Agent Only Wants to Contract For One Book

Depends on the agency. Some big agencies -- Janklow, UTA and CAA's very small book division -- only have work specific contracts. This alleviates issues that might come up with someone who does more than write books -- so if you've written a screenplay, design video games or work in film and TV in one form or another, there's no battle over who represents the work in question, and who is entitled to a commission. Your friend's agent is obligated to rep the book she is discussing, but nothing else, and your friend is not obligated to use them again. It also allows for different commission structures for different woks -- if you become a household name based on your first book, you might not want to pay an agent 15 percent on the next one if there won't be any issue selling it.

It also allows the writer to market previously-written (and maybe self-published) without having to pay the agency any kinds of commission or, like some big names out there have done, self publish after you become a big name.

There's no a right or wrong answer. There's more security in being able to say "I have an agent" with a client-agency, but my guess is the folks with work-specific agreements may be more aggressive in pursuing publication, because they've only got one shot. But I could be wrong about that.

My agent was client-specific when I signed with her, but when she switched to a bigger agency, the contract became work specific. It didn't cause any real problems in presenting the first book, but it also made it easier for her to say she didn't want to rep a second book I wrote, and made it easier for me to seek more enthusiastic rep for that second book. I would have preferred her to love the second book, but she didn't, and I'd rather have an agent who loves what I do rather than one who feels contractually obligated. That said, you don't get in the door without an agent, so ...

Most of the good agencies I know represent the author, not specific books. So they'll do their damndest to sell all the books, screenplays, articles and stories their author-clients write.

It varies from agency to agency, of course. But I do think that representing authors rather than single books at a time is the more common.

My last contract was per book-only, which makes subbing to a new agent for my new work easier.