The Roger Williams Agency (formerly Publish or Perish Agency)

I'd like to make a general statement about this kind of situation. When an agent or a publisher is new and unknown, they accept books they might not once they have an established reputation. It's akin to "beggars can't be chooses."

In the beginning, agents and publishers are feeling their way - even if they have a direct focus. The reason this happens is because, well, they're new. Few know who they are. The agent of publisher is eager to create a list, so they take the best of what they're getting.

As they develop their standing and prove themselves a worthy entity, they can become much more selective because they have a higher quality of work crossing their desks.

This isn't intended to be mean or imply the authors aren't worthy. It's simply how the business works. If an author's book doesn't sell after a long period of time, then it's not unusual to drop them. And with a merger, this housecleaning is all the more imperative.

Inkblot said:

Yes, he's an associate, which means he has been "principally responsible" for the sale of at least ten different literary properties during the previous 18 months. (Full membership requires that an agent has worked primarily as an agent for at least two years.)


http://aaronline.org/Join

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Someone correct me if I'm wrong, because I may well be, but the way I read it-those are actually both the requirements for full membership (highlighted in red). The Join page is confusing to me as in I'm wondering if it inserts that bit about Assoc membership right above what actually looks like the requirements for full membership?

It looks like one doesn't need to have any sales themselves to become an Associate member, yes? Only "full-time" employment and a recommendation from their employer (who is an AAR member)? This is from the AAR articles:

Article III : Associate Membership

Section 1. Qualification for Associate Membership.
Full time employees of an agent member who do not themselves qualify for agent membership but who are actively engaged in the selling of rights to literary or dramatic properties shall be qualified to become associate members of the Association. In order to become an associate member, their agent member employer must present a written application to the Board of Directors. The Board shall vote upon such application in accordance with the procedures set forth in Article II, Section 4.
An associate member may maintain membership in the Association only so long as he or she shall remain in the full time employ of the sponsoring agent member, only so long as the sponsoring agent member shall remain a member of the Association, and only so long as the associate member does not qualify to become an agent member.
For purposes of this section, a person who is employed by the agent member at least twenty hours per week and at least thirty‑nine weeks per year shall be eligible to become an associate member of the Association.
An associate member shall be entitled to all privileges of agent members except the right to vote or hold office.

My apologies. I am confuzzled.

ETA:

I was sent this link:

http://aaronline.org/AssocApp

Taken from the Associate application page:

As you consider becoming an AAR Associate, please notice:

You must be actively engaged in the selling of rights to literary or dramatic properties as an employee of a literary or dramatic agency, working at least twenty hours per week for at least thirty‑nine weeks of the year.

A Member agent at the agency where you work must sponsor you. The Membership committee will evaluate the sponsoring application and the Board of Directors will consider its approval.

Your membership remains active as long as you continue in the employ of the agency, your sponsor remains in the employ of the agency and an active member of AAR, and your dues are up to date.

Your Associate membership expires when you accumulate the experience to qualify for full membership in AAR. At that time, you must make an application for full membership.

So at the very least it seems like that those are the requirements to become an associate-that one does not need to have made a certain number of sales yet, unless someone knows otherwise?

You're not the only one who's confuzzled. Looking at it again, I think your interpretation makes sense. So we don't know how many sales he's had yet; but we know he's not eligible to apply for full membership until he's worked as an agent for at least two years.

Twizzle said:

An associate member may maintain membership in the Association only so long as he or she shall remain in the full time employ of the sponsoring agent member, only so long as the sponsoring agent member shall remain a member of the Association, and only so long as the associate member does not qualify to become an agent member.

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It seems so, Inkblot. Among other criteria.

But the issue I'm more confuzzled about is regarding the maintaining of an associate membership. Again, it seems to say one must be a "full-time" employee employed by their sponsor, who is also an AAR agent member and only as long as the sponsor is a member (or the associate qualifies for full membership). ("Your membership remains active as long as you continue in the employ of the agency, your sponsor remains in the employ of the agency and an active member of AAR, and your dues are up to date.")

So, that would mean to be an active associate member Roger is currently employed and sponsored by someone at this agency who is a current and active AAR member in good standing.

And he also doesn't yet qualify for full membership, of course, if I'm interpreting this right. Oh, and he's paid his dues.

Of course, I've no idea who his sponsor is (and if it was Mr. Knappman, who sadly passed away in March it seems, how this impacts his membership) or if I'm even reading this correctly, but I don't think it depends on a specific number of sales, associate membership. Sorry.

But again, hopefully someone who knows better will come along and clarify.

Guys, in the end, it really doesn't matter if he's a member of the Jolly Green Giant Society. The proof is in the sales. There are plenty of fabulous agents who aren't AAR members and plenty of pretty sucky agents who are. I recommend that you not let this be your litmus.

priceless1 said:

The proof is in the sales.

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Now there's a drinking game for the B& B forum...every time someone says something along the lines of, "But have they made any relevant sales?" . . . (one shot). . .and is blown off...(three shots)...

But I digress.

It was about proving, or in this case not ensuring, sales. The issue was that his associate membership was assumed to mean he had made qualifying sales, thanks to some confusion in wording on the website. But it seems it does not. If I'm interpreting things right.

Twizzle said:

Now there's a drinking game for the B& B forum...every time someone says something along the lines of, "But have they made any relevant sales?" . . . (one shot). . .and is blown off...(three shots)...

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If there's a drinking game involved, I'm in.

It was about proving, or in this case not ensuring, sales. The issue was that his associate membership was assumed to mean he had made qualifying sales, thanks to some confusion in wording on the website. But it seems it does not. If I'm interpreting things right.

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No, you're quite right, Twizzle, in this case it's important to determine his AAR status because his sales aren't listed. This begs the logical question as to whether he can bring home the bacon for his authors.

But, to me at least, there's more to the quandry. Mind you, I'm looking at this from an editor's perspective. When I see a query from an agent I'm not familiar with, the first thing I do is look them to see what kind of sales they've made. If they haven't made any - I look to see how long they've been in business.

Why do I do that? Because I've met too many agents who didn't know what they were doing and made my and the author's life a living hell. And I've found that none-established agents don't really have a good lineup yet, and the authors' works are really rough. End result, I usually pass on the works because they aren't ready for prime time. As that agent seasons and learns, he'll learn to be more discerning and hopefully attract better works. But for now, he's still building his list.

So for you, the author, it's important to seek out agents who are established or with a good agency (if they're new) because they have a higher likelihood of getting better sales. I'll clear my desk for established agents pronto.

I know it's appealing to say that you have an agent, but it's important to know they can get the job done. Otherwise you're just marching in place.

I'm not casting any opinions on Roger here - just trying to bring a bit of balance to this whole AAR and when and why it's important. Bottom line, editors look at an agent's past along with the quality of the work they're querying.

Sorry this was so long-winded!

Fromthis week's Publisher's Lunch Weekly:


Children's: Middle grade
A.G. Cascone, a.k.a. the "twisted sisters" Annette & Gina Cascone's DEADTIME STORIES, a children's series already in production as a series of films starring Diane Ladd and the Disney Channel's Jennifer Stone, to Kathleen Doherty at Starscape, in a six-book deal, for publication beginning in January 2012, by Roger Williams at New England Publishing Associates (NA).

Congrats to Mr. Williams and the Cascones. Looks interesting.

Gina is his wife. Annette his sister-in-law. He has been forthright in saying he has sold/negotiated on her behalf previous to hanging out his literary agent shingle as well as after. But they're not from the group of clients signed/acquired after.

That being said, congrats to them. They must be very pleased.

Twizzle said:

Gina is his wife. Annette his sister-in-law. He has been forthright in saying he has sold/negotiated on her behalf previous to hanging out his literary agent shingle as well as after. But they're not from the group of clients signed after.

That being said, congrats to them. They must be very pleased.

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I was about to add that, Twizzle. Plus, The Deadtime stories were previous published in the 1990s so these would be reprints, though the tv-movie deal is new. Gina used to ghost write the Goosebumps series as well.

Congrats all the same.

Dear Absolute Write:

We would like to update potential queriers who are considering sending submissions to Publish or Perish Agency. To date, Mr. Williams has not brokered any fiction sales, other than reprints for family members. He has had some success with non-fiction works. If you write non-fiction, the agency is worth submitting to. At this time it appears Mr. Williams does not have sufficient contacts in the industry to produce sales for fiction submissions.

Respectfully Signed,

Former POPA clients

Is this from you RCS, or you and other clients as a whole or from a website?

Maybe with his non-fic connections Mr. Williams will eventually garner enough contacts with those in the fiction world.

I posted on behalf of myself and several other former clients.

Ah. OK. Well I wish you all success elsewhere.