Susan Spann

For many writers, the author-agent relationship is confusing, and even frightening. Sometimes, authors forget that agents are people (just like us) instead of literary krakens who feed on authors’ hopes and dreams.

The author-agent relationship is a partnership. Like any business arrangement, it can lead to great success or crater into the ground at breakneck speed. However, an author can improve the odds of success by careful planning and proper choices along the way.

This summer, my guest posts here at Writers in the Storm will examine the agency relationship and offer concrete advice for writers seeking representation as well as those already working with agents. We’ll look at when to sign, when to ask questions … and when to release the kraken and seek shelter in calmer waters.

The first, and most important, part of creating a healthy author-agent partnership is finding an agent who matches your business needs and personal style.

The right agent match will complement the author on three important levels:

• Personality
• Business and Professional Habits.
• Expectations for the Agency Relationship

Lack of a match in any area causes frustration and tension on both sides. If the match is bad enough, the “breakup” can be messy and even result in litigation.

The key is trying to find the right match from the very beginning—something a surprising number of authors overlook in the agent search. Today, we’ll examine the first two categories of author-agent matching. (Next month I’ll return for a look at the third.)

PERSONALITY

Successful business partnerships are based on mutual appreciation and respect, as well as complementary personalities. If you don’t like your agent as a person, odds are you won’t work well together. A personality match does not require (or necessarily lead to) friendship outside the partnership. You and your agent don’t need to share hobbies or preferences—aside from a love for the kind of books you write. In fact, complimentary qualities often strengthen a partnership. However, it is vital that you respect one another as people and as professionals.

This is a business partnership, so don’t expect it to become too personal. Some authors form friendships with their agents; others remain on more professional terms throughout the partnership. By observing the way agents interact in public and on social media, you can learn a lot about the manner in which the agent relates to clients. Query the agents with whom you think you have a personality match.

Short form: if you think an agent’s a jerk (s)he’s probably not the one for you. And that’s okay. You get to make that decision. But do your research ahead of time, and don’t waste effort querying agents whose personalities clash with yours.

BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONAL HABITS

This refers to the way the agent—and the author—conduct their respective businesses.

At a minimum, your agent should behave in accordance with industry standards. This means:

1. Not charging the author for reading fees or anything else except appropriate, percentage-based commissions earned on contracts the agent negotiates. This is non-negotiable. Reputable agents don’t charge fees and don’t require authors to pay directly for services rendered (including editing). Writer beware!
2. Acting professionally in public and on social media. Investigate the way an agent behaves in public forums. Use the Internet. Go to conferences. Talk to other writers. Look at the agent’s website, social media pages, and interviews. Ask yourself if this is someone you want to represent you.

Remember: agents are people, and no one is perfect, but you want an agent who shows professionalism in business settings.

Note: the agent will expect the same of you—as well (s)he should. Make sure your social media and other public interactions look professional too.

3. Compliance with the agent’s stated procedures for handling queries (and correspondence). Standards differ. Some agents respond to all queries and state their response times in public. Others don’t. As long as the standards are reasonable, and complied with, the agent has the right to choose the manner in which (s)he does business.

Authors have opinions on each of these topics, and your opinion is relevant to your choices. If you think an agent should answer all queries, you’re not a match for an agent whose policy is “no answer means no.” You may prefer an agent who is (or isn’t) active on social media. That’s okay. It doesn’t make the agent’s policy “wrong” or inappropriate, as long as the agent is behaving professionally – it simply means that you and the agent aren’t a match on those points. Is that enough to pass on querying? Sure, if you feel strongly enough about it.

The key is remembering that the choice is yours to make—but only for your own career. Your dream agent might not suit another author, or vice versa, but there’s an agent match for everyone.

When evaluating agents, consider the following factors also:

Does the agent represent the type of books you write? Too many authors chase a famous agent for his or her name (and fame) alone instead of researching what the agent represents. Don’t be an Ahab, chasing a whale for the sake of fame (or vengeance).

How (and how quickly) does the agent communicate? You may not be able to learn about this before you query, but this should be high on your list of talking points when you get “the call” or an offer of representation. (Next month’s post will focus more on the other talking points for this conversation.)

If you prefer the telephone but your agent works through email (or the opposite), you’ll probably find the relationship unsatisfactory in the long run. You’re not the agent’s only client, and can’t expect the agent to change the way (s)he operates for you. However, it’s important to work with an agent whose methods match your—reasonable—needs.

Some agents respond to clients quickly. Others may take weeks to answer non-critical inquiries. You can’t expect your agent to jump whenever you snap your fingers (not even after you reach bestseller status) but you should try to work with an agent whose responsiveness meets your professional expectations.

Make sure your expectations are reasonable, given industry standards—and then find an agent who matches as many as possible.

Your agent should not be neglectful, or rude, or treat you like an inferior—but neither should you expect him (or her) to show up on your doorstep with a unicorn and a check for a million dollars. Look at your expectations (talk to a published author friend, if you can) and make sure you’re being reasonable, by industry standards.

There are plenty of other questions to ask of yourself and your future agent. We’ll look at more of them in next month’s post.

For now, remember: the author-agent relationship is a partnership, not a one-way street. It functions best when authors and agents have similar business habits, complimentary personalities, and compatible professional goals.

What’s most important to you in an agent? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comment section! 

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About Susan

Susan Spann writes the Shinobi Mysteries, featuring ninja detective Hiro Hattori and his Portuguese Jesuit sidekick, Father Mateo. Her debut novel, CLAWS OF THE CAT (Minotaur Books, 2013), was named a Library Journal Mystery Debut of the Month. The second Shinobi Mystery, BLADE OF THE SAMURAI, releases on July 15, 2014. Susan is also a transactional attorney whose practice focuses on publishing law and business. When not writing or practicing law, she raises seahorses and rare corals in her marine aquarium. You can find her online at her website, http://www.SusanSpann.com, and on Twitter (@SusanSpann).

 

 

@OrlyKonigLopez

Show of hands … who’s had a recent stare-down with your computer, muttered politically incorrect things at the blinking cursor and blank page, then proceeded to clean the toilet, weed the garden and the neighbor’s garden, fill the car with all those boxes collecting in the garage for the past year and driven them to the dump, read and filed emails from two years ago, just to avoid writing?

Not judging … come on. :-)

Come on … I can’t be the only one! Can I?

*Clearing throat*  Well alrighty then … Moving right along.

Life and other priorities have sucked up much of my writing time lately. Okay, okay, I’ve let them suck up much of my writing motivation lately. Sometimes it’s just easier to clean toilets or answer emails than to make myself sit and write.

Maybe it’s years in the corporate world where deadlines drove every minute of my day, but I do better with external motivators. Here are a few tricks I use to get the writing done (and no, super-gluing my behind to the chair isn’t one of them):

1. Setting a deadline.

When I first sit to write on a new project, I don’t necessarily have a deadline in mind. But as soon as the story takes hold, I need to corral the loosey-goosey pantser writer that I am by putting some structure on what I’m doing.

There are any number of ways to come up with a deadline. Look for contests that you’d like to enter and set the opening of submissions as your target date. Or if you’re looking at querying agents with that manuscript, give yourself a deadline to have a polished manuscript done by a set time—perhaps before the post NaNo crunch, or before/after the holidays, or a respectable time before or after a large conference so that your manuscript doesn’t land in the post-conference frenzy.

Set a realistic deadline. Don’t expect to write and polish an 80,000-word manuscript in two months. That’s not to say that some people can’t do it, but the majority of us could use a bit extra time. Build in time for critiques and beta reads, give yourself a couple of weeks between drafts and before submitting to gain some distance.

2. Accountability partners.

I have two writing buddies I check in with regularly. Sometimes it’s a daily “are you writing today” or a “I accomplished this today, how did you do.” Some days it’s talking one or the other of us off a ledge or commiserating over bad writing, dirty toilets, cats with hairballs.

When I flip on the computer first thing in the morning, that’s the email I’m looking for. And when one of their emails or texts pop up during the day, it’s almost as good as a double espresso. ;-)

3. Joining a group challenge.

I love challenges. The extra push of being in the trenches with others is a nice little motivator. A few I’ve participated in:

• NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) for those who can crank through 50k during November
• Camp NaNoWriMo is a more open ended version, with sessions in April and July and word-count goals between 10,000 and 1,000,000.
• PiBoIdMo (Picture Book Idea Month) also takes place in November and is geared for picture book writers who want to build up a collection of ideas.
• The Women’s Fiction Writers Association puts on a Write-A-Thin challenge for members in January. Though the focus is on editing (hence the “thin” part), all goals are welcome and encouraged.

If you’ve been part of a group challenge that’s not listed here, please add it in the comments!

Another option is, of course, to create your own challenge. As part of the Power Writing Hour, Jamie has been cheerleading the group with several challenges recently. May was for creating a writing habit. June is one of my favorites—by far—the Finish Something Month. Oh baby do I need to finish a few things! The support and enthusiasm of these groups keeps my motivated even when it feels like someone has their finger over my snorkel.

[Note: if you didn’t read Jamie’s post on Monday about online writing communities, you can find it here. They are great motivators!!]

It doesn’t have to be a large group either. You can put out a challenge for your critique group.

4. Reminders, reminders, reminders.

I keep a sticky note above the computer with my target dates. First draft done by such-and-such date, first round of revisions done a month later, beta read or another round of revisions X amount of time after, final revision and polished manuscript on this date.

Once I have those deadlines, I print out calendar pages and mark what word count should look like in order to meet my goal. Doesn’t mean I always hit that mark, but it keeps me focused on moving forward. Even if I’ve fallen a bit behind on word count, there’s usually a section of the book that flows faster and I catch up. That calendar stays on my desk, in plain sight. Seeing the word count goal each day when I sit to write is a great motivator.

Play around with one or two or even all four of these. You might find a combination that helps you stay focused on the end goal of a finished, polished manuscript.

Your turn ... what’s worked for you?

About Orly

After years of pushing the creativity boundary in corporate communications, Orly decided it was time for a new challenge. Three women’s fiction manuscripts later (plus a handful of picture books), it’s safe to say she’s found her creative outlet.  When she’s not talking to her imaginary friends, she’s reading or at least trying to ignore everyone around her long enough to finish “just one more paragraph.” Orly is the founding president of the Women’s Fiction Writers Association.

You can find her on Twitter at @OrlyKonigLopez or on her website, www.orlykoniglopez.com.

Jamie Raintree

When I first started dabbling in writing almost a decade ago, the Internet was only just starting to become social. There was no Facebook, no Twitter, no YouTube. Even MySpace was still a place for musicians and high school kids, and I was neither by the time it gained mainstream popularity. The problem was, as any first time writer knows, what I needed most in the beginning was someone to talk to about my dream. Do regular people do this kind of thing or just the Published Author Gods? Was this dribble any good? Where could I find out more information about how to take my writing to the next level? None of this was readily available to me without extensive Google searches, and even that wasn't enough. Writers hadn't yet taken to the web.

But if you build it, they will come. Right? That's what I hoped. I started a small community on good ol' Proboards.com called Writerz Bloque (see how clever I was?), where I posted some of my short stories for feedback. I can't remember now if anyone visited--ever--but I got a taste for creating a space where people could come together and talk about common interests. I created more forums that eventually grew in size as I learned what visitors needed and how to provide it for them. I joined the MySpace craze where I learned how to blog and fell into the blogging community as I garnered reads of ranking numbers. And I finally got in touch with "my people" on WritersCafe.org. I reached out to those with specific community desires everywhere I went and 10 years later, I lead a writing goals group on Facebook and Twitter in a battle against the blank page, and I've met some incredible people along the way.

 

Starting a Community

Starting a writing community of your own is fun for a few reasons. First, it gives you the opportunity to connect with a very specific group of people who are interested in accomplishing the same goals as you. Second, it's so rewarding to watch your group flourish and to cheer each other on (Lots of virtual pom poms and hugs! Sometimes, virtual cookies and wine). And third, you make friends for life.

But how do you create such a space? It's not as complicated as it seems.

1. Understand Your Group. Who are your people? Who are you targeting? What do you have in common? And what is your goal? Just like writing, the more specific and niche you make your group, the more successful it can be. People are looking for writers like you, just as you're looking for them.

2. Establish Your Guidelines. Part of being a leader is keeping your group on track. You don't want to lead with an iron fist, but no structure at all will lead the group off course and will eventually lead people away. Go for guidelines rather than rules (your take on self-promotion seems to be the most prevalent and necessary guideline) and be prepared to kindly enforce them when necessary. Those who are there for the right reasons will thank you.

3. Invite People In. Get in touch with people you know who will be interested in your group and ask them to reach out to their friends as well. Gently promoting on Facebook and Twitter is another great way to find members. #amwriting on Twitter is a favorite way to meet new writers.

 

Choosing a Format

You can build a community on almost every social network currently available if you get creative. I've found, however, that the most popular networks already provide easy ways to create your space, and to reach out to potential members.

- Facebook Groups have an awesome forum format and since everyone is already on Facebook, you're more likely to see more activity on a regular basis there. Send me a request at Power Writing Hour to check out my goals group and to get ideas for your own.

- Twitter Hashtags can bring people together, though they can take some time to get off the ground. You can also create a specific profile for you group to gather followers. @FriNightWrites does this well with the #writeclub hashtag. I also use the #powerwritinghour hashtag there.

- Google Plus has Communities and video conferences with Google Hangouts.

- Goodreads allows you to tap into the reading community, which is naturally filled with writers.

- Yahoo Groups is a great option for those who prefer email format to the online forum format.

 

Making Your Group Successful

Simply making a place to congregate, though, is only the first step. To see your group blossom, remember these few tips:

1. You only get out as much as you put in. If you set up a group and don't show up again, or don't check in on a regular basis, your group will die out. You are the leader and the glue. You're the one who will keep people excited to be there.

2. Stick to your established setup. Once you decide on your topic, goals, and guidelines, members will appreciate knowing what to expect when they visit. That's what they signed up for.

3. But also listen to your members and grow with them. Often what you start out with will be a small idea and you will need to build on it as your group expands. Your members will have great suggestions for filling the gaps in the group's needs. Take them into consideration. They are the reason you started your community, after all.

They say that the writing life is a lonely one, but as technology advances, that becomes less and less true. Starting an online writing community can seem intimidating, but in reality you can have a fully functioning online space in less than an hour that will inspire and encourage you for years to come. The effort is more than worth the reward.

Which online writing groups are you a member of? Do you have an idea for an online community? Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments and I'll be happy to give you some suggestions on how to get started!

 

Jamie Raintree writes Women's Fiction about women searching for truth in life and love. She is currently working with her agent on revisions of her first novel. In the meantime, she posts original fiction online, tips for writers, and motivational blogs and videos for all the other dreamers out there. She lives in Northern Colorado with her husband and two young daughters and is a Workshop Coordinator for the Women's Fiction Writers Association. Read more like this at http://jamieraintree.com.