Blogger: Mary Keeley
Publisher mistakes happen. Oversights occur. Disagreements with your editor may happen. A terrible cover. Any one of these can have a detrimental, sometimes devastating, effect on the production schedule. It is so important to keep your agent in the loop throughout the process. And often, it is best to let your agent do the communicating when a problem arises.
Be Diligent.
Publishing houses want your book to be a success as much as you do. But upheavals like staff changes, corporate reorganizations, and staff reductions present the potential for things to fall through the cracks. That’s why it’s increasingly important for authors to be enthusiastic, cooperative, gracious, prompt with your due dates . . . and quietly diligent. 
An author’s diligence is key because once the contract is signed, the communication shifts from publisher-and-agent to publisher-and-author. Your agent, who can’t be everywhere at all times for every client, relies on you to keep him or her in the loop at certain stages in the production process and at the first hint of trouble. For simplicity, I’m going to use the pronoun she when referring to the agent in the following examples.
Example 1. Your agent knows when your full manuscript is due to the publisher because the agreed-upon date is specified in the contract. Copying her on the email when you send it to the editor is a simple way to keep her in the loop at that step in the process.
However, the date your manuscript is approved by the publisher isn’t set in stone. Often the editor will want you to make revisions. Your contract gives a time frame for that too, but your agent won’t know the exact date your manuscript is finally accepted by the publisher unless you tell her. Why is that information important? Because an incremental payment of your advance is triggered at manuscript acceptance. Your agent needs this date in order to follow up if the publisher is late in sending your check.
Example 2. One of my clients planned to order promotional materials once the cover was approved. However, when the acquisitions editor sent a copy of their approved cover to the author, he forgot to send it to the agent too. Fortunately, my client was diligent to forward the cover file to me and request my intervention because there were obvious problems. She let me take the lead in communicating with the editor and designer, and we ended up with a final cover everyone was excited about.
Let your agent do the talking.
Author issues over covers can be sticky situations. Covers are within the publisher’s realm of responsibility. However, a good agent will negotiate wording in the contract, providing a client the right to give input on the 
design. Sometimes, as in the above example, they overlook that stipulation. Sometimes designers are resistant to perceived criticism of their work, too, and the extra time involved in a redo can wreak havoc with their schedules. Agents are experienced at negotiating these situations delicately toward a win-win solution. This allows you, the author, to retain your positive, warm and friendly relationships with your publishing team, which is of prime importance for your future with that publisher.
Keep your agent informed so that she can step in on your behalf when necessary.
Do you know a story in which an author neglected to keep the agent informed? What happened? How do these examples influence the way you will partner with your agent? How well do you understand your publishing contract?
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The Value of Christian Books
I understand why the cover can become an issue. How collaborative is the process? Does the author have an opportunity to talk with the designer at the start? Or does the design just suddenly arrive, love it or hate it?
*I realize that this isn’t a one-size-fits-all question. But I’d rather nudge from the beginning than wail at the end.
Shirley, good question, and you are right that there isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer. Publishers might grant A-list and best-selling authors initial input on the cover, but rarely newer authors. The reason is the publishing and sales teams are the professionals whose job it is to keep up with design trends that readers respond to currently. It is the designer’s creative responsibility to produce initial cover comps. However, designers are busy working on multiple book projects simultaneously, and sometimes they don’t have enough time to familiarize themselves with a book’s unique tone, voice, characters, setting, and message. This is why we Books & Such agents always seek to have wording in our clients’ contracts, which give the author input on the cover comps before the cover becomes final. I’ve had instances with clients in which this wording has prevented a total cover misfire.
Thanks, Mary. The immediate reaction for an author is, “Mother, I’d rather do it myself.” But letting an agent handle these problems is best. I appreciate the reminder.
Richard, you are so right. Letting your agent take the lead on problem issues allows you to maintain your positive author relationship with your publisher.
Diligence now saves tears later.
* I learned this lesson in a particularly heartbreaking form just last week; God is a stern teacher. First comes the examination, and then the lesson.
Amen to that, Andrew.
On another note, I hope you are experiencing less pain this week.
Thanks so much, Mary. After a truly dreadful September, I’m a bit surprised to have to be planning a ’31 Days’ blog series.
I can’t imagine a writer having an agent like you, those B&S has to offer, and not accepting the help, wisdom, guidance. I would be terrified to go down that road alone, especially in the beginning.
Wise approach, Shelli. Any good agent knows when to step in on an issue to promote a win-win solution between a client and the publisher. I know I can speak for all of us Books & Such agents that we take this part of our role very seriously. Problems arise when clients forget to inform their agent about a disagreement or assume it is their job to work it out by themselves. The purpose of today’s post is to dispel that myth.
Good to know. It helps to be aware of the little things (because they soon turn into big things!).Thanks, Mary.
As with all issues publishing, I’d rather trust my agent than venture into the waters alone.
Why make silly mistakes when I can trust the advice of those who have gone ahead of me? Save everyone some hours, and few bucks too…
I hope I notch an agent’s interest someday…
One thing that has reminded me to be done WAY ahead of schedule is the time between August 14th, and now. I am just this week finally able to actually stare at my computer screen for more than Netflix.
It has been 6.5 weeks since I have done a single useful thing to any of my writing.
That’s 46 days.
If I had been under contract??? Oh man. That would NOT have been good.
But cover designers? I can hardly wait!!
I can’t wait to see your book covers. 🙂
Great information, Mary. The other side of a contract is nebulous territory, so it’s good to know an agent would rather know too much than not enough. I’m bookmarking this one. 🙂
I think another good word for agent would be advocate. If I’m ever at a place when I can and if I ever have the opportunity to go down the traditional road, I hope it’s with an agent who shares the values of Books and Such agents. I think that would be just lovely!