Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!seismo!ut-sally!pyramid!decwrl!sun!chuq From: chuq@sun.uucp (Chuq Von Rospach) Newsgroups: net.books,net.wanted,net.research Subject: Re: getting a book published Message-ID: <5606@sun.uucp> Date: Tue, 29-Jul-86 15:17:59 EDT Article-I.D.: sun.5606 Posted: Tue Jul 29 15:17:59 1986 Date-Received: Wed, 30-Jul-86 00:54:25 EDT References: <171@pecnos.UUCP> <486@valid.UUCP> <206@watmath.UUCP> <276@hydra.riacs.ARPA> Distribution: net Organization: Fictional Reality, uLtd Lines: 52 Xref: mnetor net.books:2370 net.wanted:3546 net.research:400 > In article <206@watmath.UUCP>, credmond@watmath.UUCP (Chris Redmond) writes: > > For one thing, I am dubious that any reputable agent would take on > > a previously unpublished author. > > Sorry, that's simply not true. There are reputable literary agents who > do take on unpublished authors (my mother is one.) What matters is the > quality of writing, not publications. I can second this. My father has worked with a couple of agents who have put in a good part of their timegetting his manuscripts read. Some agents won't deal with unknowns, but many more will -- after all, it is the unknown author that can turn into the really big paycheck down the road. > In general, authors who deal with publishers directly may not get so good > a deal as those who deal with literary agents -- since the latter do that > all the time, they have a lot more experience than most authors do. More- > over, editors get to know literary agents, and if the agent is a good > one, editors will pay more attention to manuscripts that agent sends > than to unsolicited manuscripts. Many publishers will suggest heavily that you get an agent when they tell you they want to buy a book and you don't already have one. They may well suggest a couple of names that they have worked with. Believe it or not, this is in everyone's favor. For the author, the agent will get the best possible deal without sinking the contract. They know what is and isn't negotiable, and what to give in on. On the publisher's side, they won't have to deal with someone who may make impossible demands because they simply don't know any better. They want to buy the book, and they want to be fair about it, but there some some things that they have to kill the contract over rather than buy it, so working with an agent to them means that they have a better chance of actually getting things closed up. An agent can also deal with things like subsidiary and foreign rights and build entire markets for the book that an author wouldn't know existed. Look at it this way: you don't want your programmers doing Marketing, and you don't want your publicity people doing programming. This deliniation is quite apt for the author/agent relationship as well. Authors are usually best at writing, agents at selling. Every minute you spend on the phone arguing over a contract is a minute you aren't putting words to a page. In my eye, agents more than pay for themselves. chuq -- Chuq Von Rospach chuq%plaid@sun.COM CompuServe: 73317,635 {decwrl,hplabs,ihnp4,seismo}!sun!plaid!chuq O how they cling and wrangle, some who claim Of Brahamana and recluse the honoured name! For, quarrelling, each to his view they claim, Such folk see only one side of a thing. -- Buddha -- The Elephant and the Blind Men