All posts in On Agents

There seems to be a debate on Kristin Nelson’s latest blog entry about how you communicate with an agent about a request, whether telling the interested agent about all other agent interest is a good idea or not.

What I’m getting from Kristin’s post is that a writer should treat all agents with respect and courtesy. If an agent is offering to take the time to request your full, simply thank the agent and mail the pages. Sure, it’s okay to ask to email the full in a polite way.

However…

The tone of your communication and how you handle the situation can be a deciding factor if an agent will be willing to work with you. Bragging isn’t a good idea. Now if there are offers of representation from other agents then the courtesy is letting the interested agent know so she can decide if she is willing to make the time to read your work quickly before you sign with an agent.

The unnecessary telling of XX amount of agent interest on a project can come off as….”well, all this interest, but is there something wrong with the work or writer that after all this interest there is no offer?”

Or “obviously, I’m not of a great interest to the writer as an agent since he/she is querying a bunch of agents over me.”

Treat an intrerested agent with polite courtesy. This agent could be the one to sell your book and become your partner in your career. Or not.

From reading Kristin’s blog, she’s mentioned that some agents will share the good and the bad about writers and editors. You don’t want your name being shared as a bad experience.

Just my thoughts on the matter. Kristin could have a different outlook on the topic.

I guess I’m still on the blogging-about-agents kick because I was reading the latest entry on my agent’s blog about communicating with your agent, and aha! Blog topic.

When you first sign with an agent, it’s really easy to email your agent a lot. I know I did, but Kristin has always been really understanding about it. In fact, I think she calls it the “needy stage” of a new client. She had written “relax” in response to many of my emails our first year. haha! We writers are a sensitive lot.

In order not to feel like you’re emailing your agent too often regarding your submissions, ask upfront the agent’s strategy on updates. For instance, I’ve learned my agent usually lets about 8 weeks pass on my submissions before she checks on status with a pub house. So if I haven’t heard from her after that time, I can feel comfortable sending her an email regarding the status. I also know a usual time frame she takes to read partials and full manuscripts. The longer you are with your agent, you both will learn how each of you work.

Now, I’m going through another new experience–or needy stage!–with my first release and I have a lot of questions. *sigh* Questions I never even thought to ask before…such as promo I’m doing on my own before I’ve chatted with the house publicist and how independent stores are able to order a small quantity of my books. Blah, blah, blah. I’m telling you, the questions never stop!

This leads me to about asking general questions…

If I have a quick question, I can usually count on hearing from my agent quickly. If I know my question is pretty meaty, it can take a bit of time to hear back in order for her to write out a detailed email. I haven’t felt the need to call her much because I live by my email, and the same goes with my editor. She told me upfront she’s more comfortable communicating through email, too. If I did feel I needed to talk to my editor or agent, I would feel comfortable setting up a conference call instead of calling and hoping to catch them at a free time.

Now, if your agent is ignoring you completely for weeks that has got to be an awful feeling and after you made all attempts to speak with him or her and the agent still does not return your messages, it may be time to part ways. I have heard many times, it’s better to be without an agent than to be signed with the wrong one.

Okay, so I neglected to mention what kind of questions you might want to ask agents before deciding to sign with them. I had no idea what questions to ask, either, but I had friends who did. Here are some sample questions to start you off…

1) Do you represent other authors in my area of interest?
If you write Romantic Suspense, does the agent rep other RS clients?

2)What is your normal submission process?

3)What is your normal reading time with partials and full or revisions for your clients?
This is a good question because I often see new writers asking opinions on how long her/his agent should be taking to read their work.

4)Will you oversee and/or keep me apprised of the work your agency is shopping on my behalf? How long in between updates?

5)Do you issue an agent/author contract? Is so may I review a copy?

6)What is your approach to providing editorial input and career guidance?
There are authors who don’t want their agent telling them how to write their books and prefer only editorial input. So it’s always good to know ahead of time what you expect from each other.

7)How do you keep your clients informed of your activities on their behalf?
Does the agent send them the rejection letters? Does the agent keep an activity report?

8)Do you consult with your clients on any and all offers?

9)What are your commissions? Basic US sales, movie/film, audio, foreign rights?

10)What are your procedures and time-frames for disbursing funds?

11)What are your policies about charging expenses incurred by your agency?

12)What will happen if something happens to you?
For example, who will take over and finish getting that last check or book business done while the agent is unable to do so?

13)If we should part company, what is your policy about handling unsold rights to my works?
Meaning where do the rights go? Make sure this is in your contract and in your favor. If you part with an agent and you sell the work yourself a year down the road, you don’t want the agent to still get a commission after all this time.

And I’m sure there are a lot more questions, but this is all I have. Always go over the sample contract with someone you trust or ask questions on points you are not clear on. My brother-in-law is a lawyer and gave a list of clarifications to ask my agent, who cleared up all my questions. But still he didn’t know anything about publishing and what was standard. If you know someone who does know the biz to look over the contract, that is even better.

Any other experts or authors reading this, feel free to add any advice. There are no right or wrong questions here, you really have to ask the agent what you feel is important.

Um, any questions?