An agent whose name I have seen several times with offerings but who has no deals listed under her name on Agent Query or P.M. has asked to see my complete manuscript. She requires a 1 year contract. (Yes I know I'm getting ahead of myself.) I've heard "no agent is better than a bad agent." On the other hand, everybody has to start somewhere..so.. your thoughts?
First, let's all remember that PM and AQ are self-reporting websites. Not all agents post their deals there.
The key piece of information you need to find out is this: has this agent made any sales. Don't assume she hasn't just cause you can't find them on the web. ASK. It's ok to ask at this stage. She wants your full, that means she's interested in your work.
If she's new to the biz, she may not have any sales at all. In that case, ASK about her previous experience. If she has not ever worked in a company that does book deals, on either side of the desk, I'd be wary. I see a lot of websites with well intentioned people who want to help authors sell their books but what they don't know about how to do that or who to approach would be a book in and of itself.
As for the one year contract, there are several quite reputable agents who do that. They give you a year and if they can't sell it, you're released from the agency.
An inexperienced agent is not a bad agent by default. And "experience" isn't some sort of universal either. I'm pretty experienced but if you hand me category romance, I'd be a VERY bad agent since I don't know the genre, don't read it, and don't know the editors who buy it.
bToday instead of a review or a poem or a poet, I have a Poetry Blog: Princeton Public Library's Poetry Podcast Blog
I found out about PPL's Poetry Podcast at Library Garden. The Garden post goes into details about the origin of the blog and techie stuff. One of these days I will start podcasting, I promise.
Posts at the Poetry Podcast contain photos, podcasts, and poems.
I've fallen into a bad habit; looking for out of copyright poems so I don't have to worry about "is it legal" and so I can post the whole poem. Thanks to PPL for posting current poets, and showing that poetry isn't dead. I usually don't think about my posts until Friday; but I'm going to make the effort to contact a current poet for permission to post his/her whole poem.
I saw a blogger who did this (post with permission) within the past few months and cannot find the blog; whoever did this, congrats to you. Basically, the blogger wanted to use the poem so emailed the poet and got permission. So easy; so obvious; so something I didn't think of until I saw someone else do it. Edited to add: The brilliant blogger was Lisa at Passionately Curious; thanks to Chicken Spaghetti for the reminder.
Links: will be added later today
Liz in Ink has two poems by kids; not only that, they are kids she knows! Her kids. That's one way to get around copyright. (And the final line of the second poem cracks me up. I can just hear the surprise.)
Check It Out/ MsMac recommends Wing Nuts: Screwy Haiku by Paul B. Janeczko and J. Patrick Lewis
The Miss Rumphius Effect shares an original poem
Laura Salas/ Wordy Girls highlights the poets Galway Kinnell and Josephine Dickinson
Susan Taylor Brown offers up Notice What This Poem Is Not Doing by William Stafford
Wordy Girls entertains us with Photo Poetry written by their readers
Charlotte's Library notes that Bugle Song by Tennyson would make a great picture book
Nancy / Journey Woman ignores Friday the 13th and has a bonus Moose poem as well as the Chinese Book of Songs
Gregory K/ Gotta Book continues his month long "original poem a day" with Diary of a Bad Week
Kelly Fineman analyzes The Oven Bird by Robert Frost
Anne / Book Buds tosses out Good Sports by Jack Prelutsky
Blog from a Windowsill springs Inch by Inch by David Mallet on us
MotherReader rocks our world with an original fib and suggestions for a book display
BiblioFile / Jennie mourns Kurt Vonnegut's death
Monica / Educating Alice reports on a Jabberwocky salon that includes a choral reading and art
Kelly / Big A little a celebrates a birthday by sharing her love of Ted Hughes, who is so her dead poet boyfriend (Happy Birthday, Kelly! Welcome to the land of Not Thirtysomething Any More)
Elaine / Blue Rose Girls overachieves again with The Joy of Writing by Wislawa Szymborska, sharing poetry (or poetry highlighting) blogs, original poems at Elaine's other blog (more on that in a second), and a photo of her workspace that is way too organized; and if that's not enough, at Elaine's other blog, Wild Rose Reader, she continues her monthlong poem a day with Original Poem Number 13. Her poems were inspired by photos at a wrung sponge.
Michele / Scholar's Blog is inspired by Doctor Who to post Dylan Thomas and Shakespeare
The Old Coot picks the Gashleycrumb Tinies
A wrung sponge / cloudscome links to Elaine / Wild Rose Reader's poems (see above) inspired by cloudcome's photos.
The Mombrarian posts about Tracey Campbell Pearson's visual interpretation of The Moon by Robert Louis Stevenson.
Please leave your name and URL to your post if you want to be included, and I'll add you later tonight!
Added:
A Year of Reading and I must have hit the send button at the same time: Year reviews Poetry 180 and 180 More by Billy Collins.
and
lectitans serves up some Latin (getting around copyright by using REALLY old stuff (Catullus) AND doing her own translation!)
and
and a new brave blogger: Adventures in Daily Living joins in with Grown Up by Edna St. Vincent Millay, one of my most favorite poets ever
and
A Fuse #8 Production -- cheers to Bartricks of the Overeducated by Susan Ramsey
Farm School must have weather like I'm having; she shares Rainy Robin by Frances Frost
and
Bri Meets Books shares Child in Red by Rainer Maria Rilke (Bri, I couldn't figure out a direct link to the post). I figured it out: the direct link
and Original Content/ Gail sneaks in a poetry Friday post (thought if you didn't label it I wouldn't find it... ha ha, I'm too clever!)
and Miss Erin brings the Mist with Henry David Thoreau
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I second Miss Snark. I once worked with a very well-intentioned agent with zero experience. She was the wife of a well-known SF author, and was used to rubbing elbows with editors at cons. This made her think she had experience, or at least contacts. She did not. A year later, she had not sold the book, and had only submitted it one place. We parted ways. I'm wiser now, and I have learned much from Miss Snark. First question out of an author's mouth when an agent offers representation should always be, "What have you sold?" This is not an insult to the agent. We're all professionals here (or strive to be). It's just good business.
If an agent is in a large agency, and said agent doesn't handle romance, wouldn't the unromantic agent pass a great romance manuscript to the agent who daydreams of bodice ripper covers?
Or does the first agent simply not read the ms, and pass?
I find it interesting to hear how different agents work. So some agents have a one year contract, others don't. Thanks, Miss Snark, for helping us identify what is a red flag issue and what isn't.
bran raises an interesting question. Are there some manuscripts an agent falls in love with enough to take on that he or she can't get editors to look at?
If I find the one (reputable) agent who thinks my work is the next big thing, and he can't get attention, is that his fault, or is it the work? I mean, can't you twist a few arms? Call in a few favors?
I've seen an agent or two on AgentQuery who had no sales listed, but who I know have made some pretty good sales.
Here's a related question -- If the writer has researched this agent and believes her work to be something that agent would be interested in representing, wouldn't the question of what's been sold already be pretty obvious?
Would an agent who hears "What have you sold" just think a writer has no idea what s/he likes?
Exactly, anon.
Writers should do their research before they submit to an agent, not when an agent has offered for them!
If you have any concerns about an agent at all, don't waste your time (or their time) querying them. Your queries should only be to those you would be happy to be represented by.