ATP said:
This is the general situation as relates to fiction. But, for any business operator who hangs out his shingle, obtaining and building a client roster/list can take quite a bit of time. I would surmise in the order of 6 months, to take a figure of the top of my head, without any knowledge of the industry/point of reference.
So, in effect, there might be no business for 6 months. I presume an agent maintains an office separate from his home, and pays rent, perhaps one or two staff etc. These are common operational expenses, which occur for most any business. So, how is an agent meant to operate his business? I would guess that in starting out, the agent must either utilise his own money to support himself during the initial phase, or be sponsored by another/s. Correct?
ATP
Like any other business, an agent with any sense doesn't open an agency unless she has operating capital. Most peope you hire to do a job get paid because they do a job, not because they try to do it. You don't pay someone for trying to mow your yard, you pay them for getting the grass cut.
This is even more true of people who work on commission. A car salesman does not get paid for trying to sell a car, he gets paid for selling it. A door to door salesman does not get paid for trying to sell vacuum cleaners, he gets paid for selling them. Agents are commission workers. They don't get paid for trying to sell a novel, they get paid for selling it. Period.
Nearly all start up businesses have a large inherent risk and severe cash flow problems for the first year. Sometimes for the first three or four or five years. This means anyone who starts a business either needs a reserve of cash large enough to carry them until they begin making a profit, or they need a secondary souce of income large enough to do the same. Being an agent does not mean you can't also have a job elsewhere. I've known several agents who worked a graveyard shift while strating up their agency. Most businesses, even small ones, need tens of thousands, minimum, before opening their doors, or they'll probably fail.
So how an agent stays in business until the profits grow large enough to suppose the business is the same way all other business owners do so. She either waits until she has enough money in the bank to carry her for at least a year or two, or she has a secondary souce of income large enough to do the same job.
Now, a new agent does not need an office away from home, any more than a writer does. This is usually a needless expense for a new agent. Agents do no walk in business, and a home office works just fine. All teh agent needs is a separate phone line. Nor do many start up agents have a staff of any size. You don't need staff until you have something for them to do that you can't do yourself.
Most often, start up costs aren't all that much larger for an agent than for a writer, and going full-time takes pretty much the same resources for either.
And like writers, not all agents work full-time as agents. Just because a person becomes an agent does not in any way mean she is SOLELY an agent. She may well be working evenings at a local pub, or graveyard shoft at a local factory, etc. A blue ton of agents have second jobs until and unless the agency starts making enough money to let them work only as an agent. Some pretty darned good agents never get rid of the second job, just as some pretty darned good writers never become full-time writers.
