Thinking of Firing My Agent

I don't have an agent (so take what I say with a grain of salt) but I can understand why you'd be frustrated. To my mind, an agent should be sort of like a partner in growing your author career. If I had a business that basically entirely relied on one single person to help grow it, and they were being "uncommunicative and terse", I'd cut them loose.

And yeah, you may be a small fish, but you're still a fish. I know everyone is busy, etc, but the least an agent (or anyone in business) can do is reassure you/actually make you feel like they're doing something.

Ask to talk in depth with your agent, and be honest about your concerns.

Good agents don't like firing their clients because they only take on writers they think they can sell, and books they believe in. If things have gone quiet it might not be because they hate you: it could be that they're waiting to hear from publishers, or they think it's wise to take a break from submitting your book, or any number of reasons.

The best thing you can do is talk to your agent. Write up a list of questions to ask before you do so, don't be confrontational, but do ask the difficult questions. If you don't understand or agree with something, speak up.

Without more details (how many months you've been waiting and how many emails you've sent and received, and the content of them), I can't tell if the agent is being unreasonably non-communicative or if you might be expecting more than the usual. Have you researched your agent to see what others have had to say?

I seem to recall that there were just two large US based lit/book conventions within the past month too. Agents have busy months, contract negotiations will typically trump communication with authors who are still waiting on an offer, they may be hustling because vacation is coming up, some agents don't like to continue to give clients "nothing yet" updates.

There are plenty of reasons they may not be spending a lot of time or words on you that are something other than "lost interest in the project".

However, you should certainly ask to speak with them about your concerns because it won't do anyone any good to keep worrying about it and beginning to assume lack of interest or negligence. (Which is not where you seem to be, but I know how the little doubtful voice can lead one to scary conclusions.) Hopefully this is something that is quick and easy for the two of you to resolve.

Best of luck.

Fantomas--I would definitely try reaching out to your agent to see if you guys can work things out. You probably don't want to swan dive back into the slush pile if you can avoid it, and you'd be starting all over again. Not. Ideal.

Another thing I would suggest is that, if you're really considering dissolving your agency relationship, make sure you're not under any obligations. A lot of agencies have agency agreements (contracts, basically). These contracts generally have termination clauses, so make sure you read over it and know how to proceed.

Good luck! Hope everything works out.

Fantomas said:

I just wanted to see if anyone else has fired their agent for reasons like this and whether or not they regret their decision.

Click to expand...

I fired an agent for lack of communication. Before I did I called to voice my concerns. Agent agreed she was in the wrong. Said things would change. Fired her three months later because nothing changed. Don't regret the decision. Like any bad relationship, it feels good to let it go.

Sorry to hear that Fantomas. Sounds like you've had a rocky ride with this agent. Here's hoping you find another, more communicative agent, soon.

Hi! My mom was in the same situation. Trust your gut. My mom is a true crime writer, the agent signed her, then had her do extensive research in crime photos etc. in case the publisher requested them. She did all of this in a timely manner and then the agent sort of fell off the grid. Stopped returning calls and emails. Finally she got a hold of him and he apologized profusely saying he was having family trouble. She was not comfortable continuing with him, as it had been a year and he hadn't submitted the book once. Two weeks later she signed with another agent, they are shopping the book around, but no bites yet. If you feel like it is not a match, then find someone else. I know it is hard, but you should feel like they are passionate about your book and you as a writer. Good luck I hope it works out for you.