 | 15 Jun 09 |
Last week, I stumbled across an interesting blog post by author Dean Wesley Smith titled “Life After Agents.” It’s one in a series of posts that follows a model set by the History Channel series Life After People which speculates on how the removal of humans would affect the world.
In the “Life After Agents” post, Mr. Smith imagines the publishing industry without agents. He stresses that agents are employees of writers and should be viewed as such. I agree. Agents are hired by authors to perform duties for which they are paid by the author. Yet it’s more complicated than it sounds, because an agent’s job is so much more than a checklist of tasks that any layman–including the author–can do. I’m of the opinion that consulting and strategizing with an agent is where the value of the relationship lies. In order to advise effectively, an agent must possess knowledge that the author does not and they have to know how best to utilize that knowledge to reach the author’s goals.
An agent/author relationship isn’t as cut and dried as going to work and clocking in. Authors will often rely on their agent’s advice in order to make key decisions that will affect their entire career. An agent doesn’t just submit work and forward royalty statements. At least that shouldn’t be all they’re doing.
Good agents understand the author’s goals, strengths, and weaknesses because they listen. They ask key questions to determine what the author wants. They help the author to map out a career plan and consider the best ways to maneuver from Point A to Point B. They will target the author’s work to the house and editor where it will receive the best attention. They know which editors are making good things happen and which editors don’t have the clout to muster support for a book. They know which houses have lists so full it’s highly likely your book will “get lost” in the shuffle. This type of knowledge is vital to the planning necessary to achieve personal happiness, career longevity, and increased income, and most authors need an agent to get it.
As an author who’s had multiple agents and a long stretch of managing my career by myself, I believe a great agent can be priceless. The good ones would certainly be missed if they were gone.
© 2009 Sylvia Day. All rights reserved.
Sylvia Day is the national bestselling, award-winning author of seventeen novels. A wife and mother of two, she is a former Russian linguist for the U.S. Army Military Intelligence. In addition to her novels, she’s written numerous novellas and short stories for both print and electronic-original release. Sylvia’s work has been called “wonderful and passionate” by WNBC.com and “wickedly entertaining” by Booklist. Her stories have been translated into Russian, Japanese, Portuguese, German, Czech, and Thai. She’s been honored with the Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Award, the EPPIE award, the National Readers' Choice Award, and multiple finalist nominations for Romance Writers of America’s prestigious RITA® Award of Excellence.
Subscribe to Posts 
I’m hardly qualified to speak to this. The one agent I’ve worked with (far away and long ago)….didn’t work out. That said, I’m not adverse to trying again and once RWA and my deadlines are over, I’ll be able to renew the hunt to find and “woo” one.
I appreciate all the advice you more experienced authors provide! Happy Monday. *consideres crawling back into bed* *eyes MS in need of editing* *opts for fresh cup of coffee*
by Silver James June 15th, 2009 at 7:12 amAgents can be tremendously helpful or they can make life much harder for an author. I hope you find a good one when you’re ready!
by S. J. Day June 15th, 2009 at 2:24 pmI completely agree that a “great agent can be priceless.” Fifteen or so years ago, I had an agent (a man) in NY who was an ass to everyone around him. I wish I knew then what I know now–that a bad agent is worse than no agent at all, and that an agent who routinely makes enemies isn’t “powerful” but an idiot–they’re going to ruin their own business. (Which he did.) I have been lucky since then, finding the right person for where I was in my career at the time. Very lucky right now.
by toni mcgee causey June 15th, 2009 at 8:36 amI totally agree about needs changing and sometimes necessitating a move to a different agent. It’s definitely not one-agent-fits-all.
by S. J. Day June 15th, 2009 at 3:17 pmThanks for the info. I’ll keep it in mind as I’ve only sent out 2 queries to agents so far. Too bad they were both nicely rejected. Oh well, I’ll keep trying.
by HollyD June 15th, 2009 at 8:56 amGood luck! I know agent hunting is hard. *fingers crossed*
by S. J. Day June 15th, 2009 at 3:18 pmI do miss having an agent, but sometimes one has to look at the bigger picture and decide if the agent is the ‘right’ agent. I will say, I got faster and friendly rejections when my agent sent stuff.
I should probably start querying again. Sigh.
by Terry Odell June 15th, 2009 at 10:11 amI went over a year without an agent because I’d reached the point where the thought of working with one made me cringe. Finding the right agent is so hard and kissing frogs gets tiring after awhile. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with not having an agent. Authors are really better off without one rather than suffering with a bad one.
by S. J. Day June 15th, 2009 at 3:25 pmInteresting Syl! I think of my agent as more of a partner in my career, or maybe a business associate. I really don’t see it as a employeer/employee relationship simply because it’s not that kind of power dynamic in the author-agent world. It’s much more mutually dependant.
by Jen Lyon June 15th, 2009 at 1:59 pmWe often like to think we can do it all, but it just isn’t time/cost effective. It is like fixing your own car or plumbing. You can probably do it yourself, but is it worth it in the end. We hire people because the can do the job faster and better than we can. For all the reasons you stated, a good agent makes your job that much easier and more profitable.
by Patricia Barraclough June 15th, 2009 at 9:59 pmSJ, from someone who recently changed to her third agent, you are so, so right!
by Debra Webb June 23rd, 2009 at 5:10 am