Agents and publishers

 

This is a response to a Facebook post by a friend. It's partly a genuine attempt to contribute ideas for Anna and others, partly a personal exercise in self-justification, and partly in the hope that there is an outside chance that someone may be able to help. ‘Facts’ are based on my own experience and a bit of research, so treat with caution but they may help. It’s really long. If this isn’t a subject that you are seriously interested in, don’t read it.

Please do not post this link. It's publicly viewable because this was the easiest way to post something that Facebook didn't want to put up (too long probably) but it's not a blog that is linked to anywhere, so it's sort of private and hence a safe space.

AGENTS

1/ As far as I can see you can reasonably expect to make 40 submissions before you are accepted by an agent. This is based on my own experience and that of others who have shared theirs. This is for people who eventually *do* get an agent, so it assumes you have a reasonably professionally written, commercially viable book. I imagine this is the case for everyone here.

2/ Agents will routinely take 4 – 6 weeks to reject a book. If they like it, this can stretch on for months until you get: ‘I really enjoyed your book but, regrettably, in the present publishing situation I do not feel …’

3/ Everybody seems to agree that you shouldn’t blitz agents all at once. It’s considered bad manners; it reduces your chances if two agents express interest at the same time (you will have to pick one and it may be the wrong one); and it means you don’t get the chance to respond to any feedback you might get. Personally, I submitted to four at a time.

4/ SO… Let’s do the maths. Four agents at a time. Let’s say an average of five weeks to get a rejection. So that’s a full year to cover the 40 agents you will, on average need to submit to. It’s also 40 rejection letters. I’ve had 40 rejection letters. However much you tell yourself that JK Rowling had 40 rejection letters and however nice one or two of them may be, that’s 40 times that a little bit of your soul dies. I’m not saying, ‘Don’t do it.’ I am saying, ‘It’s going to be a miserable year.’ And one in which, unless you are incredibly self-disciplined, you will write less than you would have otherwise.

5/ You may think that these are the thoughts of a bitter loser. But, no, I GOT AN AGENT. A good one, I think. He got my book (it was ‘The White Rajah’) read by four leading publishers. I got considered by people who would never have looked at me if I hadn't been represented. Three of them were nice about the book, but there was general acceptance that it was "too difficult for a first novel from an unknown author". My agent told me to try again with another historical novel which was more commercial. I outlined ‘Burke in the Land of Silver’ to him and he said that he did not think that there was a commercial market for stories set in Argentina. This struck me as a completely daft thing to say, but sales suggest he might have been right. In any case, I decided to persevere with Burke and then I didn't have an agent anymore.

PUBLISHERS

6/ ‘The White Rajah’ was eventually published by a one-woman outfit in the USA who worked just one day a week publishing novels featuring gay heroes. She was the best publisher I ever had. Sadly, though, I decided I couldn’t keep writing about gay heroes, so I moved to Accent. We all know how that worked out. After that I was published by Endeavour (now Lume) who still publish the Williamson books. This year, though, I got back the rights to Burke and now I self-publish.

7/ I know successful authors (the sort of people who have their books reviewed in the quality press) and I hear moans that nowadays only the most successful authors on a publisher’s list are given any marketing support. Publishers demand that authors blog, run their own websites, maintain a social media presence and (if they are very lucky) go to do readings and signings. It is the authors that bear the trouble and expense of doing this, but the publisher is happy to take their share of profits. Side-note: one of the nicest things about being self-published is that if I put in the work that ships more copies of my books, I get to keep the money.

8/ I was once at a meeting of the Historical Writers’ Association where almost everybody bitched that their publishers put inappropriate covers on their books. (The main bone of contention was historical inaccuracies, which can turn off readers in their target market.) Accent was actually one of the best for covers. The really big publishers seemed rubbish. By contrast, the covers I get done for my self-published books are a source of continual delight to me.

9/ My publishers (and reading about this suggests they are typical) are really bad at basic things about modern publishing (especially digital publishing). They don’t seem to understand how Amazon meta-data works and they don’t seem to care. Honestly, sorting this out took me hours (probably days) and it wasn’t fun, but it really isn’t that difficult. Why don’t publishers do it? Traditional publishers also seem to underestimate the potential income that writers can get from Kindle Unlimited.

10/ Endeavour even told me that because the sold through Amazon they couldn’t give me discounted copies of my paperbacks. (Accent, who really were quite good in some respects, were good about this.) This meant that when I went to give author talks or presented at a book fair, I made no money on any of the books I sold. Book-sellers at fairs sold my books with no profit as a favour. It made me look pathetic. It was embarrassing as well as losing me money. Being self-published I now get my paperbacks from Amazon at a substantial discount.

SO ARE AGENTS WORTH THE EFFORT?

11/ Remember that agents are costing you a lot of money. 15% of all you make (including the sales at the book fair that you managed to get a spot with and the responses to the Facebook ad you paid for) will go to your agent. I have seen authors on Facebook thanking their agents for getting them deals with indie publishers (like Accent) and, honestly, I think that’s disgraceful. You don’t need an agent to get an indie deal if you have a half-way decent book.

12/ I would like an agent, in part because I have spent my working life writing non-fiction (anonymously – really boring stuff about market research or the tobacco industry or whatever I was paid to do) and I’d like to broaden beyond novels and I don’t know how. For example, I’d love to write pieces for travel magazines tied to place I’ve visited researching my books. I’d love an agent to help with things like that, or like getting more speaking engagements. I’ve been told, though, that agents don’t do that sort of thing. If anyone knows one who does, please tell.

13/ I have heard people speak very positively about the help their agents have given them. Laura has pointed out here that a lot of this is down to personal chemistry. You need to decide how much effort you want to put into getting an agent who you may then decide you don't particularly like. I suspect there is somebody out there who would really help me, motivate me, get me more work and generally improve my positioning as a "brand", but I have no idea who this paragon is and my chances of lighting on them by just working my way through the Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook seem slim. You have to make your own decision as to what you think the odds are for you.

AND WHAT ABOUT PUBLISHERS?

14/ I obviously don’t think traditional publishers have a lot to offer. That said, I was talking to Endeavour/Lume about getting the rights back to the Williamson books and they have promised (though cynics will notice that it's not the first time) that they really are going to do better with the marketing, so we’ll have to wait and see. On the whole, though, I honestly think not. James Patterson has repeatedly said in public that if he was starting again he would self-publish. If that applies at his level, it certainly applies at mine and, I suspect, that of anybody who is reading this.

15/ Self-publishing does involve a lot of hard work. But it is worth it. My books’ Amazon rankings are a matter of record. They are embarrassingly poor, but here’s the thing. The ranking of books that I self-published after taking them back from Endeavour at the beginning of 2020 are consistently better than those I left with Endeavour, although all of them have been on the market for some time. **I simply sell more copies of the titles I self-publish.** This is despite the fact that I charge more for them than when they were published by Endeavour. So I sell more copies and I make more money per copy. Plus I get the satisfaction of having control over the appearance of my titles and the way they are marketed.

CONCLUSION

16/ I am not actively seeking an agent, although if somebody can recommend a wonderful agent who is going to help develop my brand, I'd be very happy to talk to them. I am definitely not looking to have my future books published by a traditional publisher (old school or modern indie). As everybody in this group will be all too aware, publishers nowadays are not committed to making any serious marketing effort with your book, so what have you to lose by self-publishing? If you just stick it up on Kindle with a decent cover and do absolutely nothing ever again, you will still be giving it as much support as many of you are currently receiving from Accent and at least you get to keep all the money.

I will be very interested in your comments.