Hi,

So I'm a published author with an agent - a newish (less than five years) one at a middle sized agency. But certain things keep happening and my gut keeps ringing the alarm. What do you think of the following?

The Good:
Secured first non-fiction commission.
Good advance.
Re-sold to one minor territory.

The Bad:
Last commission for me was two years ago.
I had to renegotiate the contract (factually inaccurate/severely unfavourable).
Delivered contract seven weeks late.
Ignored missing payments.
Didn't manage shoddy editorial work/problems of publisher (took twice as long as writing the book).
Rarely responds adequately to communications.
Offers to do things then never follows up.
Appears to send pitches with typos.
Believes 'authors shouldn't complain, agents shouldn't explain'.
Believes you should answer the question you want to answer not the question you're asked.

We've had one cancelled project this year and then with two follow up pitches the agent chose not to chase them for six months and from what I can tell has never formally had a rejection, but now considers them dead (I could do this).

As I'm in the process of finishing a novel I'm wondering whether I can trust this agent to pitch adequately and conduct themselves courteously and professionaly. I'm also wondering if the first commission was a bit of a fluke (the agent likes to give their partner credit for that idea when it was actually me finding out what the publishers the agent worked with were looking for and tailoring a pitch accordingly).

Apols for long post. Any thoughts? Thanks!

I think that in a way you have answered your own dilemma, if you look at the two different lengths of those lists!

I'd suggest that you have a heart-to-heart with this agent and express your concerns, and then if that doesn't go down well, hunt for a different agent!

It's an important relationship and if you don't feel that you are being fairly represented, you should definitely say so.

I think you may be right NessieC.

I'm waiting to hear back about a meeting with the agent in December - they suggested a date but then haven't followed up with time or place (again).

If they don't I may well give them notice as I spend a disproportionate amount of time on managing them when I could be writing, editing or marketing myself.

It would be good to know if people think any of the specific points are out and out bad agenting?

For example, in that first deal, we/they had sold British and European English language rights, but then after negotations were complete wanted me to sign for Worldwide excluding USA.

That's rubbish, right?

I think maybe I was still feeling like a noob and not trusting my instincts.

As I'm in the process of finishing a novel I'm wondering whether I can trust this agent to pitch adequately and conduct themselves courteously and professionaly.

If I've read it right, you have is an agent who specialises in non-fiction, so for a novel one would normally find another agent who specialises in that fiction genre.
Whether or not you stick with your non-fiction agent for any future non-fiction book proposals is a different question. From what you've said, it seems clear the relationship between author and agent has broken down so if it was me I'd be looking elsewhere.


- NaomiM

It sounds bad, doesn't it? From experience, I would say that if your relationship with your agent is not working, do not be afraid to end it.

Sorry NMott, I should have said, the agent specialises in both fiction and non-fiction although with the recession it seems as if their non-fiction contacts may have dried up.

I started out working on fiction but we picked up the non-f project on the back of my queries about what publishers were asking for and that the subject matter was linked to my journalistic work.

I guess I should start a thread asking how to change agents!

Shooter, you need to check your agency agreement, as it will specify periods of notice, and what happens if they sell a book of yours in the notice period, and things like that. The Society of Authors can advise, too, on moving agents. You will need to end things with this agent before you can formally sign up with another (agents themselves don't, officially, poach off each other) but that doesn't mean you can't go out looking.

Certainly having a novel to pitch is a good moment to move, too. Many agents do represent both fic and non-fic (mine, for instance), but may not be right for both lots of your work. And it sounds as if it's actually fiction that, as it were, your heart's in, so it matters a lot to have the right agent for that.

It does sound as if you've completely lost faith in them, whatever the rights and wrongs of particular events. It's a bit hopeless, once that's happened; you'll never trust them to do a good job, and they'll always know you don't. Good luck!

Emma

I think it's more about your relationship with them than about what makes a good or bad agent.

Many of the things on your "bad" list could be normal, publishing is a slippery old business and everything runs late and shifts around rather maddeningly.

But the key is that IF there are good reasons for these hiccups, they haven't communicated those reasons, and you're dissatisfied and you don't have confidence in them to fight your corner.

I'd find another agent. Agents work for writers, not the other way around. And while it's clearly better if you have a good working relationship with your agent, if they aren't doing what you're paying them to do, find another who will.

Sorry, but I don't understand why your agent is writing your pitches in the first place. You're the writer; it's your work. I wouldn't trust any agent to do this: they're not writers.

For a different but I'd say more realistic view of agents, check out: http://www.deanwesleysmith.com/?page_id=860

Terry

Thanks again for your great responses.

Shooter, you need to check your agency agreement, as it will specify periods of notice, and what happens if they sell a book of yours in the notice period, and things like that.

It's a sixty day notice and continuation of any curent contracts plus the right to collect their commission direct from the publisher - doesn't state whether they would collect my royalties as well or if I go direct to publisher. Will check that one out with Society of Authors (great on contracts, terrible on accountants).

Many of the things on your "bad" list could be normal, publishing is a slippery old business and everything runs late and shifts around rather maddeningly. But the key is that IF there are good reasons for these hiccups, they haven't communicated those reasons, and you're dissatisfied and you don't have confidence in them to fight your corner.

Publishing is definitely a slippery trade and you are absolutely right if good communication isn't happening you lose confidence very quickly. As a commercial writer for nearly two decades (TV, advertising, branding, journalism) I'm always shocked at what passes for good business practice in publishing (the others have their moments mind).

Effective communication is actually a part of their own Agents Association's code of practice.

n) All members shall promote and protect their clients' best interests and maintain regular contact to keep them informed as to work undertaken on their behalf.

Unfortunately I've given them repeated opportunities to make right over a period of more than a year, so will see if they come back to me this one final time.

There is some great advice here:http://cba-ramblings.blogspot.com/2010/10/how-to-fire-your-agent.html

Great link Terry, thanks.

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Sorry, but I don't understand why your agent is writing your pitches in the first place.

As I understand it agents will often rewrite cover/letter pitches. I know they've done this with mine and then haven't shown me until afterwards.

Also when I asked for samples of pitches they sent out last year several had typos.

One project I asked them to review had a glaring one they never picked up.

It's a theme!

My last agent once initiated a project with a publisher, which I did two books for. She made herself the manager of the project, so had quite a bit of say in how it would appear (even though in the end I had to do pretty much all of it because she lost interest!). That's fair enough: it was work she got and I agreed to her terms. But if it's your own work, I really can't see why a writer would allow their agent to have anything to do with the writing, either with the ms itself of the submission material. They aren't writers and they aren't editors. They're agents.

I've just started sending out a new novel. I did the A.I. for it myself - tagline, blurb, marketing angles, etc. I've trained myself to do this because it's part of being a writer. Why would I trust an agent to do it? I've only sent it to editors so far, and have just had a request for the full. Okay, I don't know if that will result in a sale, but clearly the submission/pitch/chapters gained a publisher's interest. Neither of the two agents I've had were trained in writing submission material and couldn't have done as good a job on my book; and to be fair to them, they didn't try. But the fact yours sent pitches out with typos really says volumes!

Terry

<Added>

I've been thinking a lot lately, about how easy it is to get caught in the duality which seems to automatically kick in whenever an issue is discussed, e.g. that agents are absolutely necessary if you want to get published vs agents are absolutely not necessary if you want to get published. When we start out in writing and don't know anything, it's understandable that we'll tend towards the first extreme view of agents we come across, and these days that probably still tends to be the one that says they're absolutely essential. But what I think we should be intrinsically aiming for is actually nothing to do with agents at all, at least not in the first instance; it's about our own writing aims and desires. And the success of that is strongly dependent on being self-determined, of always learning new things, for example, instead of just taking the first easy view and sticking with it. From that direction, I think you're much more likely to work with an agent on your terms, rather than, basically, theirs. I have a very strong-minded writer friend in the US who just got his first book deal - after years of learning and practising and submitting. He asked himself if he needed an agent, and concluded that what he most needed was a contract lawyer. So he's hired a contract lawyer. I have another strong-minded writer friend who's thinking concluded that she in fact she did need an agent, for X,Y and Z areas of help. So she got an agent; however, she thoroughly researched agents first, which is of course the wise thing to do. We all know there are plumbers and there are plumbers.

By coincidence, this was on today's Writers' Digest email:

9 THINGS AGENTS DON'T WANT TO SEE IN A QUERY
1. Asking what the agent can do for you, rather than demonstrating what you can do for him/her
2. Asking for a phone call or in person meeting before the agent has requested one
3. Querying for multiple projects at the same time
4. Listing personal information unrelated to your book
5. Giving references from people outside the publishing industry (such as saying your writers group, your congregants, or your mother’s next door neighbor’s cockerspaniel loved your book)
6. Comparing your book to a commonly-quoted bestseller
7. Making broad claims that you can’t back up
8. A pitch for an incomplete novels. (It’s OK to query with an unfinished nonfiction project, as long as you’ve written a proposal, but novels should be finished before you start contacting agents.)
9. Overly familiar, aggressive, or incorrect salutations

Number 1 is extraordinary: 'what you can do for him/her'! Let's get this straight: you are a writer who's written a book that a publisher is (hopefully) going to buy. An agent is someone you employ to help you with the contract process and perhaps some other stuff you may want them to do. They then get paid by you for performing these tasks. Yet this agent believes it's up to the writer to show what he can do for her? This is like a plumber saying, Don't ask what I can do for your pipe work, show me how you can add to my profits. Staggering.

Number 2 is similarly arrogant. What she's saying here in effect is, if you're a writer with a publishing deal, you shouldn't ask to speak to her by phone or request a meeting towards offering her a percentage of your deal!

Interesting, too, that she doesn't head this, "What I don't want to see . . . ", but feels able to speak on behalf of all agents.

Elsewhere, the same agent lists the three things agents do for writers:

1. Publishers don’t often handle unsolicited works
2. Agents have “intense relationships” with editors
3. Agents can help negotiate a bigger deal

I'd agree with 3; for 2, would say it depends on the agent; and for 1, well, 'works' perhaps, but queries tend to be a different matter.

Terry

I think "What can you do for me?" is a highly relevant question once an agent's expressed an interest in taking you on, as is wanting to meet, obviously. (Harry Bingham's new book Getting Published has a terrific list of questions to ask an agent who's interested in you, including "How about a lower commission?" - not backward in coming forward... ). But I wouldn't put it in a query; a query is basically a cold call and, like it or not, at that stage it's a buyer's market.

I don't understand why your agent is writing your pitches in the first place.

I'm profoundly glad that my agent pitches my work for me - I wouldn't have a clue. Though I don't know if she writes pitches at all - as far as I can tell it's more a matter of building mentions and phone conversations in the course of all her myriad moving about in the trade, long before the MS arrives on the editors' desks at all.

I do - these days - know a certain amount about what the market for my work seems to be, although even that's problematic in my case because I write crossover, which involves some very, very skillful finessing if you're to persuade them that it'll appeal to both markets, not neither.

But what I have no idea about is why and how it therefore fits in which editor's list, which is just as relevant to the publishers' decision about whether to buy it, as is the innate nature and standard of the book. That's about the other authors they have on that list, and where the booktrade sees that list at the moment and in the future (hence the incredibly arcane conversations you can find yourself having about why you're with which publisher). And that is a central - perhaps even the central - skill of an agent, and irrelevant to the chief skills of a writer. Though I would still say that an agent who's a really good editor, if you land one, is worth their weight in gold.

Which only goes to show that in some ways there's no such thing as a typical agent and a typical set up. The key seems to be that both agent and author are happy in the same setup, which is Harry Bingham's point - ask the questions that will make sure you are.

Emma

Some brilliant thinking here, and, actually, posting this thread and reading Dean Wesley Smith's site has made me kick myself up the arse more than a little bit.

When I came into publishing I read all the usual books on how to get ahead in publishing, the number one thing being get an agent.

And to be honest I've been pretty passive about this received wisdom, assuming that my agent only had my best interests at heart (I was even warned otherwise by the first publisher I had through them), would know how to edit a book for the better, know about contracts and so on.

Some do obviously, but a great many don't. In the same way that the job title 'editor' often has nothing to do with actual editing these days.

Something Smith said struck a chord, you don't necessarily need an agent to pitch, edit, or market your work. What you need them to be is a good negotiator and you should always have one, or a contract lawyer, after you've found a publisher. You just don't necessarily need one before.

Yes, agents do have an in with editors (their USP) - but it's a limited in of 8-10 editors say instead of the whole market (i.e. editors they don't know).

And what if an editor doesn't like your agent and actively ignores their pitches?

Ultimately an agent can be good for your career but they can also hold you back depending on their experience and capability. The main thing is to be in charge of your work, you are the talent, the creative, the digger at the coal face. After all, it is your work and your business.

It may depend on how you enter publishing, if you've never done any writing before you may find this statement from Noah Lukeman's How to Land (and Keep) a Literary Agent to be true:

Writing is not a business, but i assure you that publishing a book is, and if you don't want to become a businessperson in the process, then having an agent is the best thing you can do.

If, like me, you are coming at it having already made a living at writing, have kicked doors open, negotiated contracts, understand copyright and are willing to work at your craft, the above statement may sound like a snare to catch the uninitiated.

And bloody cheeky to those of us who write for a living.