1- Really? I've negotiated dozens of contracts, and I have never seen such a clause. It actually works in the pub's favor, for the author to sell books on his own, because the author then assumes the cost and effort of marketing and individual distribution.
I've never seen a contract without such a clause; they are indeed standard. Occasionally exceptions are made, like books for speaking engagements or signing where a bookstore isn't sponsoring the event or isn't available to partner for it, but...I sign the right to sell my book over to my publishers. If I sell it myself that's actually NOT good for them; who's to say I won't essentially use them as a cheap printer, and undersell them from my website or something like that? I wouldn't personally do such a thing, but that doesn't mean others won't.
There is no "cost of marketing" for individual books, at least not that I'm aware of. Nor is there usually a cost for "individual distribution." Marketing and distribution both generally involve bulk, not lone copies. Marketing and distribution for books tend to involve getting those books into stores, which is something authors can't really do on a widespread basis, and again doesn't involve individual costs.
2- If you're not willing to participate in the marketing of your own book, then you chose the wrong business.
I don't participate in the marketing of my books at all, and I've been doing just fine in this business for about seven years now.
I do promotion, sure. But not marketing.
You should never pay up front. Any 'costs' incurred, such as photocopying, postage etc, will come out at the point the agent gets their cut. not before.
Nope.
When you hire an agent, you're renting his experience, knowledge, and Rolodex. He works for free, until he sells your book, which could take a year or more, or possibly never sell at all.
Sorry, but how is that different from what Shaldna said? (Also, while it could indeed take a year or more, it usually doesn't.)
If an agent spends his own money on you, that changes the nature of the relationship. (Or would you rather he NOT send off your manuscript to an editor who asks for it?)
How does it change the nature of the relationship? It's my agent's job to submit to editors and handle my contracts and royalty statements etc. For him to charge me for things like his email (I guess that's what you mean when you say the agent would not send off a requested ms without being specifically paid to do so?) would be no different, really, from me charging my publishers for my internet or updated software or whatever else. That's my expense, not theirs; it's a cost of doing business.
FWIW, when I meet up with my agent he buys the drinks and food, too. Cost of doing business. I don't get charged for four vodka tonics at the back end; he's spent his own money on me, and it changes our relationship not one whit. (It doesn't change our relationship when I send him a box of Godiva at Christmas, either.)
Anyone who objects to investing in their own career, can turn down those offers from agents. But most agents will expect to be reimbursed for expenses they pay on your behalf. It's nice to imagine that those costs will be deducted from your royalties, but what if your book never sells? Even the best and most experienced agents take on risky projects that never pay off.
I have never heard of a writer whose book failed to sell who then got a bill for expenses from their agent, or rather, I haven't heard of anything like that from a legitimate agent. It may have happened, but I haven't heard of it. Sure, agents take on projects they fail to sell, but if they're any good they don't have too many of those.
That's why part of being a good agent is having the knowledge and experience necessary to select and represent only those books that have a real shot at publication. If they know they'll get paid for their expenses either way, the incentive to be selective is reduced (that's not the only reason they're selective, of course, but it's there just the same).
Being an agent isn't a risk-free business. Nothing in publishing is. That's how it goes.