Just spent an hour on the phone with an assistant to an agent (she called me)

[LisaGraceBooks]

If it's a decent size company with a track record as soon as they announce it will be buzzing all over Variety and Hollywood Reporter and you'll be very popular. Nothing gives a book a big bounce like a movie and everyone wants a slice of the pie.

You're right. I have Angel in the Ice, Book 3 almost ready to post. I need to get back to editing it. I'll just keep writing and wait and see for now.

[scslawin]

In my 35 years of experience in writing and publishing, I'll just say this: it used to be that agents and publishers worked to make an author's books a success. These days they only want to jump in and take a cut off the top of an opportunity that is already established.

You did all the work yourself. Be careful before you give away a chunk of your reward to anyone else without good cause.

[Andrew Dzeguze]

First I just want to say congratulations on getting this far.  Second, I would say that your experience flips the whole idea of agency on its head, and not in a good way.  An agent is supposed to work on your behalf, rather than having you define the approach and tasks to be undertaken.  It is a relationship of trust, and if your agent isn't on fire for your project then how can you be confident they are really working hard for you? You mentioned wanting someone to bounce ideas off of - but if they can't be bothered to even come up with a pitch for your work, how interested are they going to be in taking the time to work with you on ideas?

So I guess my two cents would be that you should only enlist an agent if you feel they are really working on your behalf, and not just trying to find the easiest way to earn a commission.  It doesn't sound like this agent, whatever their other credentials, is willing to make that effort for you.

[LisaGraceBooks]

In my 35 years of experience in writing and publishing, I'll just say this: it used to be that agents and publishers worked to make an author's books a success. These days they only want to jump in and take a cut off the top of an opportunity that is already established.

You did all the work yourself. Be careful before you give away a chunk of your reward to anyone else without good cause.

Thank you for the warning. I do have my entertainment lawyer, so at least I have that. What I wanted (boo-hoo) is someone who is excited about what I write, wants me to bounce idaes off them, tells me what I should work on next (I have so many ideas), and then fights to get me the best deals. Career guidance along with a career tiger.
As the Rolling Stones said, "You can't always get what you want."

[LisaGraceBooks]

First I just want to say congratulations on getting this far.  Second, I would say that your experience flips the whole idea of agency on its head, and not in a good way.  An agent is supposed to work on your behalf, rather than having you define the approach and tasks to be undertaken.  It is a relationship of trust, and if your agent isn't on fire for your project then how can you be confident they are really working hard for you? You mentioned wanting someone to bounce ideas off of - but if they can't be bothered to even come up with a pitch for your work, how interested are they going to be in taking the time to work with you on ideas?

So I guess my two cents would be that you should only enlist an agent if you feel they are really working on your behalf, and not just trying to find the easiest way to earn a commission.  It doesn't sound like this agent, whatever their other credentials, is willing to make that effort for you.

Yeah, that's what I thought. Which is why it was so frustrating to have them say at the end of the conversation, send us a marketing proposal with all your contacts, and hard copies of your books (we prefer paper), and though the agent isn't gung ho, we'll consider it.?

[CJArcher]

How exciting, Lisa, congratulations. Elaine is also an agent, so would she be willing to switch you over from her attorney books to her agent books if that's what you want?

[LisaGraceBooks]

How exciting, Lisa, congratulations. Elaine is also an agent, so would she be willing to switch you over from her attorney books to her agent books if that's what you want?

No. She doesn't rep the kind of books I write. Agents only rep books they like. YA supernaturals are not everyone's cup of tea.

[Michael Kingswood]

Hang on a second.  Have I got this right?  You did all the legwork, wrote a kick-*ss book, got a movie producer to make it into a movie.  And now some agent wants to come in and dictate to you how to go about doing your business?

Not just no.  HELL no.

Option C.


But then I'm a "screw you, this is my show" kind of guy.

[LisaGraceBooks]

Hang on a second.  Have I got this right?  You did all the legwork, wrote a kick-*ss book, got a movie producer to make it into a movie.  And now some agent wants to come in and dictate to you how to go about doing your business?

Not just no.  HELL no.

Option C.
But then I'm a "screw you, this is my show" kind of guy.

LOL. I think after having a bunch of author's thoughts expressed in this thread, I have a right to feel put out about the amount of hoops they want me to jump through. Not only that, but then I'd have to jump through them again for the publishers. I may as well save myself some jumping, I don't want to pull a muscle. if they had expressed, "we love your books, we love you, we see how this can work" maybe I'd feel differently. But they've never read the books, want me to mail them hard copies, explain what it is about, and "though you're not a genre we normally rep; we'll consider it"--well, that makes me feel--not special.

[Deanna Chase]

Lisa,
I guess I'm wondering if you've researched and queried agents (since you've listed the reasons you want one). It sounds like the one you're talking to sought you out, but isn't interested in your career, only the payout of this movie/book. If I were you, I'd hold out for someone better. Having an agent who isn't interested in furthering your career is worse than not having one at all.

[LisaGraceBooks]

Deanne,
Yes. I queried and sent out requested marketing proposals to several before giving up and deciding to go the eBook route. I've also met with agents at conferences who have expressed an interest, but I think their world is in so much turmoil with smaller advances and print runs for their exsisting clients, that they don't know what to do with new authors.

[Rebecca Burke]

Congrats on having this problem! Seriously.

I can tell you from experience that having an agent who isn't "in love" with your work or genre is a godawful experience. Please don't even think about entering into a relationship with someone who's supposed to be your biggest cheerleader but who is already showing such disrespect for you and your project. Why is the agent handing you off to an assistant at this stage instead of wooing you?

Lots of clues that this would be a stressful relationship with someone who is highhanded and reluctant to make your project a priority. If the #1 attribute for a good agent is enthusiasm, this person has already flunked.

Been there. Don't waste your time! (Now ask me what I really think, heh.)

[LisaGraceBooks]

Congrats on having this problem! Seriously.

I can tell you from experience that having an agent who isn't "in love" with your work or genre is a godawful experience. Please don't even think about entering into a relationship with someone who's supposed to be your biggest cheerleader but who is already showing such disrespect for you and your project. Why is the agent handing you off to an assistant at this stage instead of wooing you?

Lots of clues that this would be a stressful relationship with someone who is highhanded and reluctant to make your project a priority. If the #1 attribute for a good agent is enthusiasm, this person has already flunked.

Been there. Don't waste your time! (Now ask me what I really think, heh.)

Rebecca--That's the feeling I get too. On the other hand, the movie producer read my books before he contacted me, and even asks questions about what is happening to the characters in Book 3 (which will be out soon). What a difference! Enthusiasm for the project makes all the difference.

I also want someone who is interested in my next three projects, and they don't seem to be interested in future works at all. I think it's best if I just say, "Thanks, but no thanks."

[Gutman]

A good problem.

Lawyer, lawyer, lawyer!  I agree.

I spent my career in Hollywood and always liked my agents, but...

I'll pass on advice once given to me by a dear friend:

"Even if you see them kneeling down in church, remember:
they're still agents."

Good luck!

[LisaGraceBooks]

A good problem.

Lawyer, lawyer, lawyer!  I agree.

I spent my career in Hollywood and always liked my agents, but...

I'll pass on advice once given to me by a dear friend:

"Even if you see them kneeling down in church, remember:
they're still agents."

Good luck!

LOL, so far in the agents vs. lawyers poll, the lawyers are winning.

[Sophrosyne]

Are you looking for an agent to handle your books? Or your movie deals?

IME, your strongest position is going to be when agents are coming to you, rather than forcing you to jump through hoops to go to them.

Wait until your movie deal is announced. And then you can field offers from agents who are seeing dollar signs around your name, instead of having to jump through hoops to get them to read your work.

But, it could just be me. Coming from Hollywood, out here it's all about managers and lawyers. Agents only enter the picture when you have a deal on the table that needs to be negotiated and they see fast & easy money plastered all over your name. Managers work their butts off to get you jobs, and lawyers can negotiate for a flat fee and make agents irrelevant, especially as you climb the ladder.

Where agents really come in handy is in packaging (and negotiating, if you don't have an attorney), in the world I live in. So I'm a little jaded about them. But I know it's very different in the book world.

[Deanna Chase]

Deanne,
Yes. I queried and sent out requested marketing proposals to several before giving up and deciding to go the eBook route. I've also met with agents at conferences who have expressed an interest, but I think their world is in so much turmoil with smaller advances and print runs for their exsisting clients, that they don't know what to do with new authors.

I'm thinking now that you have interest from publishers and a movie deal that is going into preproduction, if it were me, I'd go back to the agents I really wanted or liked and see if I could open a conversation. That is, if you really want an agent. You are playing from a better position now than you were when you queried before you e-published. Just the fact that you have interest from publishers should get doors opened. Or you can wait and see what happens.

[Decon]

Shhh.  Cool your jets.  Everything will be all right.  I've been through all that meshugas, and it's a lot of folks hoping to get a free ride on your coattails.  Wait until your movie deal is announced.  Then run all proposals through your lawyer.  Only work with big, established publishers.  Don't let their eagerness/greediness/frenetic behavior throw you off.  You hold the cards.  Let them do the work.  Do not let them waste your time.  Be polite and ask them to email a proposal.   Don't look at it, but immediately send to your lawyer.  If nothing presents itself, self-publish.  When you have this kind of ready market, self-publishing really can pay off.  Meanwhile, build your base through twitter.  Don't let the bastards get your down.

These are my sentiments. How long does it take to make a film? at least as long as it takes to get a trad book into the stores. Wait until it is signed, delivered and announced. Scream it from the rooftops, send a mass mailshot to publishers (not agents) and direct everyone who is interested speak to your attorney. 200k--no way, unless it was pocket change.

[LisaGraceBooks]

Are you looking for an agent to handle your books? Or your movie deals?

IME, your strongest position is going to be when agents are coming to you, rather than forcing you to jump through hoops to go to them.

Wait until your movie deal is announced. And then you can field offers from agents who are seeing dollar signs around your name, instead of having to jump through hoops to get them to read your work.

But, it could just be me. Coming from Hollywood, out here it's all about managers and lawyers. Agents only enter the picture when you have a deal on the table that needs to be negotiated and they see fast & easy money plastered all over your name. Managers work their butts off to get you jobs, and lawyers can negotiate for a flat fee and make agents irrelevant, especially as you climb the ladder.

Where agents really come in handy is in packaging (and negotiating, if you don't have an attorney), in the world I live in. So I'm a little jaded about them. But I know it's very different in the book world.

LOL, I couldn't find an agent in time to handle the movie deal, so I hired the ET lawyer myself. She did a great job.
I (needy me) wanted an agent who loves YA so I had someone I could bounce ideas off of, help me to improve my writing, and offer career advice. For instance, I have five projects right now that I've started and when I get the third in my angel saga up, I want to take a break and finish one of the others. Another is heavy on the angel/demon thing with a college age protag and a twist, the other follows a fifteen year old, has supernatural elements, and is more of a dystopian-end of the world thing. In  my eyes they're both fantastic.
I just always had a "dream" that agents weren't vampires, but more like managers, I guess.

[Krista D. Ball]

LOL, so far in the agents vs. lawyers poll, the lawyers are winning.

The only problem with the lawyers is that I'm not certain they can get your book with the movie post cover into bookstores for when the movie comes out 

Then again, I'm not sure if I'm certain agents can do that, either.

[altworld]

Question why would you be giving this Agent the time of day? Appearing after your book has got a movie deal and then expecting to nothing more than facilitate a deal that you've already worked on? Especially since that Agent doesn't normally even represent your type of work? Sound like the Agent has an old school let the Author crawl through broken glass approach and my question would be what can you do for me, not the other way around.

There are ways and means of getting the work into stores yourself, and frankly right now I would work more with your Lawyer than an Agent who only appeared once the money did.

[Gutman]

And yeah, the flat fee thing is another reason to like a lawyer in your circumstances.  They can get the job done for you.

[LisaGraceBooks]

Question why would you be giving this Agent the time of day? Appearing after your book has got a movie deal and then expecting to nothing more than facilitate a deal that you've already worked on? Especially since that Agent doesn't normally even represent your type of work? Sound like the Agent has an old school let the Author crawl through broken glass approach and my question would be what can you do for me, not the other way around.

There are ways and means of getting the work into stores yourself, and frankly right now I would work more with your Lawyer than an Agent who only appeared once the money did.

And yeah, the flat fee thing is another reason to like a lawyer in your circumstances.  They can get the job done for you.

When she made the appointment to call me--I assumed they had read my books and liked them, and the tone of the conversation would be a lot different than it was. The movie producer had read my books and loved them, so I figured that was what I would be getting. I didn't find out until the middle of the conversation, that that wasn't the case. Only towards the end did I get the, "Send us a marketing proposal and we'll see if we're interested". That's why I was frustrated.

I'm leaning towards waiting and having my lawyer put an ad in the major trade rag and see if she gets any interest from publishers. At this point I don't think I want to talk to any agent who hasn't bothered to read my books.

[ThomasSandman]

In my 35 years of experience in writing and publishing, I'll just say this: it used to be that agents and publishers worked to make an author's books a success. These days they only want to jump in and take a cut off the top of an opportunity that is already established.

You did all the work yourself. Be careful before you give away a chunk of your reward to anyone else without good cause.

this^^

[LisaGraceBooks]

Thanks ThomasSandman

I've decided at this point, I'll have my ET lawyer take bids once the production company sends out its press releases. I think I'll sign directly with a publishing company without using an agent. I just don't seem to be in the "club". That's okay. As long as I'm getting deals mailed or emailed to me directly from the sources, I'll be okay.