Old Guys Rule--But Can They Get An Agent?
- Thread starter Jed Power
- Start date
the same as any one else- if you have a great book with great writing- who cares how old you are? besides, unless you annouce it, how's an agent going to know how old you are?
In the same way that youth can be an asset if the writer is unusually young when they first publish, a writer whose first book comes out when they're of noteworthy age can help sell it to the public. (But the book still has to be great.)
A genre writer named Sherri S. Tepper didn't start publishing until after she retired in the early eighties, and has since written a lot of great books.
It's skill, not age.
It's skill, not age.
- Joined
- Jan 5, 2011
- Messages
- 508
- Reaction score
- 63
- Location
- North Texas
- Website
- www.androidastronomer.com
Great thread. It's good to know that age doesn't matter.
But what about bald? Do bald guys ever get published? That's something that's been on my mind lately as I go into querying mode (for reasons I'd rather not disclose here).
But what about bald? Do bald guys ever get published? That's something that's been on my mind lately as I go into querying mode (for reasons I'd rather not disclose here).
As long as you are a legal adult, compos mentis, and able to sign a contract, age doesn't matter. Only the quality of the book matters.
There does seem to be a trope that male fantasy writers must have beards.
Break the trend. Be bald.
Break the trend. Be bald.
- Joined
- Dec 24, 2006
- Messages
- 178
- Reaction score
- 14
- Location
- Under a big saguaro cactus
- Website
- www.jeffegerton.com
I wouldn't mention bald in your query. Not that there's anything wrong with being bald, but it has it's place. Tell 'em about your great book and they could not care less about your hair situation, or lack of. Good luck!!
- Joined
- Jan 5, 2011
- Messages
- 508
- Reaction score
- 63
- Location
- North Texas
- Website
- www.androidastronomer.com
Now that I think about it, didn't Arthur C. Clarke publish a few works after he was dead? If he can do that, I think you can get published while you still live and breathe. (Provided, as others have pointed out, your work is publishable.)
So, a seventy-year-old guy could have got Eragon taken on for publication? Twilight?
caw
Pretty much. I've heard tales of a few agents who are only interested in young, good-looking writers who are highly marketable in their own right, but they are in a tiny minority.
Honestly - unless you're terminally ill and in danger of dying before the agent can even find you a book deal, you're good to go.
My vague phrasing, sorry. I believe Tepper was probably in her mid to late fifties when she started publishing. I don't know if KING'S BLOOD FOUR was her first in the early 1980's, but it was the first of hers I'd read. It started an ambitious series with a lot of different characters, and some savagely wise observations about humanity. She hasn't backed off, either.
Age and experience can bring a depth to writing that late teen and early twenty-something writers might not have. ERAGON and TWILIGHT each succeeded for different reasons, not just the relative youth and inexperience of their writers. Age was a marketing factor, I believe. But Paolini had his parents backing his indy publishing run. They knew what they were doing. Meyers had the luck to hit the sexy-vampire field while YA readers were looking for something like Anne Rice and Charlaine Harris, but less threateningly explicit. She found a good agent who saw possibilities. To give Meyers credit, she had to learn how to write on the job, with her later novels -- something she still hasn't perfected.
Most agents aren't going to care about the age of the writer approaching them, just the quality of the writing. Age confers a responsibility, certainly. If you don't have dewy youth on your side, you'd better have a knockout story. A seventy-year-old would be expected to have something better than ERAGON or TWILIGHT.
Age and experience can bring a depth to writing that late teen and early twenty-something writers might not have. ERAGON and TWILIGHT each succeeded for different reasons, not just the relative youth and inexperience of their writers. Age was a marketing factor, I believe. But Paolini had his parents backing his indy publishing run. They knew what they were doing. Meyers had the luck to hit the sexy-vampire field while YA readers were looking for something like Anne Rice and Charlaine Harris, but less threateningly explicit. She found a good agent who saw possibilities. To give Meyers credit, she had to learn how to write on the job, with her later novels -- something she still hasn't perfected.
Most agents aren't going to care about the age of the writer approaching them, just the quality of the writing. Age confers a responsibility, certainly. If you don't have dewy youth on your side, you'd better have a knockout story. A seventy-year-old would be expected to have something better than ERAGON or TWILIGHT.