Pfft... who needs something as silly as knowledge of publishing contracts?
*snort* Stinking liberals do thats who!
How may I become an Agent?
- Thread starter Kirk Fraser
- Start date
*snort* Stinking liberals do thats who!
If you want to be an agent, you just need the talent to recognize contracts a writer will love.
Kirk, I know from a past post of yours, you're far from being a kid. Many from AW have nicely tried to help you. Have you read--really read--the answers to your questions and thought about them? Have you realized that
(a) your query needs major work
(b) your book is in PA's clutches
(c) you need to write a new, WELL-WRITTEN book
(d) you can't just decide to be an agent because you don't like what you're hearing about your book that's with PA.
Please, READ what others have told you on this thread and the others. We've spent a lot of time trying to help you.
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Adam Chromy from Artists and Artisans. That's all I've got, lol.
EDIT - Nevermind, I lied.
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And to the original poster, when you ask again elsewhere, it's "How can I become a literary agent?" The use of "may" infers that you are asking for permission rather than instruction.
You'll be happier when you start in on that next book. The one I got published? Lucky Number Twelve.
You'll be happier when you start in on that next book. The one I got published? Lucky Number Twelve.
I was sending out queries, digging up agents (I write screenplays, as kullervo did) and I came across a Gary Paul (stop me if you've heard this one before). Long story short, he has a long history of bilking innocent writers by charging them to submit, and his headquarters are a local landmark - the Wedding Videographer shingle on Main Street of a suburban bedroom community.
James Ritchie, you make some good points but this is a shining example of a guy who followed your advice. He's far from alone though - the big cities are crawling with weasels who say they want to sell your (manu)script and make you rich despite having no knowledge of how to legally protect you, negotiate a better deal, or do anything besides talk big and cash checks. This is a business, and in any business you set your brain to sponge mode and work hard to get to every subsequent rung if you want to succeed. Period, end of discussion. Oh, and there are agent's classes - they're called sales and marketing.
Just the observations of a lowly moderate liberal.
James Ritchie, you make some good points but this is a shining example of a guy who followed your advice. He's far from alone though - the big cities are crawling with weasels who say they want to sell your (manu)script and make you rich despite having no knowledge of how to legally protect you, negotiate a better deal, or do anything besides talk big and cash checks. This is a business, and in any business you set your brain to sponge mode and work hard to get to every subsequent rung if you want to succeed. Period, end of discussion. Oh, and there are agent's classes - they're called sales and marketing.
Just the observations of a lowly moderate liberal.
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Here's a timely post from a bona-fide agent:
http://jetreidliterary.blogspot.com/2010/11/when-we-talk-about-clueless-this-is.html
http://jetreidliterary.blogspot.com/2010/11/when-we-talk-about-clueless-this-is.html
You become an agent by going to a cemetery on the night of a full moon, with the carcass of a black cat, and swinging it around your head by the tail three times while you intone: "I am a literary agent, I am a literary agent, I am a literary agent."
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I'm not aware of a single literary agent of any reputation who didn't start as an intern or assistant; certainly my agent did, and certainly the assistant at his agency is putting in his time as an assistant because his goal is to be an agent.
I came across a writer-turned-agent a year or two ago. She insisted that advances had to be returned if books didn't sell enough copies (they DON'T), and told me she'd refused a contract offer a major publisher had made to one of her clients because of it.
She was so insistent that I asked her to send me the offending clause in the contract and when she did, it said no such thing. She had misunderstood it. So she'd refused what could have been a VERY good contract for a new writer because she didn't know what she was doing.
There are all sorts of agents out there who have no publishing experience. And there are good agents. The two groups very rarely cross over.
She was so insistent that I asked her to send me the offending clause in the contract and when she did, it said no such thing. She had misunderstood it. So she'd refused what could have been a VERY good contract for a new writer because she didn't know what she was doing.
There are all sorts of agents out there who have no publishing experience. And there are good agents. The two groups very rarely cross over.
On the other hand, Kirk, if you're unwilling to listen to anyone here, I suggest you go ahead and be your own agent. Contact publishers, say you're an agent, and ask if they'd be interested in a book PA printed two months ago. Let us know how it works out for you.
Some things need to be learned by experience.
Some things need to be learned by experience.
There are "Ministers" and "Doctors" who pay a diploma mill for a fake certificate to hang on the wall.
It doesn't make them professionals or proficient in their calling.
It shows that they are cheats and liars.
Let those who have ears, hear.
It doesn't make them professionals or proficient in their calling.
It shows that they are cheats and liars.
Let those who have ears, hear.
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Ah, that's where I went wrong. I tried sacrificing a chicken at the waxing moon. Now I'm a travel agent.
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I wonder if that's where the myth about paying back advances comes from--inexperienced writers and agents misunderstanding their contracts.
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