My agent has lost her mind...

I wouldn't wait till the contract expires. I would pull out now if you can.

Just so you know, this part of the forum is not password-protected. Your agent may be reading your remarks, and since you named her agency, it won't be difficult for her to guess who you are. You may be about to part company with her, but creating additional bad feelings won't help the case.

Also, you should certainly wait until your contract expires, if you don't wish to invoke the termination clause and pay the fees for leaving. Any less-honest course is inappropriate, and won't make you more attractive to another agent.

ETA: You almost certainly don't know that she is a member here, which I discovered after looking up the thread you suggested. I suggest you edit your comments to remove all personal references, unless you really don't mind an explosion.

I've got to disagree with the majority here: If she's posting political discourse on her blog and has decided to engage in agency behavior (charging authors for representation) that is frowned upon in the mainstream industry, she's certainly given you cause to terminate, regardless of what your agreement says.

If she refuses, give her instructions to pull back any submissions she still has outstanding so there's no chance at a sale. Tell her you're not happy with the way things have gone and get her submission list, then terminate the agency agreement. If she doesn't comply and release you, let her know you intend to report her to the guild.

From what you've written, you don't want her representing you or your work anymore, so make her stop.

Dr. Pepper Hound said:

Go look at the thread for Loiacano Literary Agency and then go check out the website. I think you'd agree with me after that. Posting political rants on your business site to me qualifies. I am definitely uncomfortable with her being connected to me in any way after that.

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Just read the thread. Wow. I'm not surprised you want to disassociate yourself from that.
Good luck!

whiporee said:

I've got to disagree with the majority here: If she's posting political discourse on her blog and has decided to engage in agency behavior (charging authors for representation) that is frowned upon in the mainstream industry, she's certainly given you cause to terminate, regardless of what your agreement says.

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Unless her behavior has violated the agency contract, this is simply not true. It may feel like "justice," but it will not stand up if a disagreement over termination fees arises. It is irresponsible and creates a liability to walk away from a contract unless the terms of that contract have been breached--and even then, getting legal advice is a good idea before making the decision to cut loose.

If she refuses, give her instructions to pull back any submissions she still has outstanding so there's no chance at a sale. Tell her you're not happy with the way things have gone and get her submission list, then terminate the agency agreement. If she doesn't comply and release you, let her know you intend to report her to the guild.

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Without looking at the specific agency-agreement language, it's hard to say more, but there is a very good chance a tactic of this sort will backfire. Unprofessional behavior on the part of an agent in one regard can be the prelude to some very unprofessional behavior indeed. This agency is already well outside the terms of AAR policies, and merely reporting her to what I assume you mean to be the Authors Guild is unlikely to have any repercussions. I don't even find on the website that there is AG membership, and there is certainly no membership with the AAR.

From what you've written, you don't want her representing you or your work anymore, so make her stop.

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Since the contract is due to expire within months, allowing it to do so is probably the most painless of the alternatives, and the one least likely to get the author's works tied up in any sort of legal squabble.

I imagine that in future, the OP will be careful about the language of agency contracts, since this could have been much uglier.

Do not send out any new queries until your contract with this agency is terminated, in writing.

Get hold of a list of all the places she's sent the book up to now, so that if you do find a new agent you can provide that information. It would be very helpful to them. You want imprints and editor names.

You could start putting together a list of new agents to query, though. And definitely read up on how to spot good and bad agencies, and how to avoid the worst ones. Writer Beware is a good place to start with that.

You could ask her to pull back any submissions she's made on your behalf but that is likely to identify you to her now. Best, perhaps, to just let things go as they are. It sounds as though you don't have much more time to go.

And finally, do not use language like "lost her mind" here. It's inappropriate, it's offensive, and it's inaccurate, too. There was no need for you to criticise your current agent in this thread, or to identify her: all you had to say was you wanted to leave your agent because of their unprofessional behaviour. Why start up a confrontational thread when you could have made it a reasonable one?

I'm going to lock this now. Please be more professional on AW in future. And consider the language you choose to use: we're all writers here, and we should choose our words with care.