A point that some agents do which is just silly. They ask to see the book first. If they do, ask them why? They will be thinking that you are hiring them for life. Just say you would like them to do just the one contract first, then the two of you can talk about the future. You want to see how they handle the important stuff, the negotiations and contracts first. If they insist on reading the book first, walk away. Their judgment on your work means nothing and will only get in the way.

It would have been more accurate to ask about an author with his first offer in hand. But you’ve answered that. The writer with an offer in hand can hire who he wants.

What I was trying to ask was whether a writer with his first offer would find agents reluctant to deal only with the one contract. But that is just a slip into conventional thinking. Rather, the author with an offer in hand has every opportunity to acquire an agent that would agree to a proper author-agent agreement.

Make no mistake. I will never hire an agent without an offer in hand. I never liked the idea of doing that as it was, and you’ve helped me realize that my instincts in that area were correct.

“Any agent you can get as an unsold writer isn’t an agent you will want when you sell a book.”

If you have an offer in hand from a major publisher, you are not a beginning writer and can hire who fits you. If you are trying as an unsold beginning writer to get an agent, you get what you deserve I’m afraid. Sorry to be so blunt, but alas, the hard truth.

I suppose that’s a guarantee with the wrong kind of agent, or the wrong agent for me, but that the right agent would be very agreeable to such a concept.

Can I torture that metaphor any MORE? (Oh, if I really try, I think I can…)

Back to the there is no One Right Way or Universal Answer. Whether choosing to work without or without an agent, I think (as per Dean’s “your are responsible for your own career” motto) the point, really, is that a writer needs to think about what he wants, why he wants it, how to get it, and whether he IS getting it (and, if not, what to do about that problem).

If a writer wants an agent, he should think intelligent about WHY he wants an agent, WHAT his expectations are, and then regularly examine whether his expectations are (a) realistic, (b) changing, and (c) being met.

And ditto if a writer decides he does NOT want an agent.

Laura

Are you saying that you essentially avoid keeping an agent “on retainer” and instead sell the book yourself, then when you need to hire an agent for the contract negotiation, but only for that book?

I suppose you made that clear before but that I missed it. But that would mean that you are hiring the agent with the explicit understanding that they are to handle that contract only?

It’s often helpful to have an intermediary in a negotiation. It lends a level of detachment where personal involvment might interfere with the process; most people who don’t do it for a living aren’t very good at it. (From buying and selling houses, for example, I know it’s much easier for me to be a tough negotiator if my responses and demands are filtered through the real estate agent than if I were discussing it with the buyer or seller in person.) In the literary world, I know an author and magazine editor whose agent got the rights reverted on several years’ worth of editorials (originally works for hire). He might have been able to do that himself, but the very request might put him in an awkward position with his employer, especially if refused.

I’ve been around — if not in — this business enough to know more about it than most newbies, but also enough to know how much I don’t know. This Killing the Sacred Cows series is great, Dean.