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Mar. 6th, 2007
Why does a writer need an agent?
Mar. 6th, 2007 11:05 amI mean, can't everyone involved just be friends?
The sad thing is, your editor might be a friend and so might your publisher but your relationship with them is a business relationship. The writer's needs and the publisher's need will not overlap 100% and trust me, the publisher will be looking after themselves (or going broke). An agent presumably brings to the table a wealth of professional experience about the publishing industry many writers lack and has a financial interest in seeing that the writer's interests are looked after [1], even those interests (like foreign sales) where the publisher has little incentive to care.
Agents also provide a handy way for a writer to disagree with their publisher without ruining their personal relationship with the company. "I did not call you a money-grubbing weasel who is so crooked that HP Lovecraft himself could not describe the twists your accounting took," you can explain. "That was my agent."
Interestingly, Tobias Buckell provides an example of why an agent is a good idea:
1: Nightmarish Agents is another story but you want to avoid the agent who refuses to do any work and the agent who is so diligent and inflexible in their protection of the writer's rights as they see them that nobody will deal with the agent in question.
The sad thing is, your editor might be a friend and so might your publisher but your relationship with them is a business relationship. The writer's needs and the publisher's need will not overlap 100% and trust me, the publisher will be looking after themselves (or going broke). An agent presumably brings to the table a wealth of professional experience about the publishing industry many writers lack and has a financial interest in seeing that the writer's interests are looked after [1], even those interests (like foreign sales) where the publisher has little incentive to care.
Agents also provide a handy way for a writer to disagree with their publisher without ruining their personal relationship with the company. "I did not call you a money-grubbing weasel who is so crooked that HP Lovecraft himself could not describe the twists your accounting took," you can explain. "That was my agent."
Interestingly, Tobias Buckell provides an example of why an agent is a good idea:
58% of our first time novelists had an agent, the other 42% sold the book without an agent, and a high number indicate they got agents right after or during the sale of the book.
The range in agented advances is from $1500 to $40,000
The median agented advance is $6000 (the average is $7500)
The range in unagented advances is from $0 to $15000
The median unagented advance is $3500 (the average is $4051)
1: Nightmarish Agents is another story but you want to avoid the agent who refuses to do any work and the agent who is so diligent and inflexible in their protection of the writer's rights as they see them that nobody will deal with the agent in question.
Why does a writer need an agent?
Mar. 6th, 2007 11:05 amI mean, can't everyone involved just be friends?
The sad thing is, your editor might be a friend and so might your publisher but your relationship with them is a business relationship. The writer's needs and the publisher's need will not overlap 100% and trust me, the publisher will be looking after themselves (or going broke). An agent presumably brings to the table a wealth of professional experience about the publishing industry many writers lack and has a financial interest in seeing that the writer's interests are looked after [1], even those interests (like foreign sales) where the publisher has little incentive to care.
Agents also provide a handy way for a writer to disagree with their publisher without ruining their personal relationship with the company. "I did not call you a money-grubbing weasel who is so crooked that HP Lovecraft himself could not describe the twists your accounting took," you can explain. "That was my agent."
Interestingly, Tobias Buckell provides an example of why an agent is a good idea:
1: Nightmarish Agents is another story but you want to avoid the agent who refuses to do any work and the agent who is so diligent and inflexible in their protection of the writer's rights as they see them that nobody will deal with the agent in question.
The sad thing is, your editor might be a friend and so might your publisher but your relationship with them is a business relationship. The writer's needs and the publisher's need will not overlap 100% and trust me, the publisher will be looking after themselves (or going broke). An agent presumably brings to the table a wealth of professional experience about the publishing industry many writers lack and has a financial interest in seeing that the writer's interests are looked after [1], even those interests (like foreign sales) where the publisher has little incentive to care.
Agents also provide a handy way for a writer to disagree with their publisher without ruining their personal relationship with the company. "I did not call you a money-grubbing weasel who is so crooked that HP Lovecraft himself could not describe the twists your accounting took," you can explain. "That was my agent."
Interestingly, Tobias Buckell provides an example of why an agent is a good idea:
58% of our first time novelists had an agent, the other 42% sold the book without an agent, and a high number indicate they got agents right after or during the sale of the book.
The range in agented advances is from $1500 to $40,000
The median agented advance is $6000 (the average is $7500)
The range in unagented advances is from $0 to $15000
The median unagented advance is $3500 (the average is $4051)
1: Nightmarish Agents is another story but you want to avoid the agent who refuses to do any work and the agent who is so diligent and inflexible in their protection of the writer's rights as they see them that nobody will deal with the agent in question.
Why does a writer need an agent?
Mar. 6th, 2007 11:05 amI mean, can't everyone involved just be friends?
The sad thing is, your editor might be a friend and so might your publisher but your relationship with them is a business relationship. The writer's needs and the publisher's need will not overlap 100% and trust me, the publisher will be looking after themselves (or going broke). An agent presumably brings to the table a wealth of professional experience about the publishing industry many writers lack and has a financial interest in seeing that the writer's interests are looked after [1], even those interests (like foreign sales) where the publisher has little incentive to care.
Agents also provide a handy way for a writer to disagree with their publisher without ruining their personal relationship with the company. "I did not call you a money-grubbing weasel who is so crooked that HP Lovecraft himself could not describe the twists your accounting took," you can explain. "That was my agent."
Interestingly, Tobias Buckell provides an example of why an agent is a good idea:
1: Nightmarish Agents is another story but you want to avoid the agent who refuses to do any work and the agent who is so diligent and inflexible in their protection of the writer's rights as they see them that nobody will deal with the agent in question.
The sad thing is, your editor might be a friend and so might your publisher but your relationship with them is a business relationship. The writer's needs and the publisher's need will not overlap 100% and trust me, the publisher will be looking after themselves (or going broke). An agent presumably brings to the table a wealth of professional experience about the publishing industry many writers lack and has a financial interest in seeing that the writer's interests are looked after [1], even those interests (like foreign sales) where the publisher has little incentive to care.
Agents also provide a handy way for a writer to disagree with their publisher without ruining their personal relationship with the company. "I did not call you a money-grubbing weasel who is so crooked that HP Lovecraft himself could not describe the twists your accounting took," you can explain. "That was my agent."
Interestingly, Tobias Buckell provides an example of why an agent is a good idea:
58% of our first time novelists had an agent, the other 42% sold the book without an agent, and a high number indicate they got agents right after or during the sale of the book.
The range in agented advances is from $1500 to $40,000
The median agented advance is $6000 (the average is $7500)
The range in unagented advances is from $0 to $15000
The median unagented advance is $3500 (the average is $4051)
1: Nightmarish Agents is another story but you want to avoid the agent who refuses to do any work and the agent who is so diligent and inflexible in their protection of the writer's rights as they see them that nobody will deal with the agent in question.