A Literary Reminder

I was speaking last week with an old friend of mine named Kevin.  Several years ago, Kevin was a potentially up-and-coming author who’d secured a literary agent for his book Paws On The Ground.  The book is about his time as an MP working with dogs in Afghanistan, and the title is a take off of the military phrase “boots on the ground.”  It’s a way to say that you have to be in the thick of things and physically present to have an impact.

Kevin had gone to a writing conference and an agent was impressed enough to sign him.  That’s when he learned that maybe literary agents aren’t the best route to go if you want to get your message out to the public…

His first agent(I’ll get to why he was the “first” in a second) kept giving him edits and corrections to make.  Don’t get me wrong – if something can be made better, then I’m totally open to someone pointing out what that might be.  What I’m not open to is someone who supposedly works for me – and yes, literary agents work for the writer, not the other way around – insisting that his or her suggestions must be taken.  I’m the writer, and I get to decide what works best for the story.

There was lots of back and forth, and tons of new “suggestions,” but the agent never tried even once to submit Kevin’s books to publishers for sale.  Finally fed up, Kevin fired the guy and turned to a new agent.  This one didn’t offer too much to change, and he sounded like he was enthusiastic about Kevin’s book.  Then…nothing.  The guy just disappeared, as if the Earth had opened up and swallowed him whole.  Kevin hasn’t heard from him in more than two years, and he has basically given up on anything happening with his work.

Those who know me know of my antipathy towards literary agents.  I think, for the most part, that they’re useless.  To start with, they’re supposed to be selling your work and negotiating a contract, but every one I’ve encountered has no background in business or intellectual property law.  Most, in fact, have MFA or English degree and appear to simply want to be writers themselves without running the risk of putting their own work out there.  No, they’d rather criticize actual writers behind the scenes and then take credit for what someone else wrote.

Were I to ever decide to go the traditional route for my work(the offer would have to be really high for me to give up the freedom of indie publishing), I wouldn’t need another literary critic.  I’ve got beta readers and people I respect for critiques.  Since reading taste is subjective, I have to be the final arbiter of whether or not a suggestion makes sense.  What I need instead of another critic is someone familiar with intellectual property law.  What rights do I retain?  When do the rights revert back to me?  Is the publisher insisting on a right-of-first-refusal for my next book?  What will the publisher do from a marketing standpoint and what does that publisher expect me to do?  MFAs and English degrees are great, but they don’t credential someone to determine whether or not a contract offer is to my advantage.  And since the main advantage most of these agents offer is access to a traditional publisher, it’s more in an agent’s interest to get better terms for the publisher than for me so that the agent can stay in the good graces of the publisher.

Most agents rely on the naiveté of new authors to yoke them into their corral.  This had its merits…25 years ago.  However, in the new age of indie publishing, all it takes is some initiative and common business sense to get what an agent could.  If you want a traditional contract, then get an intellectual property attorney for your contract.  You can hire your own cover artist, your own editor, and market your book yourself.  Sure, it may not have a big-time publisher’s name attached, but a lot of successful books don’t have that.  Remember that The Martian and Fifty Shadesof Grey both started off as indie-published.  It wasn’t a literary agent or traditional publisher that made them successful.  They were successful the same way IAm Legend or The Shining were successful – they captured lightning in a bottle and caught a break(luck and timing are the biggest pieces an agent won’t talk about, pretending instead that they can make you the next JK Rowling rather than acknowledge that most books, even those represented by a traditional publisher, don’t earn that kind of money).

If you want the comfort of having a literary agent, go ahead, but know that you’re likely making a mistake.  Most agents I’ve encountered think they run things rather than that they work for their client, just like a lawyer or interior decorator.  If you want to retain your freedom and not worry whether or not someone who has an MFA but has likely never published in their life approves of you, then eschew the agent route and put stock in your own abilities.  After all, you have some control over those.