As a literary agent there are, unfortunately, always market factors involved when making choices about whether or not to enter into a new relationship with an author—it's something which cannot be ignored. Even though we all come into the publishing industry out of a passion for books, and we look for quality work—at the end of the day, it's a product. And publishers invest a huge amount of money, energy, and time—often months on a script—in editing, asking authors to rewrite, etcetera. So, it's impossible to go through this process without being concerned with whether or not the book will find a market. If we don't produce books that people want to buy, we don't get to stay in business. So ... you're continually assessing the likely outcome when weighing up whether or not to take on a new author. What you normally find is that you try to sign up a spread of authors. If you've got a few crème de la crème—famous writers whose books are sure to sell—then hopefully they'll make the publishing house enough money to support lesser-known writers who are on the way up. So, it's a question of balance: you want to find writers who are of value, both culturally and commercially; and of course the ultimate goal is trying to publish books that will still be read in a hundred years' time.