People often ask me what a literary agent does. The author’s name is on the book, the publisher’s is on the spine...but the agent is one of those elusive, behind-the-scenes publishing professionals you don’t hear much about.

So I thought I’d spill the beans. :-)

Once upon a time, my agent, Meg Ruley and I had a summit meeting at my publisher’s. Two moments that crystallized the things I love about my literary agent. We walked into the lobby of the Prince (perfect name for the Hotel Where Harlequin People Stay) to find an enormous and gorgeous bouquet of flowers. My first thought was, What gorgeous flowers. Not Meg. She spoke right up: "Oh, those are for you."

Proving that an agent has her client’s interests in mind at all times.

And yes, she was right, the card read, "Welcome Susan! Love, Mira Books."

Proving that an agent’s instincts are extremely reliable.

I considered giving her usual commission of 15% of the flowers but I didn’t want to ruin the bouquet.

Another moment of Meg that stands out in my mind was when she offered to take a photo and pointed the camera by looking through the lens and exclaiming, "There’s something the matter with this camera. Everything’s too small!"

Proving that laughter is the best medicine. And also, something that is probably the most crucial of all–an agent sees the big picture.

A writer works on a book one word–one paragraph–one page at a time. It’s really the only way to get the job done.

An agent looks at a whole body of work, past, present and future, and turns it into a career plan. So while I’m wrestling with a single scene in my novel, Meg & her gang are creating spreadsheets of my backlist, crunching numbers and mapping out a pub schedule. She’s the steward of the forest, while I am in the trees.

Susan Wiggs's latest release is a new edition of The Hostage, from Mira Books.