The author/agent ratio

How agents spend their working day is a bit confusing for many authors. There is the impression that we read all day long, when in fact the reading we do is on the weekends and evenings. What we do during the week involved managing submissions for new work and managing relationships between editors, and clients who have deals in place including contract negotiation.

The reality is that our days are busy, time sensitive, and based on priority. (For more on what we do see this post on agent skills and the typical day of an agent.) You are one client to an agent with many clients that have varying needs. In many authors’ minds the ratio is 1:1 and you are always on your agents’ agenda. In reality, we manage many clients and it’s unrealistic to assume that.

However, we’ll always be there when you need us (see priority above), we’ll always be there to manage issues and problems that come up, but our other clients might be having issues that need problem solving as well so we do a balancing act of all this, plus doing deals. 

Q: What should I do while my book is on submission?

So many authors get anxious while their book is on submission to editors, as they should be! This is an exciting time. However, you can really work yourself up so here are 5 tips to keep your head above water:

1. Find a writers group to vent with. You’ll need to talk to people who know what you’re going through.
2. Learn more about the process by asking good questions: Which editors are looking at my book? What imprint and publishing house do they work at? You know about your genre, now learn about the publishing side of it. But let your agent do their job. This is their expertise.
3. Keep writing. Whether it’s new material, blog posts, journalism, etc. But don’t track the submission process. You need to show editors that you are active online, but leave some mystery.

Trust: Can you hand over control?

Trust. Seems like a simple concept, but so much of what we as agents do requires complete and utter trust from our authors. You might not understand all the moves we make, or why we have to be the voice of the industry sometimes, but our job is to communicate our actions as best as we can while requiring trust from our clients that we are making the best decisions for them and their career.

Our job is to advise you, with your best interests in mind, and consulting you on those decisions, but when you sign on with an agent you have to go through the check list of everything you want in an agent, and the ‘agent qualities’ they possess, and see if you can rely on them and work with this person through all the ups and downs.

Agent Communication: Do’s and Don’ts

I know you courteous querying writers like to know how agents like to be communicated with. Someone asked on Twitter if I could talk about the do’s and don’ts of agent communication. Here some of my tips:

• Be pleasant. There is a difference between confident and arrogant.
• You only have one chance to make a first impression. How are you going to use yours? By following guidelines.
• Don’t email to ask if you can send your query, just send it. While you might think that is thoughtful, we know that writers are going to query us so that extra step is a nuisance.
• Take initiative. If we ask for a partial, three chapters, and your chapters are short make a judgment call. There is no need to double-check with us.
• We get a lot of emails so please condense into one, don’t send several over the course of the day.
• Some agents prefer the phone, I prefer email because I’m not at my desk all day.
• Respect our time and understand our job. We balance a lot of things at once, including our clients and queries.
• We like our clients to send us updates often: events they are doing, articles they have published, videos they’ve done, and other things they are working on.
• Client concerns are our concerns. We like to be in the loop with the issues that our clients are going through and be the person they can come to for problem solving and troubleshooting.
• Twitter is not the place to pitch or get into lengthy discussions about us and our business. (It simply isn’t the right platform for that.) However, there are often #askagent sessions going on that writers can pop into. I suggest following agents on Twitter and wait for those opportunities.
• The query system is there–tried, tested and true–for a reason. Please respect it and our appropriate guidelines, all agents and agencies have their own. We don’t put them up for our pleasure, we want people to follow them closely. And we absolutely notice when people do.

An Agent Is Not An Editor

As an agent I am not there to overhaul your manuscript in an extensive editing process. My job is to get it in the best shape I can for submission to editors, but substantial editing is not in my job description because agents don’t have time for it and not all agents are trained editors.

I edit my client’s work to improve the novel’s structure, flush out characters, procure consistency, ask the right questions to get the novel to where it needs to go–as well as copyedit and proofread–before we take it to acquiring editors.

What to do when your offer of representation isn’t as simple as you thought

So, you’ve got an offer of representation. Now what?

When you played this scenario in your head perhaps you thought it would be simple or one of a few situations:

• I submit to my first choice agent and we connected.
• I go through a few months of rejections and land the agent that really loves my work.
• Or, I go through months of rejections and suggested revisions and get an offer, but I don’t know whether I should take it or something else will come along?

There are countless scenarios that involve rejection, revisions, unsure feelings, emotions you haven’t yet felt about your work or even want to feel.

You thought the hardest part was writing the book? Wrong. What comes after is so much harder.

Q: What can writers do to make agents’ lives easier?

Twitpic from 'Agenting Today' (via @kingvonelk)

Saturday afternoon I had the pleasure of co-hosting the BookCampTO ‘Agenting Today’ session at Ryerson University with my esteemed colleagues Sam Hiyate, The Rights Factory, and Chris Bucci, Anne McDermid & Associates. We fielded great questions from writers and industry professionals alike. Didn’t make it to BookCamp? Want to know what we discussed? Here’s one question that generated a lot of conversation:

What can writers do to make agents’ lives easier?

Here are 10 answers from the BookCamp session and debriefing afterwards:

1. Don’t announce deals until they’re public knowledge.
2. The agent and author relationship is a mutually beneficial relationship. Be honest with yourself and your agent if feelings ever change.
3. If you are a writer wanting to be ‘found’ make sure you have clear and up-to-date contact information on your website, blog or Twitter bio.