Is an agent necessary?

Lisa F said:

How necessary is an agent for the romance genre?

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Less necessary than for some of the other genres.

It really depends on what kind of romance you want to sell. But we still have a number of houses that will look at unagented submissions.

Can it be done? Yes.

Susan G. - 5 books, no agent

I'd argue that it's in your best interest to have an agent. Two main reasons for this:

1. Contacts. Agents know which editor from which house is looking for what manuscript, when, and for how much. Agents do the networking and the submissions for you. Some publishers won't accept non-agented submissions (although this is less the case in romance than in, I believe, any other genre of fiction).

2. Contracts. It's more than just having someone legal-savvy to negotiate for you. If you don't have an agent, most likely you're getting a boilerplate contract from a publisher. Many agencies have already negotiated beyond this point and have a different boilerplate with that publisher, one that's already in the author's favor. So you'd be starting at an advantage -- and that's before negotiations even begin.

What's more, a good agent, one who really gets your work and is your staunch supporter, is a business partner. As someone at my local RWA meeting said this weekend, your editor is in it for the book. Your agent is in it for your career.

Does this mean that you MUST have an agent? No. There are many talented authors (hi, Susan!) who are very successful without having an agent. But I do firmly believe that having the RIGHT agent for you (which goes beyond having the right agent for your work) can be crucial to your career as an author.

dragonjax said:

I'd argue that it's in your best interest to have an agent.
Does this mean that you MUST have an agent? No. There are many talented authors (hi, Susan!) who are very successful without having an agent. But I do firmly believe that having the RIGHT agent for you (which goes beyond having the right agent for your work) can be crucial to your career as an author.

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The RIGHT agent. <G> And that can be hard to find.

If you go without an agent, you have to do a lot more homework. You have to do a lot of contract research. You have to know what's standard, and what's not.

You have to be willing to open your mouth and actually ask for changes. (Some authors don't like to rock the boat.)

So it's a lot harder without an agent.

That said, I seem to be allergic to agents. They're very nice people, don't get me wrong, I've met a lot of nice ones. But the idea of getting one gives me hives. LOLOL! Weird, I know.

And I have been rejected by a few, too. <G> That's par for the course. But I've also turned down at least one when I decided that she and I didn't have the same vision for my career. And as Jackie said, with an agent, it's all about the longterm career, not just this one book.

Susan G.

There aren't many print publishers still producing Regency romances. There ARE quite a few of the epubs doing it right now, and none of them require agents.

I'll agree with BOTH Susan and dragonjax here. An agent isn't necessary, but it HELPS. Contracts are tricky things and an agent is more likely to get you a two-book deal the first time out. A two-book deal is really helpful in building your readership because debut books often get lost in the shuffle. The H/S brands don't have that happen as often, because they have built-in readership. But the single-title companies make it harder for a debut author to get placement on the shelves.

Either way, though. Just do some research into who is currently pubbing the Regencies. There aren't many.

The one bennie that Genre Romance writers have that I don't see in other genres is: RWA chapter contests.

You final in most contests and your work goes before an agent or editor for judging. It's not uncommon for these final judges to directly request work they've seen in contests. It's one way around the traditional querying system--though these contests do cost money and you have to really good to make the finals. There's a lot of serious competition out there, believe me.

As for how marketable Regencies are at the moment, it depends on what you mean by Regencies. The small book, Heyer-esque Regency has been losing its market for well over a decade. Last I noticed, only Zebra was still publishing them but that was 3-4 years ago that I took notice. OTOH, "big book Regencies" (Amanda Quick is a prime example) are alive and doing fine. Just depends on what you're writing.

Good luck to you.

Susan Gable said:

The RIGHT agent. <G> And that can be hard to find.


That said, I seem to be allergic to agents. They're very nice people, don't get me wrong, I've met a lot of nice ones. But the idea of getting one gives me hives. LOLOL! Weird, I know.

And I have been rejected by a few, too. <G> That's par for the course. But I've also turned down at least one when I decided that she and I didn't have the same vision for my career. And as Jackie said, with an agent, it's all about the longterm career, not just this one book.

Susan G. - 5 books, no agent

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Susan, you are so my hero lol.

I find that they are not only hard to find, but to get as well! I may have agent repellent sealed in my inbox somewhere.

There's a set of books out by a lawyer named Tonya M. Evans Walls who breaks down copyright and contract legalese for writers. Even if you plan to get an agent, it'd be a good idea to be in the know as far as what pub contracts and the business entails.