I'm agented, but here's the question...

I think this is a question you have to ask her

I'm not an agent, but not too many agents drop by here, so you might have to wait a while.

You clearly cannot seek out another agent to represent your work. I'd have to see the specific wording, but I can't see any reason why you couldn't submit the work yourself. You are not REPRESENTING yourself, you ARE yourself. So no problem there.

The only thing I wonder about is whether you'd have to pay a portion of your royalty on work you get published on your own, I think the agency would have a right to it, but if you talk to them they may write it off for you. Certainly they will if they're any good.

I know this is going to sound stupid, but have you talked to your agent? If she doesn't want to represent certain works, can you ask her if she has any suggestions?

This is one reason why I'm being picky on which agents I query. I have a range of genres I'd like to write. I want to make sure I don't get tied up in an exclusive agency contract that could essentially prevent that.

Talk to your agent, and see what sort of agreement you can reach. Might be a great time to create a pen-name to publish the newer work, so your Christian readers won't be exposed to the stuff your agent objects to.

Though be warned: unless you are really clever and hide under a shell corporation, your real name will be discovered by anyone wanting to research carefully. And there's some indication that, at least in the more-fundamentalist circles, anti-author backlash can be strong.

Is your current agency committed to helping your whole career, or just their own?

If an agent refuses to take on one of your books, but also refuses to allow you to submit it on your own, or to another agent, your agent is, at best, someone you do not want representing you.

Any agent has the right to say no to a given book, but none have the right to say what you can or can't do with that book once she refuses to take it on.

There are agents who do just this, and it is, as far as I'm concerned, hideous, greedy, and just plain nasty. Fortunately, many good agents do not take this approach. If yours does, get away fast, and find one who really has your best interest at heart, rather than her own.

Drachen Jager said:

The only thing I wonder about is whether you'd have to pay a portion of your royalty on work you get published on your own, I think the agency would have a right to it....

Click to expand...

No. An agent is not entitled to a percentage of deals he or she didn't make.

Ask your agent. It won't be the first (or last) time she has heard that question.

is agent a verb now?

Paul said:

is agent a verb now?

Click to expand...

You've never seen it used as such among writers before?

sigh.

just bored.

and jealous.

I can see an agent saying "I don't represent work outside of {market}." But generally, those agents don't keep people from working with other agents who do represent those works, or from submitting work on their own to markets the agent doesn't sell to.

For instance, I know people who have one agent for their books for adults, and another agent for their children's books. There isn't any conflict between the two agents, because they don't overlap in any way.

I would talk to your agent and see if you can renegotiate your contract to be specific about which markets they want exclusive rights to represent you in, and which markets you can seek other representation for. If she and the agency can work something out that works for you, then seeking another agent for your other writing is something you clearly know how to do

Terie said:

No. An agent is not entitled to a percentage of deals he or she didn't make.

Click to expand...

* usual disclaimers, I'm not giving legal advice to anyone, or everyone, and anyone who has legal questions should consult a licensed attorney in the relevant jurisdiction.

This may not be accurate, from a legal standpoint, at least under US law.

I'm not saying that this OP would have to pay her agent for a deal she herself makes - no one, who is not a lawyer and has read the contract could tell her for sure - but in the US, in all kinds of contracts, especially agency and brokerage contracts, the right to represent *is* construed as the right to collect a percentage of all deals made during the pendancy of the contract. And it is possible that an agent's remedy might be to collect fees for deals made outside the contract without their knowledge. This is a legal issue, and the OP needs to read her contract and either discuss it with her agent or an attorney.

OP, you need to talk to your agent. Explain what you would like to consider doing, and see her response.

If you are on good terms, and she doesn't want to rep the projects, there's a good chance she won't care about you subbing them/pubbing them yourself. But you need to read your contract and discuss it with her before you do anything.

I do think it will be harder for you to find another agent for those projects, unless your agent and you basically agree to limit her representation by a specific genre or market, so that another agent could represent you for the projects and anything similar.

Or, a third option, you can work on or sub something else, until such time as the market opens up a little. talk to your agent about that possibility, as well.

~suki

a Question Suki, do most contracts have a one month notice to dissolve, or dont they?

Paul said:

a Question Suki, do most contracts have a one month notice to dissolve, or dont they?

Click to expand...

* usual disclaimers, I'm not giving legal advice to anyone, or everyone, and anyone who has legal questions should consult a licensed attorney in the relevant jurisdiction.


No way to say what "most" contracts have. It's always about the specific contract.

It is common for agency contracts to have some reasonable way for both parties to terminate the contract, or to be for a limited set term.

Those with termination clauses can range from terminate on notice to some period of time notice must be give. And some contain provisions restricting the author's actions for some period of time after notice of termination.


~suki

Thanks Suki

Hmmm.

A bigger agency looking for bigger pubs?

thread lightly

ETA, I'm assuming 'bigger' and not just 'different'. otherwise, none of this makes sense. (to me)

It makes sense Paul. Agents put time and money into making deals. If the agency doesn't think they'll sell enough copies through a given publisher for it to be worth their while, it's completely fair for them to ignore that pub. As long as they're up front and honest about it (which it sounds like they are) there's no harm in it.

Drachen Jager said:

It makes sense Paul. Agents put time and money into making deals. If the agency doesn't think they'll sell enough copies through a given publisher for it to be worth their while, it's completely fair for them to ignore that pub. As long as they're up front and honest about it (which it sounds like they are) there's no harm in it.

Click to expand...

yes, exactly my point.

(by 'bigger' i mean more sales elsewhere.)

ETA - just to further clarify by 'thread lightly' i mean , think carefully about ditching them if they are moving up in the world)

In my former contract, my agent had first right of refusal. I had to give him the opportunity to represent any full-length manuscripts I wrote while under contract with him, but if he declined, I could do what I wanted with them. I couldn't see contracting with another agent though. That would be too strange.

Deb Kinnard said:

I have an agent with whom I'm very happy. However, she's declined to rep or send out certain books for me because she feels they will not sell in our rather tightly constrained (Christian fic) market.

My contract says the agency has the "exclusive right" to represent me.

Click to expand...

Deb Kinnard said:

.

Background data: I've been with my agent 2.5 years. In that time, I've sold 6 books, and she made none of those deals for me. I've done them myself. On some of the contracts, I've asked her to participate, look over the deal, broker differences of opinion between me and my publisher (once), etc. For these deals I've paid her commission, willingly, by agreement between us both.

Click to expand...

No offence, but your agent doesn't seem to be doing much for you at all.

I'm going to voice the opinion that perhaps you need a new agent, or go solo - you've more than shown you can do it.

As for the 'exclusive right' business, you would need to talk to the agent about that. But at the end of the day, if it really does mean that she has the exclusive right to represent you and you can't approach anyone else with the stuff she won't take, then that's a pretty shitty situation and she is essentially in control of what you can and can't publish.

Which is a lot of power for someone who didn't even make the deals for you in teh first place.

However, she recently moved to a different agency with stricter guidelines. That agency does not want to work with either of the small presses I've published with before. That fact engendered my question.

We have discussed these, and her solution is to "put them on the back burner for now" because the principal of her new agency doesn't want to work with these presses. I guess my original post is meant to ask, am I then free to sub them myself.

Click to expand...

I hope you have looked up the agency and agents in question in the background check forum.

I have never yet come across an agent who simply refuses to work with a particular press unless there was a dispute or previous issue with them. To refuse to deal with them 'just because' would raise some questions for me.

Surely the agent should be primarily concerned with what's best for the author, and refusing to deal with presses with whom the author has had a good relationship strikes me as a little odd.

shaldna said:

I have never yet come across an agent who simply refuses to work with a particular press unless there was a dispute or previous issue with them. To refuse to deal with them 'just because' would raise some questions for me.

Surely the agent should be primarily concerned with what's best for the author, and refusing to deal with presses with whom the author has had a good relationship strikes me as a little odd.

Click to expand...

Actually, very few agents will deal with micropresses because they can't make enough money to be worth it. The OP looks to be with at least one micropress. I don't find it surprising in the least that a well-established agency wouldn't deal with a micropress like Desert Breeze. (This isn't meant to be either a slam or an endorsement of DB; it's just that agents aren't interested in deals for tens or hundreds of dollars, which is what most micropress deals are for.)

It's highly likely that the OP can shop around any manuscripts the agent has seen and declined, but that will have to be clarified one-on-one with the agent. There's nothing we can really do here to help.

Terie said:

Actually, very few agents will deal with micropresses because they can't make enough money to be worth it. The OP looks to be with at least one micropress. I don't find it surprising in the least that a well-established agency wouldn't deal with a micropress like Desert Breeze. (This isn't meant to be either a slam or an endorsement of DB; it's just that agents aren't interested in deals for tens or hundreds of dollars, which is what most micropress deals are for.)

It's highly likely that the OP can shop around any manuscripts the agent has seen and declined, but that will have to be clarified one-on-one with the agent. There's nothing we can really do here to help.

Click to expand...

That's true. I hadn't considered that.

But it's still a little odd that an agent would have a client whose entire publishing history, and seemingly genre, is handled by those sort of micropresses, but refuse to deal with them.

shaldna said:

That's true. I hadn't considered that.

But it's still a little odd that an agent would have a client whose entire publishing history, and seemingly genre, is handled by those sort of micropresses, but refuse to deal with them.

Click to expand...

Nah, I don't think it's odd at all. I expect that the agent thinks the author is ready to move up to bigger and better things.