Debut Authors, Editorial Work, and Agents! Oh My!

I performed a mini-study on my current client list today. I color-coded according to percentage of new authors who are unpublished, percentage who were unpublished when they came to me, but are now in print, and then percentage of clients who came to me as already publishing authors. Now, keep in mind this is just my list—and the most current one, at that—but I thought the results would encourage all of you. 25% of my current clientele are currently unpublished, which means we’re either seeking a publishing contract, or the authors are writing/editing/revising. Another 25% were already published before they came to me. But a whopping 50% were unpublished when I signed them on, and are now published authors! And they say that agents are only looking for established authors!

Truthfully, my favorite part of this job is finding brand new talent. It’s the whole treasure hunting aspect of an agent’s life. The second favorite part is then hooking up that writer with just the right editor and publishing house. And this leads us to the question raised by our fine Lucy Stokes. She posted:

I asked another agent this recently at a conference and I'd be intertested in your response. If you have a submission that the idea interests you and you think the writing is "almost there," but needs some tweaks, would you possibly take on that write and work with him or her to make it even better for submission?

Such a good question. The truth of the matter is that ordinarily, for our agency to take the risk outlined above, i.e. sign on a brand new author and hope to find them a publishing deal, we’re looking for the most polished work we can possibly sign on. But every now and then a rare author comes along, one with a fantastic voice, but whose work may need some plot overhauling, and I’ll take a gamble. So I would say that there has to be something very special to the author’s material for us to take on an author who needs serious editorial revision. We almost always offer some suggestions, but to get in depth with our critiquing, we need a pretty strong feeling that we can sell the work.

Think of it this way—we don’t make a dime unless we sell an author’s work. It’s not that we’re mean and closed-minded that we don’t sign on a whole raft of unpublished authors. We’re talking simple economics. To make a living—any living at all in this game—we have to sell books and earn commissions. Any agent who tries to tell you otherwise is probably looking to free you up from some excess dollars. J There are unethical agencies out there who charge exorbitant reading fees, or packaging fees, or the like. Run! Flee! And find a good agent who wants to take a risk by potentially hanging with you for a long time until finding you a publishing deal.

I’m sure this will elicit a ton of great new questions, so lay them on us!
Deidre