So it’s mid September, and Folio has officially been in business for nine – count ‘em – NINE months now. The baby is BORN. We calculated that we’ve sold somewhere around seventy (yes, count ‘em, SEVENTY, that’s 7 – 0) books by now. I’m feeling a little like I’m taking a triceratops for a walk – the beast is a benign herbivore, surely, but also a living tank that’s trundling along whether I want it to or not. Quite cool. One of the things we need to do, of course, is start listing those deals on www.publishersmarketplace.com – but we all seem to be running around too much to list all of ‘em. More important – at least to me – is that the bookshelves in the office are finally up, and look fabulous. Books are already stacked two-deep, which strikes me as only right and proper in a literary agency.
Natalie asked me to talk this month about Scam Agents – how to tell a “real” agent from an agent who isn’t (i.e., someone who’s made out of plastic, cement, or – if they’re the good ones – cubic zirconium). So here’s my two-cents’ worth.
A Primer On Literary Agents.
The first thing you need to understand is what a literary agent is. We are not, contrary to popular belief, real estate agents or sports agents or cleaning agents (although, at times, we feel like a combination of all three). Literary agents license the intellectual property rights to your written (in most cases) intellectual property to a variety of licensors – or, in common speech, we find people to “buy” the rights to your book. Once we sell the rights to the book, we can sell a variety of subsidiary rights – audio rights, for example; or foreign rights, or television rights, or musical rights (Golly, that sounds pretty boring. It’s actually pretty fun [which goes to show how little you can trust the written word these days].).
When we sell rights to your project, the licensor (i.e., the publisher, or studio, or production company, etc.) pays you, in care of us – we put the money in an escrow account, take out an agreed-upon percentage (usually 15% for starters, but it really depends on the rights), and write you a check for the rest. That’s how we get paid – we don’t make a dime until you do.
All this sounds very impressive, but keep in mind that the most important criterion for becoming a literary agent is the wannabe-agent’s ability to spell. Yes, that’s right – spell. In order to become a literary agent, the wannabe needs to be able to write the following letters in order: A-G-E-N-T. If the person can sequence these letters, the person can be, by definition, a literary agent. (A bit scary, yes?) There’s no test or certification course to pass; you don’t have to study for seven years and do a residency and internship, and you’re not called before the thesis review board to be asked such questions as, “What is a Narrative Arc?” and “Define a standard hardcover royalty structure, with escalators.”
Before I go on, I absolutely must defend myself and my colleagues. Most of this industry – the people on this side of the desk, who reject your manuscript in a variety of pleasant-sounding form-letter flavors – are incredibly nice, amazingly hardworking, and truly dedicated people. We do this job because we love it: because we love to read; because we love – and believe in – writers and writer’s careers; because we want to be a part of the creative process, and because we know there’s nothing quite the like the feeling of making that call to a first-time author to tell her that a publisher wants to publish the novel she’s labored over for the past ten years. This is a completely heart job – we do it because we want to do it. It might be more lucrative to be a real estate agent, or a shoe salesman, or a corporate attorney, but we (misguided souls that we are) take a different path – reading through piles of unsolicited manuscripts, rejecting authors and being rejected in turn by publishers. The only way to do this job is to love it.
That said, there are a lot of people who are doing their job for what I’d like to think of as the wrong reason – bilking writers out of money, pride, dreams. Imagine, dear reader, an unregulated industry paired with the complete and total desperation of many first-time writers, and you can imagine the scams that can ooze from the Ersatz Literary Agency’s miasma.
Welcome To The Ersatz Literary Agency.
So what is a scam agency? They come in a variety of flavors and colors – and unfortunately I probably don’t know even half the forms they take (my job, as I said, is selling books – I don’t police the literary agency world). But I suspect that most of them have similar bills of fare.
Understand this: The Ersatz Literary Agency is not interested in selling your book to a reputable publisher. They often make their money in other ways – charging certain fees, or referring you to different services (editing, book-doctoring, etc.) within their organization (and you may not be aware that it is within their organization). They eat up your money, your time, and your dreams, and when all’s said and done you’re not any closer to getting your book published by a reputable publishing house than when you signed up with them.
Recognizing a Scammer.
So the question becomes: how do you distinguish between a Genuine Literary Agent and a Genuine Fake one? Here are a few thoughts.
1. AAR. Many reputable literary agents belong to the Association of Authors Representatives (www.aar-online.org). Not all of ‘em do – a lot of fabulous agents don’t – but many are members. The AAR has a solid application process – the applicant has to get recommendations from other agents and editors; has to sell a certain amount of books; and has to agree to abide by a cannon of ethics, for example. If the agent you’re considering doesn’t belong to the AAR, don’t panic, but do ask them why they don’t belong, and if they abide by the AAR’s canon of ethics (you can get a copy of these on the AAR’s website).
2. Location. There’s a myth that all reputable literary agents have to be in New York. Let me repeat here: this is a complete and ridiculous myth – agents lurk in most states. However, an agent doing business today definitely needs access to a telephone and regular mail services, so if your prospective agent resides deep in the African bush with only intermittent access to a telephone and no email access at all, that may be a warning sign that something’s amiss. If the agent isn’t in New York, find out if they go there regularly – how they maintain contact with editors and so forth. Under no condition, though, should you let geography be the deciding factor in your decision on whether to go with a particular agent. I’m thinking of a couple of agents who are absolutely and completely fabulous, who regularly do very big and very nice deals for their clients – one’s in Denver and the other’s in Austin. To get either of them to represent you would be a godsend. But they make regular trips to New York, and have very close ties with the publishing community. The Ersatz Literary Agency doesn’t have those ties. So, you ask, how do you find out if your prospective agency has these ties? Ask them. Ask them how regularly they go to New York, whether they attend any of the other major bookfairs (London, Frankfurt, BEA, etc.)
3. Fee Charging. As I said above, the Ersatz Agency doesn’t make money from selling your books, so they have to make it up in other ways. They may charge a variety of fees – “marketing fees,” or “editing fees,” or other such creative terms. These are the guys to avoid, period. That said, though, many literary agents ask to be reimbursed for their out-of-pocket expenses – courier fees, or mailing fees, or long distance phone calls, or copying costs. There’s nothing wrong with that, as long as they make it clear up front that you’ll be responsible for those charges. If they do ask you to reimburse you for their expenses, make sure that those expenses are billed after the agent has incurred the cost – they can send you an itemized list of expenses, or the actual receipts, or whatever you two work out: the point is that you’re reimbursing them for money they’ve spent on your behalf, and the money’s not just going into their pocket to make them rich. Keep in mind that the agent earns money when you do.
4. Lack of Client Lists. Agents that post their services online will often talk a good game, and sound pretty impressive, but they don’t list what books they’ve sold, and to whom they’ve sold them. That in itself is fine; many agents – especially agents who’ve been around since the Dark Ages (i.e., since before the Internet) feel that the spotlight should remain on the author, not on the agent. But if the agent doesn’t list his clients, ask him to send you a list of a few of them, privately. Ask him if he’ll put you in touch with a couple of them as referrals. If he won’t provide this information (“Sorry, all of this is confidential.”), run – don’t walk – to the nearest exit. It’s true, though, that there are a lot of well-intentioned young agents starting out who simply might not have a client list – all I can say is that those folk are definitely out there, and may be fabulous to work for, but do your best to ascertain that they’re reputable, credible, well-intentioned people. And assure yourself (as in #2, above) that they have real access to the publishing community.
5. Lack of Positive Internet Coverage. Let’s face it, you writers are a chatty bunch. You’re always talking about us poor beleaguered agents. So go online and search us out – there will almost always be mention of us, bad or good. A few good sites include: Preditors & Editors, http://www.anotherealm.com/prededitors/ , Writer Beware: http://www.sfwa.org/beware/, and Absolute Write Water Cooler: http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/.
The Quasi-Ersatz Agency.
Keep in mind that some agencies may not rise to the level of true Ersatz Agencies – but they may more harmful than helpful to your career. They might, for example, not send your material out as promised; or may send it out in a less-than-stellar condition. Or they might be the kind of agent that editors prefer not to do business with. It’s very difficult to assess this from your position, I know; but there are three quick assessments you can perform that may help weed out this group.
1. Client List. Again, look at that client list. Have they represented similar books to yours? (if you’re writing a mystery novel, have they sold other mysteries? If you’re writing serious nonfiction, have they sold this kind of thing?) Do a vast percentage of their books seem to go to the same publishing house – which may be a publishing house you’ve never heard of, or one which pays very low advances and has a poor or nonexistent marketing, PR, and/or sales force? (if you don’t know this, search ‘em out on the internet.) If you’ve answered “yes” to any of these questions, ask the agency to refer you to a couple of clients and get their opinions.
2. www.publishersmarketplace.com. It’s worth subscribing to this new bible of the publishing industry – you can do it on a month-by-month basis. Among its other many worthwhile services, it has a section on the site that lists publishing deals. It’s completely easy to search the database and see if your agent has listed any deals there – and if so, to whom did they sell the book, and how much did they sell it for. Keep in mind, though, that publisher’s marketplace isn’t infallible: a lot of agents don’t post all of their deals on-line (I know that I don’t), so it’s not an infallible source by any means. Cross-check your findings against www.publishersweekly.com – this is the other bible of the publishing industry, and just as useful. Another really fabulous site is Bill Martin’s www.agentresearch.net. I’m sure there are a million other great sites, including Natalie’s, of course, but I really don’t follow this stuff all that closely.
3. Literary Agents Guides. Your library will certainly possess a few of the published literary agent guides now available. Check to see if your agent is listed there; they do try to provide current, accurate information. Some of the best include Literary Marketplace, Writer’s Digest Guide to Literary Agents, and Jeff Herman’s Guide to Literary Agents.
Well, that should keep you busy for a while, I guess. So I’ll call it quits for this month, with just one caveat – if there’s a particular topic that you’d really like to see me cover, shoot me a quick email (jkleinman (at) foliolit (dot) com), and maybe it’ll be fodder for a future rant.
Natalie asked me to talk this month about Scam Agents – how to tell a “real” agent from an agent who isn’t (i.e., someone who’s made out of plastic, cement, or – if they’re the good ones – cubic zirconium). So here’s my two-cents’ worth.
A Primer On Literary Agents.
The first thing you need to understand is what a literary agent is. We are not, contrary to popular belief, real estate agents or sports agents or cleaning agents (although, at times, we feel like a combination of all three). Literary agents license the intellectual property rights to your written (in most cases) intellectual property to a variety of licensors – or, in common speech, we find people to “buy” the rights to your book. Once we sell the rights to the book, we can sell a variety of subsidiary rights – audio rights, for example; or foreign rights, or television rights, or musical rights (Golly, that sounds pretty boring. It’s actually pretty fun [which goes to show how little you can trust the written word these days].).
When we sell rights to your project, the licensor (i.e., the publisher, or studio, or production company, etc.) pays you, in care of us – we put the money in an escrow account, take out an agreed-upon percentage (usually 15% for starters, but it really depends on the rights), and write you a check for the rest. That’s how we get paid – we don’t make a dime until you do.
All this sounds very impressive, but keep in mind that the most important criterion for becoming a literary agent is the wannabe-agent’s ability to spell. Yes, that’s right – spell. In order to become a literary agent, the wannabe needs to be able to write the following letters in order: A-G-E-N-T. If the person can sequence these letters, the person can be, by definition, a literary agent. (A bit scary, yes?) There’s no test or certification course to pass; you don’t have to study for seven years and do a residency and internship, and you’re not called before the thesis review board to be asked such questions as, “What is a Narrative Arc?” and “Define a standard hardcover royalty structure, with escalators.”
Before I go on, I absolutely must defend myself and my colleagues. Most of this industry – the people on this side of the desk, who reject your manuscript in a variety of pleasant-sounding form-letter flavors – are incredibly nice, amazingly hardworking, and truly dedicated people. We do this job because we love it: because we love to read; because we love – and believe in – writers and writer’s careers; because we want to be a part of the creative process, and because we know there’s nothing quite the like the feeling of making that call to a first-time author to tell her that a publisher wants to publish the novel she’s labored over for the past ten years. This is a completely heart job – we do it because we want to do it. It might be more lucrative to be a real estate agent, or a shoe salesman, or a corporate attorney, but we (misguided souls that we are) take a different path – reading through piles of unsolicited manuscripts, rejecting authors and being rejected in turn by publishers. The only way to do this job is to love it.
That said, there are a lot of people who are doing their job for what I’d like to think of as the wrong reason – bilking writers out of money, pride, dreams. Imagine, dear reader, an unregulated industry paired with the complete and total desperation of many first-time writers, and you can imagine the scams that can ooze from the Ersatz Literary Agency’s miasma.
Welcome To The Ersatz Literary Agency.
So what is a scam agency? They come in a variety of flavors and colors – and unfortunately I probably don’t know even half the forms they take (my job, as I said, is selling books – I don’t police the literary agency world). But I suspect that most of them have similar bills of fare.
Understand this: The Ersatz Literary Agency is not interested in selling your book to a reputable publisher. They often make their money in other ways – charging certain fees, or referring you to different services (editing, book-doctoring, etc.) within their organization (and you may not be aware that it is within their organization). They eat up your money, your time, and your dreams, and when all’s said and done you’re not any closer to getting your book published by a reputable publishing house than when you signed up with them.
Recognizing a Scammer.
So the question becomes: how do you distinguish between a Genuine Literary Agent and a Genuine Fake one? Here are a few thoughts.
1. AAR. Many reputable literary agents belong to the Association of Authors Representatives (www.aar-online.org). Not all of ‘em do – a lot of fabulous agents don’t – but many are members. The AAR has a solid application process – the applicant has to get recommendations from other agents and editors; has to sell a certain amount of books; and has to agree to abide by a cannon of ethics, for example. If the agent you’re considering doesn’t belong to the AAR, don’t panic, but do ask them why they don’t belong, and if they abide by the AAR’s canon of ethics (you can get a copy of these on the AAR’s website).
2. Location. There’s a myth that all reputable literary agents have to be in New York. Let me repeat here: this is a complete and ridiculous myth – agents lurk in most states. However, an agent doing business today definitely needs access to a telephone and regular mail services, so if your prospective agent resides deep in the African bush with only intermittent access to a telephone and no email access at all, that may be a warning sign that something’s amiss. If the agent isn’t in New York, find out if they go there regularly – how they maintain contact with editors and so forth. Under no condition, though, should you let geography be the deciding factor in your decision on whether to go with a particular agent. I’m thinking of a couple of agents who are absolutely and completely fabulous, who regularly do very big and very nice deals for their clients – one’s in Denver and the other’s in Austin. To get either of them to represent you would be a godsend. But they make regular trips to New York, and have very close ties with the publishing community. The Ersatz Literary Agency doesn’t have those ties. So, you ask, how do you find out if your prospective agency has these ties? Ask them. Ask them how regularly they go to New York, whether they attend any of the other major bookfairs (London, Frankfurt, BEA, etc.)
3. Fee Charging. As I said above, the Ersatz Agency doesn’t make money from selling your books, so they have to make it up in other ways. They may charge a variety of fees – “marketing fees,” or “editing fees,” or other such creative terms. These are the guys to avoid, period. That said, though, many literary agents ask to be reimbursed for their out-of-pocket expenses – courier fees, or mailing fees, or long distance phone calls, or copying costs. There’s nothing wrong with that, as long as they make it clear up front that you’ll be responsible for those charges. If they do ask you to reimburse you for their expenses, make sure that those expenses are billed after the agent has incurred the cost – they can send you an itemized list of expenses, or the actual receipts, or whatever you two work out: the point is that you’re reimbursing them for money they’ve spent on your behalf, and the money’s not just going into their pocket to make them rich. Keep in mind that the agent earns money when you do.
4. Lack of Client Lists. Agents that post their services online will often talk a good game, and sound pretty impressive, but they don’t list what books they’ve sold, and to whom they’ve sold them. That in itself is fine; many agents – especially agents who’ve been around since the Dark Ages (i.e., since before the Internet) feel that the spotlight should remain on the author, not on the agent. But if the agent doesn’t list his clients, ask him to send you a list of a few of them, privately. Ask him if he’ll put you in touch with a couple of them as referrals. If he won’t provide this information (“Sorry, all of this is confidential.”), run – don’t walk – to the nearest exit. It’s true, though, that there are a lot of well-intentioned young agents starting out who simply might not have a client list – all I can say is that those folk are definitely out there, and may be fabulous to work for, but do your best to ascertain that they’re reputable, credible, well-intentioned people. And assure yourself (as in #2, above) that they have real access to the publishing community.
5. Lack of Positive Internet Coverage. Let’s face it, you writers are a chatty bunch. You’re always talking about us poor beleaguered agents. So go online and search us out – there will almost always be mention of us, bad or good. A few good sites include: Preditors & Editors, http://www.anotherealm.com/prededitors/ , Writer Beware: http://www.sfwa.org/beware/, and Absolute Write Water Cooler: http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/.
The Quasi-Ersatz Agency.
Keep in mind that some agencies may not rise to the level of true Ersatz Agencies – but they may more harmful than helpful to your career. They might, for example, not send your material out as promised; or may send it out in a less-than-stellar condition. Or they might be the kind of agent that editors prefer not to do business with. It’s very difficult to assess this from your position, I know; but there are three quick assessments you can perform that may help weed out this group.
1. Client List. Again, look at that client list. Have they represented similar books to yours? (if you’re writing a mystery novel, have they sold other mysteries? If you’re writing serious nonfiction, have they sold this kind of thing?) Do a vast percentage of their books seem to go to the same publishing house – which may be a publishing house you’ve never heard of, or one which pays very low advances and has a poor or nonexistent marketing, PR, and/or sales force? (if you don’t know this, search ‘em out on the internet.) If you’ve answered “yes” to any of these questions, ask the agency to refer you to a couple of clients and get their opinions.
2. www.publishersmarketplace.com. It’s worth subscribing to this new bible of the publishing industry – you can do it on a month-by-month basis. Among its other many worthwhile services, it has a section on the site that lists publishing deals. It’s completely easy to search the database and see if your agent has listed any deals there – and if so, to whom did they sell the book, and how much did they sell it for. Keep in mind, though, that publisher’s marketplace isn’t infallible: a lot of agents don’t post all of their deals on-line (I know that I don’t), so it’s not an infallible source by any means. Cross-check your findings against www.publishersweekly.com – this is the other bible of the publishing industry, and just as useful. Another really fabulous site is Bill Martin’s www.agentresearch.net. I’m sure there are a million other great sites, including Natalie’s, of course, but I really don’t follow this stuff all that closely.
3. Literary Agents Guides. Your library will certainly possess a few of the published literary agent guides now available. Check to see if your agent is listed there; they do try to provide current, accurate information. Some of the best include Literary Marketplace, Writer’s Digest Guide to Literary Agents, and Jeff Herman’s Guide to Literary Agents.
Well, that should keep you busy for a while, I guess. So I’ll call it quits for this month, with just one caveat – if there’s a particular topic that you’d really like to see me cover, shoot me a quick email (jkleinman (at) foliolit (dot) com), and maybe it’ll be fodder for a future rant.
1 Comments:
Welcome aboard. That's fabulous advice.
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