Really don't know what to do about my agent

And except me. I had an agent up to two years ago. But that book didn't sell. And I haven't been truly actively looking. Just working on my mss. and submitting that particular book to other publishers he didn't submit to, directly.

Man, this is really bad. You should talk to your agent as soon as possible and get things out of the way once and for all.

Hold your head up. Don't worry. You'll come out of this successful in the end.

As I mentioned earlier, I'm in this same predicament. I would love to talk with him but my emails have gone unanswered and phone calls not returned. I'm considering carrier pigeon, next.

I'm too far from NYC to stalk him, so I guess I'll just wait it out.

Vandal said:

As I mentioned earlier, I'm in this same predicament. I would love to talk with him but my emails have gone unanswered and phone calls not returned. I'm considering carrier pigeon, next.

I'm too far from NYC to stalk him, so I guess I'll just wait it out.

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I've got to be honest--it's time to drop him now.

Thank you all for commenting. I'm in the same boat, though its only been 3 1/2 months. I don't care about the lack of a sale as much as his indifference to my follow ups. I just sent an e-mail. If I'm not satisfied with his answer, he's gone.

JamieB said:

How often do you think you should hear from your agent while on sub? I know, I know, this depends on the agent. Just interested in knowing your opinion...once a month? More? Less?

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When my first ms (not YA) was on sub, my agent sent me a list of which editors at which houses she had subbed to. She informed me of their responses as soon as they replied.

I now sometimes don't talk to her for months, but whenever there's news about anything, she contacts me. If I have a question, about anything, she gets back to me within a day, two at most.

We sometimes disagree about things in my mss, but I value her input and have found she's usually right.

I feel lucky, but i also think that's the way an agent should be.

I do not have an agent nor published work. I also am not in a hurry to get any agent.
What I tell is pure from experience working in the IT as a system admin for hire. I've seen a lot company's from within. As an admin you learn the flow of the company from top to bottom and from bottom to top. You have to find your way in the hierarchy, the business dealings and especially company politics.

In my eyes and agent is nothing more than your employee. He should do what you tell him to do, that is if he agreed to work for you. If you have an agreement with an agent and he does not want to submit your book to x publisher, It's the same as a an office employee denying to do his job, you get fired not doing your job. An agent that doesn't do his job is an agent you should fire.

I do not like the way the publish business works. It seems very unhealthy. Agents are supposed to work for the writers, but the practice seems more like the writer works for the agent and the agent for the publisher. It's crazy. It does not make any business sense.

You see it with starting writers and established writers. To me it just crazy. My advice demand from that agent a list of the publishers he send your book (if he did not give you it already) look your book over maybe improve/polish it if need to (too much polish diminish character) submit them yourself to publisher that did not get to read them. It seems to take almost the same time to get a new agent as to get one publisher to respond on a submitted work.

Anyway whatever you do or do not do, the sensible thing is fire the agent and forget about him. Just don't waste the time you should be writing with worrying.

I got a response that I was satisfied with in an hour.

Wayne K said:

I got a response that I was satisfied with in an hour.

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Al Ros, in the UK, we can't submit directly to publishers.... they won't take unsolicited ms from anyone but an agent (the decent-sized publishers anyway). You'll find a good proportion of agents are brilliant. There are many writers on these boards whose lives have been changed and work published thanks to talented, hard-working agents. It's worth it when you find a good one.

What I want to know is, if the agent isn't responding and you want to leave, do you just type up an email, inform them, and get on with querying for a new agent, or do you have to sign something?

Glenakin said:

What I want to know is, if the agent isn't responding and you want to leave, do you just type up an email, inform them, and get on with querying for a new agent, or do you have to sign something?

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you don't have to sign anything. written (email counts) termination of the agreement is usually enough. you should check your contract to make sure, of course.

Al Ross said:

You see it with starting writers and established writers. To me it just crazy. My advice demand from that agent a list of the publishers he send your book (if he did not give you it already) look your book over maybe improve/polish it if need to (too much polish diminish character) submit them yourself to publisher that did not get to read them. It seems to take almost the same time to get a new agent as to get one publisher to respond on a submitted work.

Anyway whatever you do or do not do, the sensible thing is fire the agent and forget about him. Just don't waste the time you should be writing with worrying.

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I'll just agree to disagree with much of your post as a difference of opinion and perspective, but the bolded language is potentially very bad advice. If you have a contract with your agent, even if you think your agent has breached the contract in some way, you can not just go off on your own and submit and cut the agent out. You have to take the proper steps to terminate the agent, and then get legal advice on what rights the agent still has. Even if you terminate the agent, you may owe him/her a commission on any sales you make *IF* you don't take the proper steps to terminate the agent and get some legal assistance to protect yourself - for example, you may need to negotiate a release of the agent's residual, post termination rights to a commission from that book, no matter who sells it.

Shady Lane said:

you don't have to sign anything. written (email counts) termination of the agreement is usually enough. you should check your contract to make sure, of course.

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Actually, in many cases, email will not be enough, even if the contract doesn't say so. So, to be cautious, use a hard copied mailed in a way that gives you a better legal foundation.

If you have a written contract, it will tell you exactly what you have to do to terminate, and in many it says certified letter to the specified address. If your contract says that, anything short of that doesn't work.

If the contract is silent, or you don't have a written contract, I'd suggest a certified letter with return receipt requested (about $5 and the post office has easy forms) mailed to the address you have normally used/was provided to you by the agent. I'd send two copies - one certified, on regular mail with delivery confirmation - so even if the agent refuses to pick up the certified copy, you have the other copy.

~suki

I finally heard from him.

We'll talk Monday.