Have I talked on this topic before? Do I hear the echo of my own voice? ‘What we do’, I say so many times a week, ‘is read your manuscript. If we think there is a market for it, we’ll try to place it with the most appropriate publisher, negotiate the best possible terms for you, exploit such subsidiary rights as are applicable, and take 10 per cent of whatever we can get for you.’

That’s the bare bones of it. Of course it leaves out all the curly bits, but if we went into all that each time, there’d be no time left to actually get on with doing what agents do.