Expectations vs. Reality

Do an aspiring author’s great expectations for a literary agent align with reality? Not always.

With a combined (estimated) 200,000 work hours devoted to serving the Christian publishing industry, we Books & Such Agents have observed that many writers who approach us at a conference, through our website, or because they noted our names on industry information sites operate under misconceptions about literary agents and what we do. Let’s clear up some misunderstandings to help you draw closer to your publishing goals.

EXPECTATION:

If I’m a writer, I must have a literary agent. That’s what my friends tell me.

REALITY:

You MAY need an agent. If you’re solely pursuing self-publishing or a micro-publisher, you likely don’t. Or if you don’t have a website yet or social media presence, you may not yet be ready to approach an agent. If you’re in the early days of starting your writing journey, you have a hundred steps to navigate through before having an agent makes sense for you…and for the agent.

 

EXPECTATION:

An agent is hired by a writer.

REALITY:

An agent is a talent scout, not an employee. There’s much more to our role, of course, but writers who believe they hire an agent as one would hire an executive assistant don’t yet understand those roles.

 

EXPECTATION:

I believe an agent is tasked with following an author’s “directions.”

REALITY:

In the best situations, an agent and author build a relationship and work together to determine the best courses of action for the author’s career, with the author leaning heavily on the agent’s unique knowledge, experience, and connections in the industry.

 

EXPECTATION:

It saves time to copy twenty random agents at once in a query letter that starts “To whom it may concern.”

REALITY:

That approach will likely result in twenty rejections…and for good reason. Copying multiple agents in one email is a shotgun method of searching an agent (any agent will do), rather than a carefully researched inquiry on an agent’s tastes, interests, skillset, areas of specialty… It also shows a lack of respect for the agents’ time.

 

EXPECTATION:

If my project isn’t sold to the publishing house of my dreams, it’s my agent’s fault.

REALITY:

A good agent will do everything possible to sell your book to the best publishing house fit for you and your project. Although we sometimes are unable to place a project with a publishing house, we will have given it our all. Other factors may be at play–bad timing, too many other similar books on the market, too few slots at publishing houses, a stagnant or lacking built-in audience, or even a reader-culture climate change.

 

EXPECTATION:

I can get an agent if I just follow protocol and work hard enough.

REALITY:

Not all hard-working writers are able to secure representation. Many factors are consider in an agent’s decision to represent someone and their work. If you are offered representation by a reputable agent, consider yourself a member of a surprisingly small club of writers. One industry statistic relates that 1 out of 11,000 writers find representation by an agent.

 

Don’t let that truth discourage you, though. The fact that you’re reading this blog means you are investigating, researching, discovering what it takes to find and keep an agent.

What other expectation vs. reality elements have you found in your writing journey that relate to literary agents? (Other than expecting that they are waiting at their computer for your proposal to hit their email inbox and finding that it may be weeks or months before they’re able to consider it?)

 

If you’re serious about moving forward in your goals toward having a project ready for an editor or agent to consider it, take a look at what the Books & Such Writing Intensive offers to a select group of writers. For a full rundown of the information, visit our website page devoted to the Intensive.