If you're an unknown author, your agent's reputation will be
the first thing that an editor knows about you. It's therefore a
very good idea to research agencies to find out how good their
reputation is. How do you go about it?
There are directories that list agents (Writers' and Artists'
Yearbook~ The Writers' Handbook, Cassell's Directory of Publishing)
but agencies seldom list their specialities, or the areas they
are not interested in. This is probably because most agents want to
keep their options open. Fashions in reading change and agents have
to move with the times and markets. Few directories list the agents'
clients. And the directories are just that: they give information
but they do not comment about levels of performance. The Writers'
Handbook does offer more commentary than the other directories,
and it lists some of the authors represented by the agencies.
You can call a literary agency and briefly describe your
novel: some will tell you immediately if they do not handle certain
areas of work. Some may be prepared to recommend agents who
specialize in genres such as science fiction, crime or romance. On
the whole, people in the writing business tend to be fairly generous
with information and contacts. But don't expect them to hand out
telephone numbers, contact names or addresses: you must be prepared
to do your own research.
The Association of Authors' Agents, while not strictly speaking
an information service for the public, do nevertheless have names of
agents who specialize in, say, children's books, or science fiction.
The officers of the AAA give their time to the organization on a
voluntary basis: they are themselves all full-time agents with their
own agency work to do. Remember this if you contact them, so as not
to take up too much of their (unpaid) time.
The Society of Authors can be extremely helpful to writers
looking for agents. They have conducted surveys of agents (the last
one in 1998) and through their author members and their own work in
the trade have a pretty clear idea of the capabilities and
reputation of most of the literary agencies. If you describe your
work, the Society may well be able to recommend several agencies.
If you know writers with agents, or you know some publishers,
ask them for recommendations. And always ask them who that agent
already represents. If you are looking for an agent to represent
your romance, you would do well to go to someone who already works
in that area, because the agent will already know the editors who
buy romance, the magazines who print romance stories and extracts,
and the foreign publishers who buy translation rights in the genre.
However tempted you are to sign up with the first agent who
offers you representation, be cautious. If at all possible, meet
before signing up with an agent, or at the very least talk at some
length on the telephone. I represent some clients who joined me
in the 1970s when I first became an agent: I'm very proud of that. Every
author has a right to expect their agent to be someone they can get
on with, someone they feel they can empathize and sympathize with
their aims and expectations. And you will be more comfortable in
the relationship if you believe the agent will sell you
enthusiastically.
A writer friend of mine (not a client, he works in an area that I
don't handle) was once complaining gently about his agent and
mentioned to me that she was shy. He was astonished when I laughed
and suggested his agent was in the wrong job. What good is a shy
agent? When part of the job description is enthusiasm and confident
selling, shyness is definitely not an asset!
But if you yourself are gentle and not overconfident, you'll want
to make sure that your agent isn't brash and overbearing or you'll
never get a word in edgeways. A meeting or a conversation is
essential to establish a rapport between you.
Other ways to get recommendations to agencies are through
writers' groups, staff at a local university, local reviewers, and
bookshop staff who will also know the local sales representatives
for publishers. Read interviews with writers in the press, read the
acknowledgement page in the books of authors you admire, listen to
book programmes on the radio and television - they may all mention
the names of relevant agents. The main trade reference books can be
helpful, also the publishing trade press such as The Bookseller, and
Publishing News in the UK, Australian Bookseller in
Australia, Quill And Quire in Canada, and Publishers
Weekly in America. There is no equivalent trade publication in
South Africa. Some of the trade papers report publishing deals done
by agents, which can be helpful in revealing the kind of clients
they represent.
Go to book festivals and readings in bookshops, join the
societies formed around many genres (Romantic Novelists'
Association, Crime Writers' Association). Then call the agencies and
say what you are writing and a little about your expectations and
ask for the name of the most appropriate agent in that agency. Write
in first; don't insist on speaking to that agent right away. Busy
agents can seldom be expected to accept 'cold calls', and
browbeating the person who answered the telephone is not the way to
make friends and influence people at an agency you would like to
join.
Copyright © 1999 Carole Blake
