Yesterday, I blogged about five clues that tell you that your agent just isn’t that into you. Some of them happened to me and some of them happened to friends. Today, I’m going to talk about five mistakes writers make, when they’re agent hunting.
1. They don’t research an agent.
2. They don’t know what their expectations are going into a deal with an agency.
3. They pick an agent based on their client list.
4. If they’ve (the writer) left an agency and haven’t immediately found another agent, they become desperate and pounce on the first agent that makes an offer.
5. They don’t interview the agent.
There is more to researching an agent than finding out if they are reputable. You also need to interview the agent’s clients. You’d be amazed how honest authors will be when asked about their representation.
A lot of authors don’t know what to expect from an agent. I think it’s important to really think about what’s important to you, what you’d like from the relationship (ie someone who edits your work, someone who submits immediately, read times, career thoughts, etc.), what kind of relationship you’d like with the agent, etc., BEFORE you agent hunt.
Picking an agent based on their client list isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but you do have to keep something in mind. If you are picking an agent because they seem to represent the ‘kind’ of books you write, then also pay attention to how MANY authors they have writing in that genre. You may end up on the bottom of the pile. It’s better to have an agent who has experience in selling several different genres or doesn’t have a heavy client list.
Giving in to desperation is the BIGGEST mistake a writer can make, when searching for an agent. I cannot repeat that enough times. For the sake of your career, hold strong and find the best agent for you.
I know that when I was starting out I didn’t have a lot of questions for agents. This was a newbie mistake on my part. Interviewing the agent before signing with the agency is one of the smartest things an author can do. Have a list of questions in front of you, when you speak to them on the phone. That way you won’t find yourself stammering. This also goes back to expectations. If you have an idea what you expect from the relationship, it’ll be easier to write out your questions. Never be afraid to walk away from an agent or an agency that does not meet your needs. I know it seems like you’ll never get another offer of representation, but that’s NOT true. It just may take some time. In the interim, you can shop your work yourself. You’d be amazed what a good query and first three chapters will do to get you in a door.
Once again, I’m opening the blog up for questions. Fire away.
Archive for October, 2007
1. Your agent stops returning your phone calls.
2. Your agent takes months to read your submissions.
3. Your agent forgets to submit your work.
4. Your agent stops returning your emails.
5. Your agent sends back all the work you submit to them with a ‘thanks, but no thanks’ note attached.
Not all these things happened to me, but they have happened to friends. I know that to most writers landing an agent is a high point in a career. It falls somewhere behind selling your first book/s. But getting an agent doesn’t solve all your writing biz problems. Sometimes, landing an agent will be the beginning of the end of your career. Just as a good agent can make a career, a bad agent can stall it. And by good and bad, I’m not necessarily talking about disreputable. Disreputable agents have their own special category (and place in hell:). I’m also not talking about needing to change agents with the phases of your career. Sometimes you have to leave a reliable agent, if they can’t take you to the next stage of your career (ie bestseller land). If you’re a newbie writer reading this entry, please don’t freak. It’s just the nature of the beast business.
You can be with the top agent/agency in the country, but if they don’t get your work, then it won’t matter. They will not manage to sell you. Heck, they may not even manage to submit your work to a publisher. Having a bad agent can mean just a bad agent for you and your career. Right about now, you’re probably asking, how can I determine who’s bad and who’s good? The truth is that you can do all the research in the world and it still won’t amount to much. Research can keep you from making a fatal agent mistake, but it can’t prevent you from signing with an agent who is wrong for you. You won’t know how that person truly works until you’ve signed your name on the dotted line. Yeah, I know, it sucks.
Some writers are lucky enough to get a good agent right out of the shoot. Others, like me, take the long route. (wg) I had to go through a few people before finding a good fit. That doesn’t mean that all my old agents were bad agents. They weren’t. I know some writers who are on their fifth agent. :-O I hope that I’m done agent hunting for a while. Stopping and starting over does little to progress one’s career. *g*
I’m now going to open my blog up to questions, but I reserve the right to plead the fifth. 
Does anyone have any questions about finding an agent?
Sorry for being MIA. Things are still insanely busy around casa Summers. I’ve been on the phone with insurance companies, accountants, etc. and have been answering emails from publishers and ex-agents. I just started this. And no, before you ask, I have not made my word count today. I hope to get some work done later, but not sure it’s going to happen. Tomorrow is my niece’s fifth birthday and I haven’t managed a gift or a card. Sigh. I have the Salvation Army coming tomorrow morning to pick up the ton of stuff that we’ve sorted through for the move. I hope whoever is driving has very strong arms. (wg)
On one of the lists that I belong to the authors have been talking about the difference between representing yourself and having an agent. It’s been a pretty interesting discussion. The most interesting thing that’s come out of the talk is how people (ie writers) define the ‘rules’ of publishing.
What do I mean? Well, some people believe that when a publisher or agent says not to send multiple submissions that you should listen. When I say multiple submissions, I’m not talking about sending the same manuscript to different people within the same publishing house/agency. I’m talking about sending out multiple submissions/queries to various publishing houses/agencies. I always figured that ‘rule’ was like parlay in Pirates of the Caribbean…more of a guideline.
I think the bottom line is that as long as you’re acting like a professional when you conduct yourself in this business, then you don’t have to worry so much about the ‘rules’.
Dh and I just got back from a home show. We ran through the convention center, trying to see if there was anything there that would help us with our new home. Surprisingly, there wasn’t much. We saw a few possible window treatments and electricians, but otherwise, not a lot. We then went to a furniture store. We found a couple of chairs that might work as accent pieces in the living room. We’ll see. So much stuff to get, so little Olympic funding. *ggg* I feel like with all this running around I did get my workout in. Lots of walking taking place.
Haven’t managed to get my word count in today, but then again, I just walked into the door. Hopefully I can stay awake long enough to write. Hope everyone is having a super weekend. I’ll catch you guys on Monday.
I finished up with the copy edits last night and sent them off today. Unfortunately, the fact that I worked on CE’s all day yesterday messed with my word count. I only got half of my daily count in. So today, I had to make up for yesterday’s failings. I am officially back on schedule and nearing the fifty page mark. (Yes, I know that’s not very many pages. :P)
We did get a bit of good news today. The house is officially moving forward. Hooray!!! We don’t have a closing date yet, but we hope to find out soon (ie whether it’ll be in November or December). Yep, it’s coming up fast. :-O
My agent is in Frankfurt at the bookseller’s convention. Should be beautiful this time of year. Once she gets back, I’ll have to do some work on my urban fantasy. She’s going to let me know what I have to do. Please powers that be make it something small.(wg) I’ve been away from the book for several months now, so I have no idea how it would read to me at this point. Which is probably why I found the first half of this blog entry hilarious, even though it’s talking about edits from publishers. I definitely feel this guy’s pain. I’m one of those people who have a hard time switching gears, especially when I’m in the middle of writing a book. I hope I can get the changes done fairly quickly so that I can stay on schedule with the Tor book. We’ll see.
I did hear that Christine Warren and Cheyenne McCray made the NYT Bestseller’s list today with No Rest for the Witches. Big congrats ladies! 
Sorry, my blog seems to be freaking out.
I still haven’t managed to pick up the new L.L. Foster book yet. My reading time diminishes greatly when I’m writing. I am currently working my way through Charlaine Harris’ Ice Cold Grave. I love this series. (ICG is book three.) It’s all mystery with a touch of paranormal. The heroine was struck my lightning when she was young and has been able to find the dead ever since. She travels around with her step brother (no blood relation), Tolliver. The sexual tension between the two characters is thick, thick, THICK. Truly delicious to read. I swear Charlaine writes some of the best first person stories out there. I bow before her abilities.
So what is everyone reading? Recommendations are always welcome.
I’ve been meeting my daily word count and I just started the CE’s. I’m afraid because of those two things it won’t be very exciting around here. Who knew you actually had to write something for a book to get finished? *ggg*
I managed to watch Moonlight. (I’d taped it, but hadn’t gotten around to watching it until today.) I know a lot of people thought it was horrible. I’m not one of them. I am not saying that it’s a great show. It’s not. But, I do find it entertaining enough to keep watching and I think it’s kind of cool that the girl from Underworld is playing a mortal. What can I say, I’m starved for more vampires on TV. I know a lot of readers and watchers are sick of vampires. I’ve never really got that. I’ll take the vamps any way that I can get them. More please.
What can you not get enough of?
I must say that the arrival of my copy-edits were a mixed event. I waited all day in the house for Fed Ex to come and they never did. I thought maybe the edits would arrive on Monday. At the last second, I asked dh to check to see if the office had by chance collected them. Sure enough my edits were sitting in the office. I hadn’t been notified of a package arriving, so had I not known my editor was sending them, they would’ve sat there indefinitely. Bastards!
I got a few more pages written on my second book for Tor. I’ve now finished chapter two and will start chapter three tomorrow. My goal is to write every day until the book is finished. When I take time off, I lose momentum. When I finish my daily word count, I’ll work on the copy-edits. I’m hoping that they won’t take more than three days to complete. Knock on wood.
Bernard left a comment asking about new excerpts. I decided to put up two unedited excerpts. One is for my upcoming Blaze, OFF LIMITS, and the other is for the first book in my Tor series, DEAD WORLD: RED. I hope you like them. I will warn you now that the RED excerpt is graphically violent and plain ol’ graphic, so approach with caution. Enjoy!
