Kelly McClymer's Blog

Gearing up for an agent search requires some mental preconditioning. Depending on who you are and how you approach life, you may take the approach of some writers and consider you are hiring an employee. Someone who works for you. If you’ve ever nodded when you heard a writer say, “the agent works for you,” then you know what I mean. [NOTE: If this sentiment is alien to you, tune in to the next post, “Your Agent, Your Partner.”}

Sometimes, when you are looking for an agent, all you want is to close the deal and have someone who loves your manuscript and will try to sell it. This is absolutely natural, and very short sighted. Take it from someone looking for her sixth agent. You need to think about your career needs, not just your needs to get one book published (although, if all you want is to publish one book, then your career needs are a little easier). If you believe an agent works for you, then you should know exactly what you want from the agent before you hire him or her. The first step is knowing how an agent can help with the career progression.

An agent should be able to:
1. pinpoint the right editors for your book(s)
2. negotiate your publishing contract to get you the best deal possible
3. handle the thorniest contractual and communication problems between you and your publisher
4. advise you about the best way to reach your short and long term publishing goals

The first three can seem simple and straightforward, while the fourth is more philosophical. Truthfully, all four are critical for a long, happy career. Finding the right agent for your career takes some tough decision making (which is no different than finding the right employee for a particular job). When you’re just beginning, you may have to make concessions to your list of qualifications (just as you would if you can’t offer top dollar for an administrative assistant — you’re not going to get the most experienced in that case, but that doesn’t mean you can’t look for someone new but with great potential).

Here’s what to look for:

For an top agency: 1. Pinpoint the right editor. A top agency will have made major deals with many editors who publish books similar to yours. 2. Negotiate the best deal. A top agency will have a boilerplate contract that gives writers represented by them a good deal from the start. This agency will make the contract even better, if your book is sought after by more than one publisher. 3. Handle the thorns. A top agency has seen it all, and handled it all. However, because the agency may have a very strong publisher/editor relationship, that could mean a troublesome or underselling writer will be sacrificed to keep the publisher/editor relationship strong. This is why some new and mid-list authors are wary of signing on as a little fish in a big pond of a big agency. 4. Career planning advice. Again, experience makes the top agency more assured of the right path for a writer. This can become a problem if the writer disagrees, or cannot quickly achieve the career objectives set by the agency and the writer in the career planning discussion.

For a well-established agency: 1. Pinpoint the right editor A well established agency will have made multiple deals with many editors who publish books similar to yours. 2. Negotiate the best deal. A well-established agency will, like the top agency, have boilerplate contracts with many publishers that have some more favorable terms. They will be aware of how and when to push for more, but may not have the clout to get it all for a new writer (unless there is interest from more than one publisher). 3. Handle the thorns. A well-established agency has handled some of the more common thorns (deadline issues, getting payments expedited, dealing with disagreements about the revisions of the book between editor and writer). However, because the agency may have not yet been involved in high-level deals, the agency ability to handle some of these issues may not yet be proven. A poorly handled issue may blow up and hurt the writer’s relationship with the editor/publisher. 4. Career planning advice. Well established agencies can be the best place to find career planning advice. The agency itself has obviously benefited from the career planning of the agent(s) involved and has not yet grown into a top agency, where troublesome or underperforming writers need to be sacrificed for publisher relationships.

A new agent (few years in business, starting new agency): Pinpoint the right editor A new agent will have made at least three deals with more than one publisher who publishes books like yours. 2. Negotiate the best deal. A new agent will probably have a few favorable terms in her boilerplate with the publishers she has contracted with. She will need to negotiate hard to improve the agency boilerplate to the standard of a well-established agency, so ask what terms she thinks are critical and make sure they match your expectations. It is critical to know that the agency will get a literary attorney involved if your book is sought after by more than one publisher, in order to negotiate the best deal possible. 3. Handle the thorns. A new agency has seen enough to believe the agent(s) can handle the general thorns that crop up in the business. However, this agency probably has learned about the thorns but may not have handled any yet. Don’t be afraid to ask what the toughest issue the agent has had to deal with and how she handled it. This will give you an idea of the agent’s thorn-handling style. 4. Career planning advice. New agencies are begun by ambitious and confident agents. Career planning is important, but may be on a more “let’s see if this works” basis.

A fresh-out-of-the-slush-reading agent (junior agent): Pinpoint the right editor will name several potential editors for your book, and state how she will contact them (which a writer will not know if there is no offer of representation). 2. Negotiate the best deal. Sometimes a junior agent at a top agency can be the best bet for a writer with a great book. While the junior agent has less overall negotiation experience, the agency has deep resources and can easily swing them to bear on a promising contract negotiation. A junior agent at a midlist or new agency may not have the clout to make the contract more favorable. 3. Handle the thorns. A junior agent may have the resources of the agency to get advice on handling the thornier issues, but this is a personal skill that not everyone possesses. Don’t be afraid to ask the junior agent what was the thorniest issue she has ever heard of, and how she may have chosen to handle it. 4. Career planning advice. A junior agent may be just beginning her own phase of career planning. Ask questions about the agent’s career planning hopes, as well as her career planning expectations for her writers.

I know this was a long post. But, if you are going to hire an employee, you need to know what your job requirements are, and what you are in a position to hire (I’ve done secretarial work on and off for thirty years, you’re not going to get me for minimum wage, but I was happy to do minimum wage work when I started out, and I had mad skills even back then). You also have to be willing to say no to an offer of representation that will not serve your purposes (or accept that you can’t get everything you want with the first agent).

I, personally, don’t think that a writer-agent relationship is an employer-employee one, which is why next up is: Top “Truth” Number Eight: Your Agent, Your Partner.

Top “Truth” Number One
Top “Truth” Number Two
Top “Truth” Number Three
Top “Truth” Number Four
Top “Truth” Number Five
Top “Truth” Number Six