, and they’ll probably ask for your approval of the final list, but that’s about all you do as the writer once your agent deems your MS worthy of submission. Usually how this works (again, depending on the book, depending on the agent), is that your agent will submit to editors and imprints at the Big Five publishers. If nobody bites, they’ll do a second round of submission with smaller publishers and so on. If they can’t get any interest, then the two of you will put your heads together, revise, and try again. My agent submitted my book to sixteen different editors in the first round and amazingly one of them wanted it so we never had to move past step one. (Your agent may also submit to international publishers once an English-language deal is struck, and the whole process will start again overseas.)
3. Strike a deal. When an editor’s interested in your manuscript, they’ll talk to the agent first and then ask to talk to the author. I spent ninety minutes on the phone with the lovely lady who is now my editor, talking about what she liked about the book and what kind of revisions she was interested in. Everything she said make perfect sense–there were even a few suggestions she made where I went, “Holy hell, how did I not think of that myself?”–and I had a really great feeling about her. Ordinarily at this point if the editor is still interested after talking to the author (you have to make sure you’re going to get along), s/he and the agent will begin negotiating terms. If more than one editor is interested, the agent negotiates with all of them and the book goes to whoever is offering the better deal. Our situation was a little different because my editor actually pre-empted my book, which means they make an immediate offer on it and you have to close by the end of the business day and withdraw your other submissions; but that’s not something we really need to get into.
4. Guess what? Revise again. Fixing books is what editors do, and they’re going to have a lot of (good) input about your manuscript. So you as the author will get all their notes, make your changes, and turn them in. Repeat this process until both parties are satisfied and you’re within the deadline specified in your contract. 
5. Design. These things can happen sort of simultaneously, but once the text is approved, the next step is design. This includes everything from cover art to font usage. As the author you don’t get a whole lot of say in this–you get to provide opinions but the final decision usually rests with the publisher. This is one of those reasons to be sure you have an editor you really like and get along with; they’re your advocate in-house.
6. Publicity. Art without an audience is pretty pointless. So the next step is marketing. Once all the design is done, paperback ‘galley’ copies will be printed and distributed to readers and reviewers in order to (1) get blurbs and (2) drum up interest. In the meantime, it’s in the author’s best interest to be talking about their book as much as possible both online and off and getting people excited for the release.
7. BAM. You have a book. Most likely a hardcover, with a paperback to be released a year later. But the work isn’t done–once your book is out there you have to keep promoting it, because as callous as it sounds, sales are important. 

Obviously the whole process isn’t so simple that seven bullet points on Tumblr can really do it justice, but that’s the idea. The last thing I’ll say is this–it’s totally smart to do your research and make sure you understand the process, but don’t jump the gun. Worry about the writing first. You should only start thinking about agents when you’ve written a few novels (not just one) and you have one that you think is really worth a reader’s time, and you’ve done a dozen drafts of it. Writing takes time and rushing it never ends well. Once you’re ready–really ready–you can start doing your research and worrying about query letters.