Why you need an agent …

If you’ve ever thought about going it alone (and who hasn’t?) or self publishing, then there are good reasons to reconsider. My experience is personal, of course, and limited, of course and … well, it’s full of all the prejudices, assumptions and neuroses that go to make me unique. Ahem. Putting aside that point for later consideration. These are the reasons that I believe striving to get a (good) agent is worth all the effort:

1 – I didn’t get the work for hire project, which makes me sad. But they have said that they’d like me to try again, and this is not a chance that I would have got if I hadn’t been on the books of Excellent Agent, so I’m aiming for second-time-lucky on this subject.

2 – while that project didn’t come off, and EA is still trying to place Novel #1, she came up with another idea, based on some non-fiction work I’ve been doing. Of course this might come to nothing too, but I couldn’t pitch the concept to publishers, while she can, so there’s much more chance of success with her on my side.

3 – I always have somebody to talk to about my writing career.

That third point is the real key – without EA to talk to me about ‘me’ in relation to the currently stagnant and turbid waters of fiction publishing, I could easily despair. But with her overview, my personal situation is properly located in a world where even established authors are having their books cancelled by publishers, where imprints are closing left, right and centre and publishing is shedding staffers like a snake sloughing an old skin.

A new, shiny, and more lithe publishing world will emerge and I will be ready to greet it, but only because EA is there to remind me that it’s not personal, and that staying the course is as much part of the profession of writing as is turning a good sentence.

And in the meantime, I have a short story live at Beat the Dust and I managed to produce a sketch I wasn’t ashamed of this week. It was of a feather …

5 Comments

  1. Annie
    6th September 2009

    One of your drawings! Pleased you’ve been busy. Just read the story. The image that has stayed with me is of the slow and determined drag across the ground, complete with track marks. Also, haven’t seen that video for years. Had forgotten just how great it is.

    Reply
  2. Fiona Joseph
    6th September 2009

    Nice post! I agree so much with your point about staying the course… and your agent sounds wonderful.

    Reply
  3. Mark Hubbard
    7th September 2009

    I’m impressed by that letter.

    I’m just finishing my novel, so will soon be on the search for an agent.

    Reply
  4. Mark Hubbard
    7th September 2009

    Um, I can’t find your short story on that link?

    Reply
  5. Kay Sexton
    7th September 2009

    Thanks Annie.

    Fiona, she’s both excellent (which is a professional attribute) and wonderful (which is a personal one).

    Mark, it’s at the bottom of the page, you can click the ‘read more’ button to get the whole story. I’m not so egocentric as to link to only my own work when there are so many excellent stories there this month!

    Reply

Leave a Reply