Association of Authors' Representatives

     The Association of Authors' Representatives, or AAR, is a professional organization of author representatives.  Professional agents who join this organization have to abide by rules that protect the agent and the authors that they represent.  Membership in this organization is one way to determine if an agent is legitimate.

     There are reasons that legitimate agents do not belong to the AAR.
            1.  The agent may not have worked long enough in the field.  The AAR requires
                  two years of author representation to become a full time member.
            2.  The agent may not have executed enough publishing agreements to belong.
                 The AAR requires the execution of five publishing agreement in the 18 months
                 prior to requesting membership.
            3.  Author representation may not be the primary business of the agent.

     To determine if an agent is a member of the AAR, you can check here:
            http://aaronline.org/Find

      To see the guidelines that agents who belong to the AAR must follow, you can check here:
             http://aaronline.org/canon

     Remember, AAR membership is one way to see if an agent is legitimate.  If the agent belongs to the AAR you can be assured that they are a legitimate literary agent.