Yes, You Do Need an Agent
I’ve received a few emails asking me about Literary Agents, if you need them, how to get one, and how to get a good one. Let me start with the first question.
A billion years ago the novel publishing industry was much different than it is today: acquiring editors would look unsolicited manuscripts mailed to their office, hoping to find the next Great Gatsby.
Sadly, those days are long gone. Today’s editors spend their time in sales meetings, answering hundreds of emails, and promoting/defending their novels though a Byzantine corporate structure. They barely have the time to edit the books already under contact (which they usual do when they go home at night).
Complicating this is the advent of word processors and laser printers which have enabled everyone who wants to write a novel and send it to every editor on the planet to do just that. A typical editor might get dozens of unsolicited novel manuscripts a day (thousands a year!).
There is simply no way an editor has time to go through these manuscripts (what is affectionately called the “slush pile”) nor is it cost effective to hire staff to do so, because 99% of such submissions are not good enough to publish.
As a result, editors now depend on literary agents to find promising novel manuscripts. Such agents have a motivated self interest to send in only the best material. Selling blockbuster hits and award-winning prose will line their pockets and boost their reputation. An agent that does not do this soon finds their manuscripts unread and calls unanswered.
The literary agent has become such an integral part of the novel publishing business that most publishers no longer look at unsolicited/unagented material.
Next: we’ll take a look at how to find an agent.
A billion years ago the novel publishing industry was much different than it is today: acquiring editors would look unsolicited manuscripts mailed to their office, hoping to find the next Great Gatsby.
Sadly, those days are long gone. Today’s editors spend their time in sales meetings, answering hundreds of emails, and promoting/defending their novels though a Byzantine corporate structure. They barely have the time to edit the books already under contact (which they usual do when they go home at night).
Complicating this is the advent of word processors and laser printers which have enabled everyone who wants to write a novel and send it to every editor on the planet to do just that. A typical editor might get dozens of unsolicited novel manuscripts a day (thousands a year!).
There is simply no way an editor has time to go through these manuscripts (what is affectionately called the “slush pile”) nor is it cost effective to hire staff to do so, because 99% of such submissions are not good enough to publish.
As a result, editors now depend on literary agents to find promising novel manuscripts. Such agents have a motivated self interest to send in only the best material. Selling blockbuster hits and award-winning prose will line their pockets and boost their reputation. An agent that does not do this soon finds their manuscripts unread and calls unanswered.
The literary agent has become such an integral part of the novel publishing business that most publishers no longer look at unsolicited/unagented material.
Next: we’ll take a look at how to find an agent.
posted by Eric Nylund at 7:23 AM
7 Comments:
Another reason why writers need an agent is because a majority of writers want to write. They do not want to deal with the business end of being published, or they might not know what the business end looks like.
Ugh, agents. They are just like the ones in the matrix, except that their powers lie in...well, i'll let everyone else figure that out.
It is unfortunate how times have changed though. I'd much rather go through the writing process with simply an editor. But alas!
And as jenni said, most writer's don't want (or are able to) deal with the business side, which does make agents quite important. Agents also (should) know the right people to talk to while the authors don't.
One minor point i'd like to make about agents, so not to give my story with them away. Don't ask for favors, even if they are friends of yours. Make deals. Otherwise, you won't go very far.
Jenni, SB -- good comments.
Also, SB, I agree: it's always wise to remember that you’re hiring these people to do a job – and that’s it Business first and last. I can’t even begin to imagine the complications that could arise if you hired a friend to be your agent. Yikes!
--E
Something else that occured to me about agents. When writing a book, generally authors don't write them and have the finished piece and then go hunting. They have either portions of it, or an unedited version, or something to that effect (unless you are a new author without any previous works). I think that's how it is, at least.
If it is, then the writer won't want to spend his days searching for publishers or buyers or whatever. He'll work on the book while the agent does that, so that productivity, in theory, doubles.
I would imagine an agent isn't going to take a new writer with an unfinished piece (except maybe a wonderful nonfiction concept or the like). It would be akin to betting on a horse while it's still in the womb.
It is sad that the industry has changed like this... A friend of mine recently wrote an amazing novel - and I mean, this is something I'd reread in my spare time - but doesn't have an agent. Being an unpublished author that's not even out of college, it seems unlikely that any agent will pick him up... A shame, because as I've said, it's a brilliant novel.
SB, Nikoda -- right on the money!
Coweh, your friend should read my latest post and find themselves an agent if their novel really is that good.
--E
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