Post by paultremblay on Dec 8, 2022 14:36:53 GMT
This thing about agents I wrote came up on the facebook memory machine today. Just in case anyone out there is dealing with an agent search or have questions about their agent, some thoughts:
An old saw: “The only thing worse than having no agent is having a bad agent.”
4
What’s a ‘bad’ agent? One who is bad for you.
Aside from the obvious (you don’t pay an agent, an agent makes 15% in US and 20% for foreign sales), here are some warning signs of, well, badness. (and there are of course levels or shades of bad; or bad-for-you is really a better way to put it, I think.)
--Check the agent’s roster of clients. If some of the agent’s clients are not more successful or only moderately more successful than you in your career, you should seriously question what that agent can do for you.
--Lack of communication. This is a biggie. If your agent doesn’t respond to emails or calls within a reasonable amount of time (within 24 to 48 hours), that’s not exactly a sign that you are high up on your agent’s priority list. You shouldn't expect chummy weekly gab sessions but reasonable, professional communication, yes.
--Your agent is not only willing but is advising you give up a percentage of film rights to a publisher or editor. That’s incompetency at best. I witnessed this kind of agent in action late this week.
--Your agent presents you with a deal that HAS TO BE SIGNED NOW OR WE’LL LOSE OUT. Nothing, especially Hollywood, moves at a used-car-salesperson-sign-it-NOW!!!! pace.
--Your agent continually rejects your new project ideas or seems really luke-warm at best about sending out your latest/greatest. Or your agent (or prospective agent) only wants to send the book out to one editor. It's hard/scary/impossible, but you might need to move on. (In 2005 an agent named Bob DiForio didn’t want to officially take me on until he tried sending my first novel to his buddy editor at Sourcebooks. I foolishly said yes, that editor said no, and DiForio stopped talking to me after that…)
--Your agent doesn’t share with you submission information. You should be provided with a list of editors/publishers your agent pitched/submitted to. Ideally, you get this list before the submission occurs.
--Your agent is unable to get timely responses from editors. If your novel has been out on submission (and not counting summer and winter breaks, when things really slow down) for more than 2-3 months and you haven’t received a single response, you should question what kind of pull your agent has within the industry. Or maybe your agent isn’t willing to check up on the submission and push the editor for a response. Or maybe your agent doesn’t have a relationship with an editor and blindly submitted. Or maybe your agent doesn’t want to push because your agent doesn’t believe in the book. None of those scenarios are ideal. Anecdotally speaking, when I first signed on with my agent he worked for a small(er) agency. We went out with my first novel. Everyone passed. But everyone passed within a timely manner, within 2 months, for 2 full rounds of submissions. Later in my career, I’ve had three other times we went out on submission with novels. All three times (including a YA novel that received all passes) we had responses within 1-2 months. Most responses came in within a few weeks.
Keep in mind I am not an agent expert and I might’ve left the house this morning having forgot to put on deodorant. Finding an agent is hard (it took me 2 years to find mine). Having to leave an agent is hard, maybe harder, and super scary. But, people find agents, and people leave agents and find new ones all the time.
An old saw: “The only thing worse than having no agent is having a bad agent.”
4
What’s a ‘bad’ agent? One who is bad for you.
Aside from the obvious (you don’t pay an agent, an agent makes 15% in US and 20% for foreign sales), here are some warning signs of, well, badness. (and there are of course levels or shades of bad; or bad-for-you is really a better way to put it, I think.)
--Check the agent’s roster of clients. If some of the agent’s clients are not more successful or only moderately more successful than you in your career, you should seriously question what that agent can do for you.
--Lack of communication. This is a biggie. If your agent doesn’t respond to emails or calls within a reasonable amount of time (within 24 to 48 hours), that’s not exactly a sign that you are high up on your agent’s priority list. You shouldn't expect chummy weekly gab sessions but reasonable, professional communication, yes.
--Your agent is not only willing but is advising you give up a percentage of film rights to a publisher or editor. That’s incompetency at best. I witnessed this kind of agent in action late this week.
--Your agent presents you with a deal that HAS TO BE SIGNED NOW OR WE’LL LOSE OUT. Nothing, especially Hollywood, moves at a used-car-salesperson-sign-it-NOW!!!! pace.
--Your agent continually rejects your new project ideas or seems really luke-warm at best about sending out your latest/greatest. Or your agent (or prospective agent) only wants to send the book out to one editor. It's hard/scary/impossible, but you might need to move on. (In 2005 an agent named Bob DiForio didn’t want to officially take me on until he tried sending my first novel to his buddy editor at Sourcebooks. I foolishly said yes, that editor said no, and DiForio stopped talking to me after that…)
--Your agent doesn’t share with you submission information. You should be provided with a list of editors/publishers your agent pitched/submitted to. Ideally, you get this list before the submission occurs.
--Your agent is unable to get timely responses from editors. If your novel has been out on submission (and not counting summer and winter breaks, when things really slow down) for more than 2-3 months and you haven’t received a single response, you should question what kind of pull your agent has within the industry. Or maybe your agent isn’t willing to check up on the submission and push the editor for a response. Or maybe your agent doesn’t have a relationship with an editor and blindly submitted. Or maybe your agent doesn’t want to push because your agent doesn’t believe in the book. None of those scenarios are ideal. Anecdotally speaking, when I first signed on with my agent he worked for a small(er) agency. We went out with my first novel. Everyone passed. But everyone passed within a timely manner, within 2 months, for 2 full rounds of submissions. Later in my career, I’ve had three other times we went out on submission with novels. All three times (including a YA novel that received all passes) we had responses within 1-2 months. Most responses came in within a few weeks.
Keep in mind I am not an agent expert and I might’ve left the house this morning having forgot to put on deodorant. Finding an agent is hard (it took me 2 years to find mine). Having to leave an agent is hard, maybe harder, and super scary. But, people find agents, and people leave agents and find new ones all the time.