Agents: What Rachael, The Author, Should Do Next

Now that my friend Rachael has found a printer for her book, had a compelling cover done and has assigned ONE of her ten ISBN's that she bought from Bowker, she's ready for the next step.

As it stands right now, she can sell her book and it is hers. Because she bought her ISBN's from Bowker, (the only place one can get ISBN's. Lulu, Create Space and anyone else gets their ISBN's from Bowker) her book will AUTOMATICALLY show up on Amazon on-line and at Barnes & Noble on-line available through the publisher she set herself up as. That's what having an ISBN does for you so don't think it's really all that impressive. It isn't. Anyone, and I do mean anyone, can achieve this level of being published without an edit and with very little effort or money. A BIG difference from what it took to get PUBLISHED many moons ago.

Now Rachael needs distribution to be the type of published author she wants to become. This is where being self-published or traditionally published comes in and this is where Literary Agents come in.

Agents started popping up when larger publishing houses became inundated with MS's and didn't want to go through all of them. They closed their doors to submissions and told authors they only took submission from agents. Guess what? Each house only takes submission from certain agents and the larger publishing houses NEVER tell you who those agents are so now you get to search. And let me tell you, if you think looking for a needle in a haystack was fun, trying looking for an agent to submit your MS to your larger house of choice. IT AIN'T NEVER GONNA HAPPEN. But you can go that route if you want to. I made a couple of attempts myself just to say I did it. I even sent one off a couple of weeks ago. I decided when I got a lead on an agent that represented authors who wrote YA horror. I laid out to the agent what my stories had already done as far as awards etc . . . explained that I'd already been published, pointed them to places where they could see the impact of my stories . . . honestly, I just figured I wouldn't hear back but true to form I got a response. Here's what they said:

Dear Ms. Dent:

I'm not a good fit for your work. would suggest you try Lucienne Diver, at The Knight Agency. She has a good background in your type of material.

Cordially,

Barry Goldblatt Literary LLC

All in all not a bad response. In fact, it's a very typical response. This agent claims to represent YA authors though with a slant toward horror. They're not a good fit for my work? My type of material? Oh do tell what type of material that would be. LOL Now you see what I mean by finding that needle in a haystack. An agent isn't a publisher and you'll waste a lot of energy trying to find one and bottom line is they'll NEVER get you to a larger publisher. Most larger houses actually only get their authors from friends of other authors they already have etc . . . (Yes, that's just my opinion and of course anyone can challenge it but it is what it is.) I've enough responses from agents I've queried in my inbox to substantiate my opinion. Agents, like large publishers and the bookstores that support them, are a dying breed due to the way publishing has changed. An author doesn't need an agent anymore and that's all there is to that. And that's a very good thing since none of them will represent anyone anyway. Gee whiz, you'd think they'd want someone with a proven track record or any track record for that matter.

Put your energy somewhere else. I almost went to a writer's conference to speak with this agent. Can you imagine the money I would've put out just to hear the above response. And I won't bother submitting to the other agent they suggested either. Energy expansion complete on this small effort.

If you understand why Literary Agents came into being in the first place then you'll understand why you don't need one now. It's not a money waster because an author doesn't pay a legitimate agent to represent them, at least not up front. The agent will take part of the money the large publisher pays for your MS should the agent find a large publisher who is interested (which they most likely won't.)

So that's my take on agents and writer's conferences as well if you go there looking for an agent. Waste of energy and waste of money. Just send up an email query at least that rejection is free. ;D

Author Sue Dent, HELP!

Well for some reason I can NOT figure out some do come to me to ask, "How do I get where you are in publishing?"

Why anyone would WANT to be where I am in publishing, flat broke with no hope of making any money at all off my writring (zero sells for the past hmmm, oh I stopped counting) except for the books I sell myself which are few and far between, is BEYOND ME! But hey, misery loves company and the more the merrier. If you choose my lifestyle I'd be more than happy to tell you how to get here. Oh, it will all come out good in the end. ;D

Okay so here's the premise for a series of blogs, (I know I just won't shut up) about the BEST way to proceed if what you want is to be like me. And who wouldn't want that!

Here's the skinny:

Sue,

Because I know this is a LOADED question, not to mention you dedicate so much of your blog to it . . . but any thoughts on how to go about actually choosing a "good" way to self publish, such as who to choose to print the work, etc.?

Since my work is definitely not "christian" fiction in any way, I won't need to worry about all of the CBA nonsense, thankfully. But I obviously still want to choose a venue that will allow me to have some (if any) say over where my books can be shelved, although I don't have a particular aversion to trying out the "traditional" publishing route, I want to have a solid self publishing path in mind since it's so damn hard to get published in the first place!

I'm trying to do all of my research now so that when the edit is finished, I have some direction as to where to head next. ;) So any thoughts are welcome.

So there you have it. There is a LOT on my blog already but sometimes it helps to follow an author along. And since this author has listened and followed the first step, seeking and finding an excellent PROFESSIONAL editor and understanding that this is the biggest investment an author should make and not PAYING for advertising, then I think it would only be nice of me to tell her where I went next etc . . .

So follow Rachel and I along on Rachel's publishing journey and you will see that I do indeed know what I'm talking about whether anybody wants to HEAR it or not. ;D