Agents and Publishers

[marvad]

Any of you pre-published folks getting the feeling that querying agents these days is fruitless?  Since I live in what was once the RV capital of the world, and every manufacturer has gone belly up, I'm getting the distinct feeling that books are not going to be a high priority buy in the coming year.

Maybe it's smarter to write, but not sub or

Comments

not sub or query? Why not?

[maryturzillo]

I am not sure what the life of an agent is like. I do wonder if some of them are living off day-jobs, much as their writer clients are. I also worry a lot about the health of the print literature industry.

But why not submit and query? I have had the experience of being accepted by an editor on the tenth or fifteenth sub (not the same story, obviously!); I also have had the experience of an editor remembering and recommending a piece that he or she couldn't buy because their zine didn't have enough spots.

I imagine the same must happen with books. I know a lot of people are going the POD route these days, but it really worries me. Mike Resnick, the best advisor I know, advises against it.

The other thing is, if we're not submitting, the motivation to write goes down after awhile. We all want an audience, even if it's only an agent who is going to say no.

Re: not sub or query? Why not?

[marvad]

Thanks, Mary. I emailed a response which is more personal than I care to have in public. Good thoughts!

[karen_w_newton]

I have to agree with Mary. You also have the option of submitting directly to the limited set of editors who will look at unagented submissions. I was kind of against that in the past, because it made one less palace the agent could try, once you get an agent. But on the other hand, I agree agents are now very, very reluctant to take on new writers, so maybe it's time to go back to the "sell it first, then get the agent" model.

[marvad]

Karen:

I am looking for publishers that accept unagented submissions. Not a lot of those and half of the ones I checked out didn't pass the AbsoluteWrite smell test. So many "independent" publishers are actually vanity press, but pretend they're real. Takes a lot of time to find them, then sort them out.

Thanks!