Agent Expectations

My earlier post on the agent as editor garnered some questions outside the blog about what agents should do writ large. What can writers expect of their agents? What’s reasonable? What’s not?

Some of the expectations are quantifiable. Some aren’t. Let’s start with the easy ones:

1.) Your agent should sell your work. First and foremost, an agent’s job is to represent your book to a market of potential buyers. Ultimately, your agent should garner you a book deal. They should negotiate favorable terms for you at a publishing house that will, ideally, take an interest in not just this book but your entire literary career. The agent should accept payment for their services after the book is sold, not before.

2.) Your agent should communicate with you. This is especially important because expectation number one is not always smooth sailing. Not by a long shot. In which case, your agent needs to talk to you about what’s going on. They need to let you know how many publishers they submitted it to, what the backup plan is, and ideally if they’ll help you edit and then resubmit. You will have many, many questions about all these things. Your agent should be able to answer them within a reasonable time-frame.

When numbers one and two above aren’t working, that’s when things can get dicey. Concerns raised at that point will all point to one question: Is the agent invested in me as a writer?  Ideally, the answer is yes — again, not just for the book the agent holds in their hands right at that moment, but for all their client’s books down the road.

Writers might feel like their agent is not invested when, for example, they go long stretches without hearing from them. Or, perhaps, when a writer is getting the short end of the stick from a publishing house and the agent isn’t wading in to help.

The Fiction Writers blog offers these warning signs pointing to a maybe-it’s-not-working scenario. They also offer tips on firing your agent if it comes to that, advocating an amicable and professional end.

Of course, the flip side of the coin is that agents can’t do too much hand holding. If you expect your agent to spend an hour with you on the phone every day, your agent isn’t going to have any time to sell your manuscript or help build your career.

I have been very fortunate in my agent experience, but I know many writers who haven’t. Have you had a positive or negative experience with an agent? Please feel free to share in the comments — I’d love to hear from you!

[Image source: Jemima's Journal]