Hi Mr. Hyne,
Thanks for your post. I appreciate that querying is difficult and can be disheartening; I certainly mean no offense in what I'm about to say, and I hope you don't take it that way, okay?
First, I highly suggest you read our
How Real Publishing Works thread. And of course there's the whole Ask the Agent forum; lots of Q&As in there with agents, as well, which are definitely worth a read. I also highly recommend the agent blogs listed there.
Forgive me for saying this but, if this agent is new...naturally she's not going to have any book sales. I mean did ANY established agency start out with multi million dollar clients? Chances are, no--they had to start from scratch.
Here's how the vast majority of successful agencies start: An agent working at one agency leaves to start his or her own agency. That agent usually takes all or most of his or her clients with him/her.
Here's how the vast majority of agents become successful enough to do that leaving-the-agency thing: They start out entry-level, as an assistant or even an intern, at said agency. After a period of time, in which they learn the complex business and get to know editors etc., they're allowed to start taking their own clients as associate agents, with their work still overseen by the more experienced agents at the agency. Once they prove themselves that way, they become agents.
Here's how the vast majority--if not all--of the unsuccessful agencies start: Somebody who likes books, who may or may not have attempted to write and be published themselves, decides to start an agency.
We have an Index thread here listing all of the agents/agencies and publishers covered in the Bewares forum. Take a look at it. See all those names in gray? Those are all people who just decided to become agents. The fact that they're in gray means they are now closed. If they managed to attract clients they took those clients downhill with them, by which I mean, they probably submitted those books to editors and were rejected, and those books cannot now be resubmitted.
Successful agents don't "start from scratch," not in the way you mean. They start at the bottom, learn the business, learn how to select truly publishable work, and go on from there.
Just because she's new doesn't mean she doesn't have contacts where she claims she does--she's just not made that BIG sale yet to get on the radar.
And that is true. I didn't see any evidence that she has those contacts but that doesn't mean she doesn't.
The odds are seriously against it, though. Really a lot.
I'm not trying to be snippy.
I know you're not, and I hope you believe I'm not, either, because that's not at all my intention.
The opinions of all have been well founded if not genuine and thorough. I just think raising a red flag on an agent just because they're new isn't...well nice.
And maybe it isn't. But it's not really nice to take on clients when you don't know what you're doing and destroy their chances at publication, either. And this is business, which really isn't about being "nice."
The thing is, again, the odds of this agent being able to do anything but hinder your career are astronomically high. Which means being new is a real, genuine red flag.
It may not be "nice" to tell my friends they shouldn't date a guy who borrows money on their first date just because the last five guys they dated who did that ended up robbing them blind, but you have to admit it would be a red flag.
She's upfront and honest right off the bat by stating she's new and new by definition means:having been made or come into being only a short time ago--fresh. Hence that's why she's not a bona fide agent yet.
No, she's not a bona fide agent yet because she hasn't worked in publishing in any real capacity that she mentions. I know of a few editors or other publishing professionals who became agents; they were bona fide pretty much right off the bat, because they knew the industry (and again, were working for another, experienced agent). There's no indication Ms. Kensington knows anything about publishing, and as I said in my previous post, the other "agency" she worked for also has essentially zero connection to real commercial publishing that I can see.
See, publishing--especially being an agent--is a very "who you know" business. An agent MUST know the editors. They must know what those editors like and are looking for, what they've recently bought and what they've recently rejected, what they want and what they hate. That's the job; it's about people.
In addition there's a whole world with which the agent must be familiar; contracts and publishing hierarchies and how it all fits together, how it should go and how it shouldn't, how to step in and be diplomatic, how to ensure their clients' needs are looked after, what's worth fighting for and what isn't.
It's also very easy for others to say drop it because they HAVE agents.
No, I gave the exact same advice before I had one. So did lots of agented writers here.
To quote the MANY rejection letters I personally have received from agents the publishing world is a very subjective business and to a newbie trying to get a 'bona fide' agent to view your work is darn near impossible.
To be clear...the rejection letters told you publishing is a subjective business, but did not actually say the part about getting a bona fide agent to look at your work being darn near impossible, correct?
Because the first is true. The second is patently and demonstrable untrue.
If your query is good and your work is publishable, finding an agent to look at it isn't that difficult at all, frankly.
Why? Because they cannot guarantee you will sell, you're a no name, a nothing and unless you have a publisher willing to lay down big bucks for your mss from the get go, or you know them personally, or are related to them, landing said agent just isn't going to happen.
Again, sorry, patently and demonstrably untrue. Agents sign new writers every day. I was a no-name when I signed with mine (well, I still am, really); I queried him, he requested the full, and there you go. Kelly Meding (ChaosTitan here) was, too. So was Kasey MacKenzie. So were all of my published friends: Caitlin Kittredge, Jaye Wells, Mark Henry, Richelle Mead, Jackie Kessler, Karen Mahoney, Kat Richardson, Allison Pang...the list is endless, and all of them started out querying just like pretty much everyone else.
But heck, don't just take my word for it. Have a look at our
Goals and Accomplishments forum, where AWers post about being published or finding agents; our own JoNightshade and Vandal are right there on the first page to announce they've just found representation.
It happens every day. Again, if you've written a publishable book, your odds of finding an agent are pretty good, whether you know them personally or not.
Big agents don't NEED newbies--they're set with their own best selling clients, so any writer trying to make it will go for what they can just for the chance.
Big agents do sign newbies, all the time, and they do need them. And any writer just grabbing whatever they can needs to understand that they're really not grabbing a chance for much, except most likely being badly misrepresented, losing their chance at publishing that particular ms, and being horribly disappointed. (Here's
just one example of the kind of work typically done by amateur agents; is that the kind of representation you want? BTW, that's the blog of Janet Reid, a highly respected literary agent, and it should be required reading for anyone hoping to be published.)
Again, I'm not trying to be snippy, but I think labeling this agent is a little premature unless there is definitive proof she's unethical, that's all.
And I agree that labeling her unethical would be unfair; there is zero proof of that and my guess is that she is likely ethical.
But pointing out the numerous red flags on her LinkedIn page...that's not premature. They exist. And what that page says to anyone familiar with real commercial publishing is "This agent doesn't know what she's doing, and is a bad bet for writers."
Again, I don't want to sound harsh here and I certainly don't want you to feel bad. But I stand by what I said.
And if I may make a suggestion...once you have 50 posts here, you can post your query and some of your work in our Share Your Work forum and get feedback. It's helped a lot of AWers tighten up their work/query enough to attract and agent, and I highly recommend it. I'm not implying at all that your work isn't good enough, just that perhaps it would be worthwhile, if you're getting so many rejections, to have a few fresh pairs of eyes take a crack at it.
