Should we meet our agent?

Of course an agent would be favourable to such a meeting. Only a scammer wouldn't want to meet in person. The issue is not a lack of desire, but lack of ability. With authors and agents now able to conduct their business long distance and with ease, it's not always practical or cost effective for an author to come to meet an agent.

That being said I've met all my agents.

Agent 1 - before she offered to rep me she asked if I wanted to meet for drinks to chat about the MS. It was a 6 hour eating and drinking hang out that was awesome and ended in representation (which she had planned on offering from the beginning). We lived in the same city (London, UK) and in fact the agency was in my neighbourhood.

Agent 2 - I had moved back home to Canada and Agent 1 meanwhile left the agency and was replaced by Agent 2. She and I never met in person until after she too had left the agency and I had come for a visit to the UK and just really wanted to meet the woman who I had been working with for over a year. At that time I was already signed to . . .

Agent 3 - But I had met Agent 3 before she was ever my agent as she was my friend's agent and on a trip to NYC that my friend and I went on together, I was invited to join them for brunch. After I signed with Agent 3 probably around a year later, I subsequently met up with her many times on many trips to NYC. She's still my agent and she is awesome.


Each agent has brought me to their office and introduced me to their colleagues. Agent 3's agency has a party every BEA and a bunch of the agents there and her and I have gone party hopping together. And when Agent 3 and I moved to a new agency we met up there so she could introduce me to her new colleagues and see the new offices.


So yes. I think it's wonderful to meet your agent. Especially if they are awesome fun people as all three of mine have been. I feel lucky to have had the opportunity and it's one of the reasons I like going to BEA in NYC so that I can see my agent (and editors) in person.

But. It's not necessary I don't think. You can tell by talking on the phone, by emails, etc if the two of you are compatible. And not everyone has the luxury as I have had to a) have lived in the same city as my agent, and b) lived close enough to a city that it isn't uber expensive to get there. It's a great thing, but not a necessary thing to meet in person.

If you can with relative ease, as in you live in the same city, will be close to them at some point in time, ect., yeah it might be a good idea.

Otherwise, I'd have to weigh the use. If they are a reputable agent with a great outlook and you and they want to start a strong career together, or you've already made good sales and want to strengthen your relationship, and so on, it's probably worth a trip to see them.

Toothpaste said:

Only a scammer wouldn't want to meet in person.

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One of the best methods to either sell someone something or sell them into something is to do it face to face with a on the spot decision. Email and messages give people time to think--thinking is the worse thing for a salesman/scammer. Just because they're willing to meet you doesn't mean they won't scam you.

Due to living several thousand miles apart, on different continents, I have never met my agent

We've never even spoken on the phone (he has offered, it's just never become necessary).

Depends on you and your agent. If you feel you need to meet, then meet. If not, I (clearly) don't think it's a make or break. What's important is their enthusiasm for your work and their ability to sell it

Anything else is a bonus

I agree with everyone else. If convenient, it would be awesome to meet my agent. I'd love to visit the east coast states someday and since her agency is based in Boston, it could totally happen.

But it's not necessary. Email and phone calls every once in a while are totally sufficient.

This was a real consideration for me when I was choosing between two agents, one of whom was thousands of miles away and one of whom was less than 20 minutes away by public transport.

In the end, I didn't think being able to easily meet face-to-face outweighed the other things that I really liked about the US-based agent, so I chose her. If we want to chat, we can use video calling on Skype, which is great! Plus she'll be in my city in March so we can finally meet face-to-face.

I'd actually prefer NOT to meet mine. She's hundreds of miles away, so it hasn't really been an issue. But if the opportunity came up? Not a huge deal, not a tragedy if we ran into each other, but I'd rather not.

I'm not sure why. I guess maybe b/c I want her to be focused on my MS, not on me? I want us to have a business relationship, not a personal one. We've spoken on the phone a couple times and it's always been friendly, but I have enough friends. I want her to sell my books, not be my buddy!

(I know, the two aren't mutually exclusive. This is a personal preference, not a statement of the 'right' way to do things.)

Toothpaste said:

Agent 1 - before she offered to rep me she asked if I wanted to meet for drinks to chat about the MS. It was a 6 hour eating and drinking hang out that was awesome and ended in representation

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6 HOURS !

WOW! I would've been a nervous wreck and fit for the funny farm by the end of 2.

Yeah. No agent here. But meeting one would be cool. It solidifies things like nothing else if you know what I mean. Phone calls, Emails, and Whatnot pale by comparison.

My two cents !

I enjoyed meeting my last agent(s) (I met her and the junior agent). They were both really sweet and easy to talk to and we chatted about everything from the MS to our love of dumplings.

But meeting in person didn't stop us from deciding to part ways. :-/ We're still friendly and we still keep in touch, but when it came down to it, we couldn't see eye to eye with regards to my writing, so it was time to part ways.

I haven't met the agent(s) (what is it with two-agent-teams? ) I'm signing with, but having talked to them over the phone, I'm pretty confident they're a good choice. Being able to meet them would be a bonus, of course, but I don't feel the need to do that.

ps Almost did meet an agent who did not rep me. Cute lass. Told her as much. Pic on the site. Exchange of friendly emails. Concluding with...

How about it a date?
Sorry, Ken. Boyfriend.

:-(

Ken said:

6 HOURS !

WOW! I would've been a nervous wreck and fit for the funny farm by the end of 2.

Yeah. No agent here. But meeting one would be cool. It solidifies things like nothing else if you know what I mean. Phone calls, Emails, and Whatnot pale by comparison.

My two cents !

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"fit for the funny farm" is a really unpleasant phrase, Ken. It's very dismissive of all of us who have dealt with mental illnesses, and it's not at all respectful. Please don't use it here.

Ken said:

ps Almost did meet an agent who did not rep me. Cute lass. Told her as much. Pic on the site. Exchange of friendly emails. Concluding with...

How about it a date?
Sorry, Ken. Boyfriend.

:-(

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Your interaction with this agent might have been perfectly fine, but the way you've written it here makes you sound creepy. You might want to rethink this anecdote before you share it again.

Meeting an agent in person might be tricky if you're on the west coast (say) and they're in New York. Or vice versa. Maybe if you're both at a conference, or they (or you) take a trip somewhere near where the other lives/operates it would make sense to meet in person. I'd certainly like to if it's plausible.

But I know writers who say they haven't met their agents in person, but have still spent time with them on the phone and over the web, working on revisions, discussing submissions and contracts and so on.

And re PutPutt's comment, I can see how developing a more personal relationship with your agent could be an issue if you're the kind of person who has a lot of trouble making hard decisions (or being on the receiving end of such) about the business end of a relationship that is also personal.

Depends on the situation.

I'm repped by Louise Fury and Rachael Brooks, neither of whom I've met because they're in NYC and I'm just south of Pittsburgh PA. We've chatted on the phone and sent emails almost hourly when working on my manuscript.

I'd love to meet them but obviously it's not possible at this point. I researched them and they researched me before accepting their offer/making the offer and I'm comfortable with the fact that I may not see them before they sell my book.

All depends on what you can manage.

Old Hack said:

"fit for the funny farm" is a really unpleasant phrase, Ken. It's very dismissive of all of us who have dealt with mental illnesses, and it's not at all respectful. Please don't use it here.

Your interaction with this agent might have been perfectly fine, but the way you've written it here makes you sound creepy. You might want to rethink this anecdote before you share it again.

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Thnx for the feedback. Always helpful to know how what you say is perceived by others.

You may mean this but the way it comes across it seems like something different, like you say. Or you may cause offense without even realizing it as I have here. Apologies to concerned parties .

It is far better to be called out for something on a message board than to be called out for something IRL. E.g. you have an ms pub'd and in it you use the term, "funny farm." Wham. The internet is abuzz.

"Where does so and so get off saying that? How dare they! I will never buy another one of their stupid books again!" Etc.

So again. Feedback appreciated !

Postscript: For the record I'm not entirely sane. So there are limits to how in the loop and apropos I can be. Occasionally I will type something that may seem peculiar and not quite right. Just so yah know ;-)

Sincerely Yours, Ken

Ken said:

Postscript: For the record I'm not entirely sane.

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I am unsure I know anyone who is...

Anyway, re agents. Decide what YOU need from an agent - one Big Name author was AGHAST that I'd never spoken to mine, because his "talked him down from the ledge" often. I would never even consider my agent doing that.

What do you want from your agent? What is your personality like? What do you need? Go from there.

Thee (Mr Flibble) hast cheered me; considerably

I've probably met 80% of my clients over the years -- I travel a fair amount, and always try and meet up with my people when I am in/near their city, or at a conference together someplace, or when they happen to visit NY. But many/most I did not meet until we'd worked together for some time. And there are a few who live so far away I'll probably never meet them! However, I kinda feel like I know them really well anyway, because of email, facebook, twitter and the like.

(Before I wrote this I looked at my roster and counted who I'd met, actually, and in a couple of cases I was like OF COURSE I have met them... and then realized, nope, not in real life!)

Jennifer_Laughran said:

(Before I wrote this I looked at my roster and counted who I'd met, actually, and in a couple of cases I was like OF COURSE I have met them... and then realized, nope, not in real life!)

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Isn't it remarkable how the Internet does that? We create bonds that make us so sure we must have met, and then realize that's not the case at all.

Course, this is making an assumption that communication was online, but I'm riffing on a concept really

If the agent wants to travel a thousand miles to have lunch with me, and if she's buying, fine. Otherwise, no. I want my agent to spend her time having lunch with top editors, not traveling a thousand miles to buy me lunch.

I also really don't care whether they're awesome, fun people. In fact, I'd rather not even know that.

I care about one thing, and that's how well she does her job of placing my books, getting me the best possible contract, etc. If she can do this, I don't care if she's the Wicked Witch of the West.

I don't want a friend I'd like to hang out with, I want a professional agent who knows how to do her job.

The agent I'm interning for asked for a Skype meeting when he interviewed me. I don't know that it made much of a difference. He smiled, I smiled. Then he talked about the job and we discussed books and stuff. It was nice, but I think the same thing can be achieved with a phone conversation.

Have you met your agent, Laer? How did the meeting go?