What happens if your agent is only interested in selling your first book, but nothing else?

Hi, Novicewriter! Welcome.

I am not an agent, nor do I have one yet, but I have read a lot of blogs by agents, and this question has come up. (I recommend you read Janet Reid's blog at jetreidliterary.blogspot.com. She has answered TONS of questions related to getting and having a literary agent.) The answer I have seen is, one, this is a question you should ask an agent when they call to offer you representation. This situation HAS happened for other authors. This is one of those big "what if" scenarios you can talk to an agent about before accepting their offer to represent you. (Another is, what if the agent decides to quit agenting or something happens that prevents them from working long-term.)

As far as your other concern, that your following books might not be as good--have you actually written any of them? Sometimes an idea that seems thin at first can be fleshed out as you work on it. I've been working on my current novel for quite a long time, on the fourth draft now, and I only just figured out a major motivation for my main character that was missing.

novicewriter said:

Thanks for your help, DanaeMcB! I thought asking an agent who might want to represent me this question might make them change their mind about representing me in the first place because it'd automatically label me an amateur, so they might want to go with someone else with more experience.

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Don't worry about being a novice - an agent likes a novice, especially one who is prepared to ask questions and listen to answers.

Caveat: the novice also needs to have written and polished a book the agent thinks she can sell, of course. It's not Unconditional Likeage - although if wishing made it so...

When querying picture books, it's a good idea to have another couple of completed PBs in addition to the one you query--agents will often ask what else you have, because they want to make sure you're not a one-book wonder and have what it takes to sustain a career. Agents don't make a whole lot from repping picture book authors (advances and royalties get shared between the writer and the illustrator), so they want to know that you've got more in the hopper, so to speak.

Hi. I'd tell you not to worry abut it, because it rarely happens.

But it did happen to me, so here's how it goes.

The first question to ask an agent is what they are wanting to represent, you or the work. There is no right answer. Some of the bigger agencies -- the ones that handle all aspects of the creative process, like film and TV and whatever -- are going to have work-specific contracts. That means their agency agreement with you is tied to the specific work in question. This is help avoid conflicts that might arise between agents if you're also writing screenplays or directing, or whatever.

So what this means is that if you have an agreement with an agent for one book, they have no obligation to represent anything else you do. Hopefully you'll have an agent who loves your work and wants to keep repping all you do, but if you write a second book and the agent doesn't like it or think they can sell it, they've got no obligation to try to present it to editors. It also means if you write a screenplay, you're not obligated to have the agent rep it, or even tell them about it.

Other agency agreements are between you and the agency, and are not work specific. That means you have a contractual obligation to the allow the agent to rep anything you write, and they have an obligation to rep those things you write. This gets a little tricky if they don't like something else you write, and I don't really know how much good an agent who doesn't love your work is going to do. But, since you can't submit to editors without an agent, you're probably better off in that case than not having an agent at all if the agent can get past their personal distaste for the work.

And don't forget that most agency agreements all allow for either side ti cancel for any reason at any time, so if your agent doesn't want to rep your subsequent works, you can't make'em.

As I said before, this rarely happens, but since you asked, I figured I'd answer. Good luck!

The advice the agent offered is for a series.

First, stop worrying about events that haven't happened. There's too many other things you need to deal with first. Second, if your first book tanks, your agent could very well never want to see anything from you again. Third, if your first book turns out to be a million seller and is selected by NY Times and every pre-school as recommended reading, your agent will absolutely want whatever drivel you come up with.

I've never encountered an agent who, if you are offered a contract, will be inclined to see it as just a one-off deal. It takes time for agents to find and cultivate profitable writers and writers really only become profitable for an agent after two or three books. That can all change after publication but, unless this will be the only children's book you write, agents won't normally refuse to look at your second book after the first is published.

Jeff

PB agents will ask to see the second and third book before signing a writer.