re:
Stupid ezboard ate my post.
Just so you know, I'm not trying to attack you. You may very well turn out to be a great agent, I'm just making a few comments.
Some advice for you:
- Start taking "shipping costs" out of the advance(s), not your authors' pockets.
- Encourage your writers to write, but not for editing/critique groups, but with actual publication in mind. Find magazines, papers and anthologies for them to submit to (they should not submit to those through you, unless otherwise stated by the owner/s). A few publishing-credits never hurt anyone, and ot's free publicity.
- Research. Since you didn't have a teacher (an agent or such) to introduce you to editors and publishers, you need to do a lot of research to make sure you send the right book to the right place. While a publisher may state it's interested in "Fantasy", one of their editors may like contemporary fantasy, while the other likes traditional. Those are things you need to keep in mind whenever you are representing a project.
- Don't encourage your authors to defend you in discussions like this, at least not as rabidly as some have. While it is their right to do whatever they want, it looks bad.
- If you fail to sell a project no matter what, don't send the author to PublishAmerica. That's just mean.
A few on this site say I do not have any formal training in the industry. I don’t think that is true. I have been to numerous writers conferences. I have met with several members of the AAR, including its president. I have had face-to-face pitching sessions with more NY editors than I care to mention. People ask me to make presentations at writers conferences. Recently after a presentation in Texas, a very experienced but unpublished author stood up and said she had gone to conferences for 20 years and my presentation was the best she had ever seen.
Praise from a writer who has managed to stay unpublished for 20 years is hardly something to brag about.
And no, you have not had any formal training. Training includes actually learning the business before jumping into it. I doubt you decided one day that you wanted to negotiate contracts for a living and decided to bypass school and go straight to work that same day. Same thing goes for working as an agent.
There is no school to go to, to learn how to be a Literary Agent. Only the AAR has any established code of ethics. I read everything I can get my hands on regarding the industry and Literary Agency business procedures. I follow the AAR’s Canon of ethics to the letter. I tell every new client that I am new. I also tell them my background. I shall continue to be scrupulous in following the canons of the AAR.
Agents are usually trained by other agents. Sometimes they've worked as editors or such and have enough connections and experience to work as agents.
Yes, it is true that to date the only signed contract that I have is a three book deal. There are others on the horizon, which I am working up to 18 hours a day to get signed. If you have an agent, you might ask him or her if how difficult it is to get new voices published. This recession in the book industry has been written about many times. Very few new authors are being published. Most of the books published today are written by established authors or are properties that are in the public domain.
There are many reasons why a well written, well edited, great story cannot be sold. It might be that it is not the right time for the project. Books, like all items the public buys, flow with the fashion of the day. Some great books are just not marketable. Today the fad is for puff books that can be printed overseas and sold at a premium. But the tide will turn and we will be ready. .
1. To my knowledge, there were more books sold during 2004 than 2003, and more new writers were signed and/or published as well. Every editor out there wants to find the new JK Rowling or Stephen King. The reason it's hard for new writer to break into publishing is because most of them simpy aren't good enough, and while it's nice and comforting to blame the publishing industry, it's not something that should be taken as fact. As an agent, you should be able to distinguish between fact and myth, and the whole "Everyone's out to get the new author!" thing is a myth. Of course established writers are going to have their books accepted--that's why they're established writers, they know how to write good, interesting, useful books. A lot of times they're better than new writers, and that's the way it is.
2. I hope you understand that it is very common for scammers/amateurs to use phrases like "The problem with the publishing industry is [insert negative remark]", so you might want to steer away from using such language. I understand that you want to be sympathetic to the woes of your authors, but at some point you have to start focusing on being their agent, not their friend.
3. A good book will be published sooner or later. If the ms you have written is not in demand at the time, put it on a shelf and pursue publication when the time is right. If the book is great but unmarketable (a bit unlikely though, as most "great but unmarketable" mss are actually "boring and of no interest ot anyone by the person who wrote it"), it's your job as an agent to find an editor that likes great, unmarketable books.
4. Most of the people here are published writers, editors, and/or otherwised involved in the publishing world. You do not need to give us the newbie 101, especially not a faulty one.
Many writers appreciated this service, so many in fact, that for a few months I made it a requirement for prospective clients to participate in the program before I would look at their project. I ended this program eight months ago. I am no longer working with clients whose work is not at a publishable level. I don’t have the time.
Do you understand why some writers, who are used to being treated professionally, thought it was rather rude of you to demand they go through some sort of amateur editing group to get to you?
One reason clients are very loyal to me is because many have met me.
Whereas other agents never meet with their clients?
Loyalty is nice and all, but sooner or later they're going to start getting antsy if you don't manage to sell their work.
Have I been successful? What is your measuring stick? If it is money, not yet.
Comments like this one, coupled with "They know I might not sell their project tomorrow, or next week, or perhaps ever." will make people wonder where you get your money. You might have made some money of the TOR deal, but you've been in business as an agent for over a year, and you've made no other sales, and you don't seem to be desperate for them either. That's going to make people wonder where you get your money, and if you're taking advantage of your writers. As an agent, your measuring stick for success should be sales. No sales, no success.
Other publishers have asked me how I did it. It wasn’t a fluke. I had experience and I had a very good author.
As far as I know, that book was already popular (wasn't that why her previous publisher didn't want to let it go? Aside form also being a scumbag, that is), and in TOR's slushpile. Helping an author negotiate a contract with a well-respected, honest publisher is not exactly hard.
I learned a tremendous amount about an industry that has no school, few books, and a publishing industry that is struggling to get out of the 18th century in the way it works.
Another remark about the publishing industry. You have to learn to take emotion out of your argument, and go on solid facts. The whole "I'll protect you from the big bad publishing industry, don't worry, it'll all be different soon"-thing might work on innocent newbie authors, but it's actually kind of annoying to the rest of us.
FINAL NOTE I don’t think some of the visitors to this site understand...
As I said before, many of the visitors to this site ar epublished wirters, editors, and/or otherwise involved in the publishing industry.
– That publishers are not interested in the quality of your work as much as they are about whether the timing is right for it to sell and make a profit.
Which is why you, as an agent, need to know who's looking for what.
– That except for the big agencies in NYC, most of the Literary Agents are part timers. Some are English professors, cab drivers, and even security guards that happen to work in the buildings of the publishers. Many are ex-editors. Most of them have MFA’s in English. Few have ever sold anything door to door. Fewer still have a business background or understand the verbiage of a contract.
Hate to break this to you, but most "non-traditional" agents are either unsuccessful or scammers, sometimes both. Sometimes one of them gets lucky. As for the people who worked at publishing-houses and whatnot, they make up a very small percentage, and will usually only sell one or so mss during their entire life. But at least they're on a first-name basis with editors at big houses, which is something you should be striving towards as well.
A good agent knows how to negotiate a contract, understands the market, knows the right editors, and makes good sales. A good agent/agency will make its first sale after 6 months or so of being in business, and will continue to sell regularly thereafter. Agents make money from selling book, so it is in their interest to know how to negotiate a high advance and so on, so those who don't know what they're doing usually get a new job after a while.
– That most agents have a small club of editors that they are friendly with and talk to or go to lunch with once a week. On average, it is about 10 editors they talk to. That “old boy” or “old girl”’ network is dissolving due to pressures from the top to make a profit. I was told by some of those same top executive editors that my advantage is that I come out of a profit driven - business background. When executive editors talk, I listen.
Heh, did you ever wonder what those top executive editors thought was you disadvantage? Or if the reason they're open to you is because "traditional" agents know all of their little tricks and drive a very hard bargain when representing their clients?
Knowing 10 editors at the major houses is all you need to make a sale to them (there's not exactly a lot of large houses, after all, and you only show the book once to each house, unless they change editors or something, then you might get another chance). Being a good agent with a good reputation and a lot of solid sales to your name will also allow you to bypass the slush at other publishers as well. The fact that you don't know anyone is not an advantage, especially not to the writers who are going to have to wait for you to gain enough experience and connections to represent them effectively.