The Myths of Writing--Busted

If I Could Just Get An Agent My Book Would Sell and I Would Have It Made.

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I didn't think I'd have it made, but, Yeh, my first tough lesson. I'm not being as naive this time

I think the first one is more important. Ego is one of the most dangerous things in this writing business, and people quickly forget how fallible they are.

I dont think I could feel that way. I mean, I can see that I'm getting better, and I'd go as far as to say I'm good, but overconfidence has never been one of my shortcomings.

Where do these people come from?

Good link Gill, and you really need to get something put on that eye.

Fantastic article, and interesting comments, too.

I do wonder, though, what people think of his comments about what he calls the agent myth. In part:

If the writer believes this myth, they will never offer their book to an editor. I know of many, many writers who have been writing for years and never once, not once, offered their books to anyone who could actually buy and publish them.

My own view is that agents are necessary for the new writer, and if our work isn't good enough to snag one then it's unlikely to grab an editor of a paying publisher.

DamaNegra said:

I think the first one is more important. Ego is one of the most dangerous things in this writing business, and people quickly forget how fallible they are.

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Isn't that what the query-hell is for? I never had a huge ego, but when I finished my third novel, I thought this time I'd nailed it. I got so many rejections that when finally I got a letter where the agent stated how much he loved my ms I thought he was pulling my leg.

ETA: And actually, most writers I met at conferences tell me that you never feel you've made it. They also report of writers who have had movies made from their books who don't think they've made it and still doubt they can ever write another book just as good.

Wayne K said:

I dont think I could feel that way. I mean, I can see that I'm getting better, and I'd go as far as to say I'm good, but overconfidence has never been one of my shortcomings.

Where do these people come from?

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Probably this has something to do with it? Believe me, I've met people who are thoroughly convinced that even their flatulences are fragant.

Thanks for posting this. At times I feel like I have to rush and find an agent and get my books published and just get out there before I explode from impatience, but then it's things like this that remind me that I have time as a young writer to learn a lot before I put my book out there. I should just slow down and take into account that it's not going to happen overnight and that learning the most I can before I take the wrong step forward is the most valuable thing I can do.

MarkEsq said:

My own view is that agents are necessary for the new writer, and if our work isn't good enough to snag one then it's unlikely to grab an editor of a paying publisher.

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I have to agree.

I've seen this occasionally said before, by other established writers, but they all seem to be slightly blind to the fact that although they can send a ms directly to an editor and have it considered, new writers, for the most part, cannot.

And of course, they all have agents, and very good ones.

Great article, though.

Good stuff. Quotable.

Well, that's a depressing list. One more nail in the coffin of my attempt at a writing career.

rugcat said:

I have to agree.

I've seen this occasionally said before, by other established writers, but they all seem to be slightly blind to the fact that although they can send a ms directly to an editor and have it considered, new writers, for the most part, cannot.

And of course, they all have agents, and very good ones.

Great article, though.

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Thanks for saying this. I like everything in this article except the bit about agents. In fact, I'm a little hamstrung over the writer's anti-agent attitude on the whole. Agents are good for writers, are they not? I don't have any delusions about immediately selling my first novel once I snag an agent, but still.

Rhoda Nightingale said:

Thanks for saying this. I like everything in this article except the bit about agents. In fact, I'm a little hamstrung over the writer's anti-agent attitude on the whole. Agents are good for writers, are they not? I don't have any delusions about immediately selling my first novel once I snag an agent, but still.

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You need to read most of Dean's posts (and especially the comments to those posts) to get that he's not really anti-agent. He's much more pro-writer being smart about not getting into a bad situation or signing on with a bad agent.

Agents can be good for writers, especially writers at the early stages of their career. Assuming the agent is legit and professional and not scamming the writer.

The anti-agent thing bugged me, too. It seems that I see this more with people who established careers a decade or two ago. I first looked into publishing ten years ago, and even then it seems that there was more of an option to go agentless. I'd actually decided at the time that I was going to hit publishers first and consider looking for an agent if I got a contract.

I never actually did any of that submitting because my book sucked, but when I started looking into it again, it seemed that I pretty much had two choices--go with an agent and have a shot at the big houses, or find a small publisher. I'd consider submitting to somewhere like Tor if the agent thing doesn't pan out, but I'd like a shot at the big houses. Maybe that's unrealistic of me, but that's just my thinking.

And to be honest, I never submitted to an editor after my last book bombed for the same reason Mark said. If it wasn't good enough for an agent, why would a publisher want it?

Um, guys, read the rest of Smith's blog postings there. Pay especially close attention to his Killing The Sacred Cows Of Publishing blog as well as the other one. Nowhere does Smith say that agents are not worthwhile.

In his latest post or therabouts, he also gives a formula/challenge for getting your stories to make money.

Unfortunately, I'm nowhere close right now - but then again, it's a 5-year plan so I don't need to be (so what if I started back in 2007 - I didn't have a plan or a clue then).

As a new writer, I felt better reading-"You never really feel like you made it." Good to know I'll be in this hell for the rest of my writing life
However, as someone without an agent, I've noticed an awful lot of houses won't even look at your manuscript without one, so I "assume" they are pretty necessary-although not a guarantee of success.
Am I wrong?

FOTSGreg said:

Um, guys, read the rest of Smith's blog postings there. Pay especially close attention to his Killing The Sacred Cows Of Publishing blog as well as the other one. Nowhere does Smith say that agents are not worthwhile.

In his latest post or therabouts, he also gives a formula/challenge for getting your stories to make money.

Unfortunately, I'm nowhere close right now - but then again, it's a 5-year plan so I don't need to be (so what if I started back in 2007 - I didn't have a plan or a clue then).

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I read his entire post on agents specifically as well to see if I was misunderstanding, and a lot of what he says contradicts the majority of what I've learned. Maybe I'm just a newbie who doesn't get it because I'm not in the industry, but I also don't plan to take one person's word over everyone other bit of advice/information I've seen.

I was especially unimpressed when he said that if it's an agent who blogs he/she should be avoided because the person has too much time and it means they aren't successful. I can think, off the top of my head, of six or seven blogs by agents with amazing sales. Hell, go look at Kristin Nelson's stats for the year. I'd be proud to have her as my agent.

So yeah, I agree with some of what he says, but I'm taking the bit about agents with a grain of salt. I'm not saying that he's a hundred percent wrong, and clearly I have no standing to know one way or the other, but yeah. I'd need some really good evidence to back it up other than "my experience has been..."

And while he says agents are handy for dealing with business stuff the author doesn't want to do and negotiating contracts, he's essentially saying that the reason most people think they need an agent is incorrect.

kaitie said:

I read his entire post on agents specifically as well to see if I was misunderstanding, and a lot of what he says contradicts the majority of what I've learned.

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Learned form who? Most of what you see aorund teh internet is not only myth, it's nonsense, and much of this nonsense comes directly from agents.

Dean Wesley Smith gets it all right, and he busts a hundred myths. Nor is it just his opinion. Many other pro writer visit his site and post the same opinions.

When he says it's a myth, it really is a myth.

Jamesaritchie said:

Learned form who? Most of what you see aorund teh internet is not only myth, it's nonsense, and much of this nonsense comes directly from agents.

Dean Wesley Smith gets it all right, and he busts a hundred myths. Nor is it just his opinion. Many other pro writer visit his site and post the same opinions.

When he says it's a myth, it really is a myth.

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I had not realized that once one becomes a pro writer, one's opinions are magically transformed into facts.

When DWS says that buying into the myth that once you have an agent you've got it made is both untrue and destructive, I think he's exactly right.

When he implies that it's pointless to approach agents until you've sold a book and that you should instead be sending your work to editors, he's demonstrably wrong.

As I noted, writers who subscribe to this theory are almost invariably those who broke into publishing some twenty or thirty years ago, when things in publishing were very different indeed.

Moral: Never rest on your laurels.