more on the agent saga... i did some research yesterday, found some agent sites and read up on what it's all about. as you may or may not know, i hate calling people - especially 'important and busy' people in 'important and busy' industries such as publishing (and there's the reason i never did well in telesales). i toyed with emailing a fellow author who has an agent before i realised that the thought was merely a distractor from any real action on my part (just like tidying my desk was when i worked at the yellow pages. if you saw how i lived, you'd realise that tidying doesn't really factor on my list of 'things to do today'. not that i actually keep a list of 'things to do today', but you catch my drift). so i picked up the phone and called one of the largest agent-bodies i know - and i didn't even get past the gatekeeper. she was nice enough though, but i lost a little respect for her when she said that all the agents were 'in a meeting' (come on!). she had the grace to tell me that it was generally harder to get an agent once you'd secured your own contract - i guess because they know they've already missed out on their 10%. so, i diligently wrote down the email address of an agent as she read it out to me, then put it to the side once i was off the call. but i guess if some chick called me and started their conversation with the words, 'i'm a writer', i'd be a little wary too.
anyhoo. next step - i picked up my mobile and gazed at a number that had been sent to me by its owner a couple of months ago. the number i was contemplating dialling belongs to an author whose work i respect - we also happen to share a publisher. when i secured a contract, this person offered advice and gave me their phone number (i must say, this is still the best part about getting a contract so far - being invited to cross the bridge from being a fan to being a peer). i dialled. quite a long conversation later, i have made my mind up about what i am going to do with the next ten or so months - and the first thing on the list is not to stress about them so much.
Wednesday, November 10, 2004
good thinking, 99
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2 comments:
Thanks for sharing your experiences with us. It is good to read about what you are going through just in case I get the chance to go through it all myself one day (fingers crossed).
I am curious as to the advantages of an agent -- what they can do that you can't do yourself.
hey kathryn
as far as i can tell, agents are good to get once you have a completed manuscript, but no publisher. they know about author's rights, they know how to actually read a contract - they basicaly go in there and do all the dirty work for you to secure you the best advance and royalty terms possible, both locally and overseas. they also have the big book of industry contacts, and (as i understand it) can get you in to things like discussion panels, anthologies, events and parties. oh, and they make at 10-15% cut on everything you make :o)
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