Once you get an agent....... |
Author: Rich DeRuvo (---.dyn.optonline.net)
Date: 08-29-08 00:55
I'm just curious:
Let's say an agent tells you they want to represent your work. You say okay and you are going to get published and everything is fine and dandy. Do you meet your agent personally and discuss the process and whether you plan to write more and talk about that. If the agent says they'd be interested in future work do you speak to them regularly about where you are in the work and when you'll be finished? What are the different types of agent to writer relationships?
Thanks
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Re: Once you get an agent....... |
Author: Wonky (192.250.49.---)
Date: 08-29-08 01:25
Unlikely you'd meet the agent in person unless you live in the same city.
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Re: Once you get an agent....... |
Author: Andrew Smith (---.lsanca.dsl-w.verizon.net)
Date: 08-29-08 05:58
Just because you get an agent doesn't mean you are going to get published. The agent who offered me representation actually came out to where I live and took me out to lunch. We had quite a discussion in person and back-and-forth via email about my future work. I don't think many agents get very excited about a one-time deal, but I'm sure it happens. And yes, my agent has a very hands-on approach with his/her clients' careers and, at least in my case, always provides input on what I'm currently working on and what's coming up next.
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Re: Once you get an agent....... |
Author: cara k (---.hsd1.ct.comcast.net)
Date: 08-29-08 07:56
I never met my previous agent in person, and there was never a discussion of my WIP.
--Cara K
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Re: Once you get an agent....... |
Author: A.L. Sirois (155.91.28.---)
Date: 08-29-08 08:36
I have met two of my three previous agents. WIP were occasionally discussed, but finished products were of primary interest. Your milage may vary.
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Re: Once you get an agent....... |
Author: Keith . (---.dhcp.spbg.sc.charter.com)
Date: 08-29-08 08:54
Never met my first agent. Never spoke on the phone, either. He forwarded editor rejections/comments and emailed me about my WIP every hundred years or so. Two years up the wild hog's ass.
km
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Re: Once you get an agent....... |
Author: A.L. Sirois (155.91.28.---)
Date: 08-29-08 09:34
"Two years up the wild hog's ass" ? That's great! Is that your neologism, Keith, or something regional? I've never heard it before.
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Re: Once you get an agent....... |
Author: Keith . (---.dhcp.spbg.sc.charter.com)
Date: 08-29-08 10:06
My first job out of college was as a dock supervisor at a huge trucking terminal. Another supe from Winston-Salem, NC said it once and I've used it ever since-15 years or so. I assume it was his but I've never been to W-S so I don't know for sure. I actually use it in the novel I'm querying now. Another guy from Georgia would say someone/thing was as useless as tits on a boarhog. I like that one, too. I usually had 50-60 Teamsters working for me on any given day and can't use most of what I heard. :)
km
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Re: Once you get an agent....... |
Author: A.L. Sirois (155.91.28.---)
Date: 08-29-08 10:10
Man, see, that's the kind of stuff that is so great to work into a book. I've used "Like tits on a bull" myself, when referring to something that is udderly (ah ha ha) useless. But "two years up a wild hog's ass" is pure redneck poetry.
God, I do love the language.
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Re: Once you get an agent....... |
Author: stevenlabri τΏτ (---.sip.mia.bellsouth.net)
Date: 08-29-08 10:19
"Two years up the wild hog's ass" Hilarious!
That is soooooo Southern.
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Re: Once you get an agent....... |
Author: Rich DeRuvo (---.dyn.optonline.net)
Date: 08-29-08 10:44
Thanks everybody... and Keith... I was just curious as to the different experiences people have had and if you tell an agent: "I plan on doing (blank) in the future" if they say to contact them for consideration. Thanks again.
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Re: Once you get an agent....... |
Author: Sapphire Savvy (76.251.180.---)
Date: 08-29-08 13:41
Yeah, email and phone is the usual route. And once you get an agent does not mean publication. As others pointed out, you can go through several before getting to a publisher. I have, and most authors seem to have.
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Re: Once you get an agent....... |
Author: leslee (---.lsl-la.com)
Date: 08-29-08 14:11
Getting an agent doesn't mean keeping an agent, that's for sure. And it absolutely does not mean you'll be published.
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Re: Once you get an agent....... |
Author: Ce Ce (---.clt.bellsouth.net)
Date: 08-29-08 16:29
Agents vary as much as writers do. You're looking for the best fit for you and how you work, not (despite temptation)just grabbing at the first agent who says he/she loves your work.
And when you do have an agent's interest, you should have a discussion up front about what you expect of that agent, and how you prefer to work. Lots of contact or only when a project is underway? Do you want editorial work with your agent (beyond some initial tweaking that might be recommended before submission) or prefer to work directly with editors on that? Do you want a bulldog to negotiate great money and terms, or somebody to hold your hand while you bitch and moan about the unfairness of publishing?
The agent/author partnership is like a marriage, and if you don't weigh/judge compatibility before you say, "I do," you're going to regret it later.
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Re: Once you get an agent....... |
Author: Wonky (---.rev.home.ne.jp)
Date: 08-29-08 16:45
Well when I signed with an agent the first thing she asked me was what else I had.
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Re: Once you get an agent....... |
Author: Robert Brown (---.hsd1.in.comcast.net)
Date: 08-29-08 17:41
That's usually my first question, Wonky. The reason is that most publishers (especially the majors) want depth and if you can't show depth, they don't want the first book, even though it might be a winner for them. It's almost expected that each book should be better than the one before it and that book seven either be a best-seller or come very close. If you don't have that kind of depth, you're mostly relegated to the middle level--TOR, Kensington, Leisure and the like. Also, major editors usually want to buy more than one book--so this is again why an agent must know if there's another book in the offing. One hit wonders are not that popular anymore as first books don't usually pay out anyway.
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Re: Once you get an agent....... |
Author: Rosie Suarez (---.mad.east.verizon.net)
Date: 08-29-08 20:37
I'm on my second agent. I met them both before signing. My current agent is very interested in what I'm working on, will share her thoughts on what seems more interesting/marketable/exciting.
With this second agent, before signing, we had a long talk about what I've written and what I plan to write and how I see my career proceeding.
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Re: Once you get an agent....... |
Author: Sapphire Savvy (76.251.180.---)
Date: 08-31-08 19:44
Yeah, you gain a little more experience each time.
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