- Joined
- Feb 11, 2005
- Messages
- 6,704
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- Far from the madding crowd
- Website
- www.victoriastrauss.com
I'm always concerned by the potential conflict of interest when an agent offers other paid services. However, you can address this concern by raising an impenetrable wall between those two aspects of your business--i.e., never provide consultation services to clients, and never take as clients anyone who has used your consultation services.
Like Old Hack, I'm most concerned by your and your sister's lack of agenting and publishing experience. In addition to the personal contacts and practical skills an agent needs--understanding publishing contract terms (which are different from other contract terms), knowing foreign markets, understanding subrights, and so on--a good agent needs to be able to spot salable manuscripts. This is a lot harder than you might think. One of the things that trips inexperienced agents up is that they can (often) distinguish a good manuscript from a bad one, but they can't necessarily distinguish a merely good manuscript from one that's also marketable--in part because they haven't worked in publishing, and haven't observed or participated in the selection process.
I agree that you should try to work in the industry and gain some experience before striking out on your own. People who come to agenting from non-publishing-related backgrounds are at a significant disadvantage--and if things go wrong, their clients pay the price. I apologize for being blunt, but like Old Hack, I've just seen too many failed agenting ventures.
- Victoria
Like Old Hack, I'm most concerned by your and your sister's lack of agenting and publishing experience. In addition to the personal contacts and practical skills an agent needs--understanding publishing contract terms (which are different from other contract terms), knowing foreign markets, understanding subrights, and so on--a good agent needs to be able to spot salable manuscripts. This is a lot harder than you might think. One of the things that trips inexperienced agents up is that they can (often) distinguish a good manuscript from a bad one, but they can't necessarily distinguish a merely good manuscript from one that's also marketable--in part because they haven't worked in publishing, and haven't observed or participated in the selection process.
I agree that you should try to work in the industry and gain some experience before striking out on your own. People who come to agenting from non-publishing-related backgrounds are at a significant disadvantage--and if things go wrong, their clients pay the price. I apologize for being blunt, but like Old Hack, I've just seen too many failed agenting ventures.
- Victoria