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What not to Do: An Agent’s Perspective

Kawanee Hamilton

http://www.authorspublish.com/what-not-to-do-an-agents-perspective/

THIS IS AN EXCERPT FROM THE ORIGINAL PLEASE CLICK THE ABOVE LINK FOR MORE INFO.  http://www.authorspublish.com/what-not-to-do-an-agents-perspective/

What Not To Do: An Agent’s Perspective

Written by Joyce Holland | March 24, 2016

First of all, I realize that many writers today want to bypass agencies. There’s a lot of that going on lately in the self-publishing world, and I champion it. So why am I writing this advice piece?

Because once you succeed in selling and marketing your work, you may get dreamoffers. If so, you might reconsider and take a second look at what an agency can do for you that you cannot.

Are you an expert at dealing with contracts? Can you recognize all the little tricks of the trade? If so, stick to your guns. But remember the old adage attributed to Abe Lincoln:” A man who represents himself in court has a fool for a client.” The same might be said of a successful author who acts as his own agent. This is true only if you hit the big time.

In case you do decide to contact an agent at any time, I want to share a few thoughts with you.

Number one on my list of things never to do, is to address a query to 30 or 40 agents or editors at the same time. I’m talking about listing them in the header of your query. We usually toss those without even reading the subject line. Someone sent me one yesterday addressed to at least 50 other agents. I took a moment and tried to figure out what their reasoning might be. Did the writer think I would immediately jump on the material, worried someone would beat me out of a bestseller? Really?

I’m not foolish enough to think authors aren’t submitting to more than one agent or editor at a time. I certainly do, but I never list them so everyone knows. By the same reasoning, don’t ever, ever, send material to all the agents at one agency. We do talk to one another.

I recently received a query stating the author had done his homework and investigated dozens of agents and agencies. It boiled down to me being the perfect person to represent his masterpiece. (Yes, that’s what he called it.) Unfortunately for him, he addressed the query to Ms. Gallagher. Lesson: Be very careful before you press the send button.

Published by Kawanee Hamilton

Kawanee was born in Alexandria Louisiana but her first real memories are of Russellville Arkansas. She's always loved to read, and has always had an vivid imagination. She grew up in a house where almost everyone read, they didn't need a TV although she could still be found planted on her butt in front of her grandma's TV watching cartoons on Saturday mornings. She made up her first story with her mother when her cat died; it was about where pets go when they die. She continued to create stories from bad dreams she had and her dad would help her change nightmares to stories. They would sit up in a chair until the scary went away. He told her that: "Dreams, good or bad, are just stories your mind makes up. You are the author of your dreams; if you don't like them rewrite them. " She was hooked and has continued to read and write stories drawing from dreams, sights and just pure imagination. She just recently decided she'd like to try and get published and fail than wonder what if. Her story continues but where it goes from here is up to you, the Reader... She hopes you'll join her in finding out where her journey goes from here!

6 thoughts on “What not to Do: An Agent’s Perspective”

  4. I work for the original publisher of this article – Authors Publish. I am glad to see you sharing this article, but can you make it clear that this is just an excerpt and include a link at the end of your excerpt again, so it is clear that they can go to Authors Publish to read the full article.

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