What's up with this?

Sounds like it is going to be even harder for poor people like me with no book publishing experience to find representation in the future. Thank God for writer's conferences and networking, right?

dove95 said:

Maybe I don't get it, but to me, it seems very elitist to only want to work with already "majorly" published authors.

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I think it's a reasonable way for a skilled agent who is in high demand to focus her limited attention on prospects who are more likely to pay off.

Dale

"I mean, if you're already an author (which so few of us get to be) from a major publishing house, couldn't you just work with your existing agent?"

Except that sometimes an author isn't so lucky. They can be published at a major house through one agent, have issues, and suddenly find him/herself without an agent. It isn't just smooth sailing the second you get an agent and/or a publishing contract. A heck of a lot can go wrong. An agent seeking already viable authors with a track record doesn't seem silly to me.

WildScribe said:

Sounds like it is going to be even harder for poor people like me with no book publishing experience to find representation in the future. Thank God for writer's conferences and networking, right?

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It may be hard, but just because some agents specify this doesn't mean that all do. As a no book publishing experience author who never attended a writer's conference and knew very few published authors, who got an agent and a publishing deal, I can attest to that.

Look it's tough, no one saying it isn't, but not every little thing we read about a particular agent's preference is aimed at us, or meant to keep us down. It isn't that personal.

dove95 said:

Currently, the agency is primarily interested in acquiring authors who are at present or have been published at a major publishing house. If this is you, please include the name of your book(s), the house, the editor and the year of publication(s) with your submission.

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Sounds like she wants authors who are either out of contract or actively looking for another agent (either their parted way with their agents or they're looking to switch), but she wants authors with big house track records.

May sound elitist to you, but hey, it's her business. She decides what kind of clients she wants. She has absolutely no obligations to new writers or anyone except her clients. No different than Creative Artists being only interested in representing Angelina Jolie or Tom Cruise.

Just don't query her if you don't fit the requirements. Moving on...

WildScribe said:

Sounds like it is going to be even harder for poor people like me with no book publishing experience to find representation in the future. Thank God for writer's conferences and networking, right?

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Just because one agent wants that doesn't mean everyone does. She's only one agent. There are hundreds of agents out there. First-timers get repped and published all the time. We have a few right here on AW.

Actually, if I were looking for an agency to rep me the process would be a lot easier if all agencies stated up front, as this one does, exactly what they are looking for. It saves writers time and cuts down on unnecessary waiting for what will be rejections.

Hey, at the end of the day it's all business. This agency apparently has no interest in representing unpublished authors, and they are clearly stating so. I don't see any elitism at all.

maestrowork said:

Just because one agent wants that doesn't mean everyone does. She's only one agent. There are hundreds of agents out there. First-timers get repped and published all the time. We have a few right here on AW.

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That's right. And I have the feeling a lot more will.

JJ

dove95:
Is it me, or does it seem sort of... odd for an agency to only want this? I mean, if you're already an author (which so few of us get to be) from a major publishing house, couldn't you just work with your existing agent?

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I agree with what Toothpaste and maestrowork have said, but would add that it could be that they're targeting authors who have had one work published by a big house but are having troubles getting a second picked up due to poor sales figures.

I met a UK writer in that situation a couple of months ago. It's a bit of a long story but basically the publisher didn't really push her book although it got v. good reviews, so the sales figures weren't as expected. When it came to the second novel, the figures meant the publisher dropped the option. Her agent at the time was working hard for her and they went down the pseudonym route to try and sell it to other publishers, but the agent had a selective client base, so acquiring editors were able to guess who the author was, checked the figures on the first book and wouldn't pick it. In the end, the agent recommended terminating their arrangement and helped her sign with another agent, who wasn't able to shop the second book, but did get a deal on the third with a pseudonym.

So, long story short - existing published author + brand new agent sometimes equals further book deals, which can be good for the brand new agent.

MM

It could also be that she just doesn't want to deal with 'slush' in general and this is her way of going about it. Authors leave their agents all the time.

Either that or maybe her list is full already, so she is only interested in hearing from other established authors. It's hard to say.

It looks to me that, once you’re proven marketable, you’re good enough for her.
Forget the ‘poor’ agent who helped you break through, dump him, and add your name to her list of authors. She sure doesn’t sound like someone who believes in loyalty.
But then, that’s her business.

maestrowork said:

No different than Creative Artists being only interested in representing Angelina Jolie or Tom Cruise.

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I'd be interested in representing Angelina Jolie myself...

pilot27407 said:

It looks to me that, once you’re proven marketable, you’re good enough for her.
Forget the ‘poor’ agent who helped you break through, dump him, and add your name to her list of authors. She sure doesn’t sound like someone who believes in loyalty.
But then, that’s her business.

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Not necessarily - Unagented authors do get published by the big houses, and decide later on to try to get an agent. One author I know has done a number of books for Harlequin for the last few years, but only recently acquired representation.

pilot27407 said:

It looks to me that, once you’re proven marketable, you’re good enough for her.
Forget the ‘poor’ agent who helped you break through, dump him, and add your name to her list of authors. She sure doesn’t sound like someone who believes in loyalty.
But then, that’s her business.

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It's the author's business too. If she can get you better deals, option movie rights, has an in house publicist...why would you stick with an agent who can merely sell your work?

Loyalty only goes so far in a career.

pilot27407:
It looks to me that, once you’re proven marketable, you’re good enough for her.

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Not necessarily. She's still asking for material to be submitted and presumably she'd assess whether she wants to offer representation on the basis of whether she thinks that she can sell that new material.

pilot27407:
Forget the ‘poor’ agent who helped you break through, dump him, and add your name to her list of authors. She sure doesn’t sound like someone who believes in loyalty.

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I think you've got to be a pretty determined cynic to see that (not that there's anything wrong with that ). Personally, I don't see anything in the paragraph you quote that gives out a 'dump your agent, come to me!' vibe and in any event you need to bear in mind that there are authors out there who've been dumped by their agent and authors who have lost an agent due to retirement, ill health, career change or death.

All I got from it is that she's interested in people with a publishing track record and whether you like that or not, if you're someone who can say that Harper Collins or whoever published their book on X date, then the agent knows that you've written something to a publishable standard. In principle, it's not really different to new authors who submit their short story or other writing credits in a query letter.

MM

I've been published by major houses, and my agent left the field a few years ago, so I am going to be looking for a new agent as soon as I finish the Big Civil War Book. I'm sure I'm not the only person in this situation.

Know something Jennon? If I succeed in publishing my work (not talking about a string of works) without an agent, especially with a major publishing house, why would I now pay 15% of my hard earned money to someone to represent me? And please don’t tell me about better deals that he may (or may not) be able to cut for me.
And if, for some unexplained reason, I get an agent, believe me, I won’t go to a ‘snob’ like Krauss, I rather give a chance to a young, upcoming one.

pilot27407 said:

Know something Jennon? If I succeed in publishing my work (not talking about a string of works) without an agent, especially with a major publishing house, why would I now pay 15% of my hard earned money to someone to represent me? And please don’t tell me about better deals that he may (or may not) be able to cut for me.

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But that is the reason. A good agent will almost certainly be able to get the vast majority of writers more than 115% of what they would have negotiated for themselves (especially when you throw in the foreign rights and sub-rights negotiations).

pilot27407 said:

Know something Jennon? If I succeed in publishing my work (not talking about a string of works) without an agent, especially with a major publishing house, why would I now pay 15% of my hard earned money to someone to represent me? And please don’t tell me about better deals that he may (or may not) be able to cut for me.
And if, for some unexplained reason, I get an agent, believe me, I won’t go to a ‘snob’ like Krauss, I rather give a chance to a young, upcoming one.

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If you choose that, fine. I hope you're well versed in publishing contracts and their language - or you have a lawyer who is. For the most part, I think agents work pretty damned hard for their 15% as well and I don't think it's the least bit snobbish for Irene Krauss (who, I believe, has been in the business for a fair amount of time) to determine which clients she wants.

Young and up-and-coming is nice, but I'd want someone who knows what they're doing.

Right you are Jersey. But not if I’m a consecrated author with a string of published works by Harlequin. And I'm not talking about the instance when you've lost your agent.

pilot27407 said:

Know something Jennon? If I succeed in publishing my work (not talking about a string of works) without an agent, especially with a major publishing house, why would I now pay 15% of my hard earned money to someone to represent me? And please don’t tell me about better deals that he may (or may not) be able to cut for me.
And if, for some unexplained reason, I get an agent, believe me, I won’t go to a ‘snob’ like Krauss, I rather give a chance to a young, upcoming one.

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I wish you all the luck in the world optioning your foreign language and movie rights. I guess you're an intellectual property lawyer then? Familiar with negotiating international contracts?

Well then.

Never mind.

Not quite, but often I do analysis of legal documents, even in foreign languages.
I know enough to know what to look for, and in the unlikely event that I get my ears caught, I know whom to turn to, much better prepared to handle such, than an agent.

Publishing contracts are different from most other contracts - that's why you usually need an agent or a lawyer who deals specifically with publishing contracts. And if you don't have to take the chance on getting caught, why would you?

pilot27407 said:

Not quite, but often I do analysis of legal documents, even in foreign languages.
I know enough to know what to look for, and in the unlikely event that I get my ears caught, I know whom to turn to, much better prepared to handle such, than an agent.

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I do analysis of engneering documents...doesn't mean I'm going to take responsibility for the funtionality of a sewage treatment plant.

Most likely I can get a top lawyer to check and help with the contract, and for a lot less then the 15% an agent would charge.
Come on you guys, we’re not talking about exceptions to the rule. We’re not discussing about a one time author with a small publisher, nor about the author who lost his/hers agent, when he went to Bermuda (and got kidnapped by extraterrestrials). Krauss wants successful authors with much published works by the big publishers.
Those have agents or,… are smart enough to do without one.
So, where will she get them from????