Secret agent man, secret agent man,
They’ve given you a number and taken away your name.
Show of hands: how many of you are happy with your literary agent? My guess is that probably fewer than half of you are raising your hands. In my writing life I have had three agents. When I was with agent #2, like the lyric above, I felt as if I’d been given a number (and it wasn’t one of those high numbers reserved for the best-sellers she was handling), and she’d taken away my name.
These days I consider myself lucky. I think the world of my agent. However, before finding true love I went through two divorces (literary agents #1 and #2). And yes, they really felt like divorces (or at least what I imagine a divorce would feel like – knock wood, I haven’t experienced that fate).
Aspiring writers think that an agent will solve all their problems. Nope. Uh-uh. Wrong. Before landing that agent you need to be realistic about what he or she can and should be doing.
A favorite quote of mine is, “A friend is someone you can speak to aloud without thinking.” Actually, the real quote sounds much better than that, but I just Googled the phrase and couldn’t find it. The point is that with a good friend you should be able to speak your mind without a lot of mental editing. The same holds true with an agent – you need to be able to speak freely.
Being an agent is a tough job especially given the fact that they have a clientele of writers (does the word “certifiable” mean anything?). I have gone to conventions where I have seen agents surrounded by their writers and have always been reminded of parent birds returning to the nest. We clamor, we cry, we remonstrate, all of us demanding the worm.
What should you expect from your agent? Among other things:
1) They need to know who is buying and what they’re buying;
2) They need to be your advocate;
3) Even though they advocate for you, your relationship should be such that they can honestly tell you their opinion re whatever you’re working on;
4) Don’t expect them to edit your manuscript; do expect feedback;
5) Most agents aren’t lawyers, but they should know their way around a contract. The writer should also take their advice if they suggest a lawyer should look at said contract;
6) They don’t need to be your friend, but they should share the vision you have re your writing;
7) They should tell you their “game plan” when you submit a book or a partial to them;
8) They need to kick you in the butt every so often;
9) They need to return your calls or email in a timely manner – that said, the writer shouldn’t be contacting the agent every time she has a hangnail;
10)There needs to be mutual respect on both ends. Yes, writing is tough, but I think being an agent is even tougher. They get the “no” before we do. They have to deliver the news. They have the unenviable task of trying to find a home for our words.
One of the most difficult decisions a writer can make is leaving an agent. I left my first agent when I could no longer tolerate her negativity towards a book I was working on. There was nothing about the book she liked, and I thought her suggested changes were so antithetical to my thinking that it was a divide we couldn’t bridge. I knew this agent couldn’t possibly be enthusiastic about representing the book, so I went and found another agent. My decision was vindicated when MULTIPLE WOUNDS got a Best Mystery nomination for most of the major crime writing awards. Being right didn’t make it easy, though. It was a tough career decision made with more than a few tears.
It was easier leaving my second agent. We never really had a simpatico. She was professional and well-respected in the field, but I always felt as if there was a time-clock clicking whenever we talked. Our conversations were stilted, and I never felt a personal connection.
As for my current agent, it would be hard for me to imagine working with anyone else. With her in my corner, I have always felt that at least it was “you and me against the world.” I am only sorry that I haven’t succeeded more for her. It’s a good thing she has other clients bringing in the big bucks, for I am afraid she would have starved had she counted on my earnings.
One great litmus test in determining whether you have the right agent is how you feel when you talk to him/her. Even when the news is all too discouraging (and I am afraid that is the norm rather than the exception), I feel better whenever I talk with my agent. She gets it. She gets me. We commiserate, we plan, and we plot. I love the way she doesn’t give up, and that inspires me to keep getting up off the mat.
I also like that my agent understands that we can agree to disagree. Several months ago I showed her a partial. When we talked it was clear that the book made her very uncomfortable because there were some graphic sex scenes involving an adulterous couple. I told my agent that those scenes were necessary as a setup, and that the book wasn’t about gratuitous sex. She listened to my explanation, but still wasn’t convinced. Morally, she said, she would have problems representing the book. She told me that when I ultimately finished the book she would read it with an open mind, but if her opinion didn’t change she would have to refer the book to another agent.
Was she judgmental? She was not. She told me the other agent represented erotic literature, and would be better for the book.
One day I’ll get back to that book, and prove to my agent it’s not “erotic literature,” and that it is a novel that she would want to represent, but in the meantime I can only respect her Solomon-like decision. She wasn’t telling me what I could write, just what she couldn’t represent. And she was going to find an agent for me that would represent the book. The whole situation just made me admire her that much more.
Everyone talks about writing being a solitary pursuit, but I know better. When you have a good agent you’re not doing it alone.
Pax,
Alan Russell
December 5, 2009