I heard a panel recently where half the writers were dropped by their first agent after they pitched their second project. Be sure to ask around outside of the agent on this one.
As we’re heading into the #PitchWars showcase and since the conversation seems abuzz...here’s a thread of questions I would recommend you ask not only potential agents during The Call, but references, and clients you reach out to personally:
I heard a panel recently where half the writers were dropped by their first agent after they pitched their second project. Be sure to ask around outside of the agent on this one.
Meaning, will they revise the manuscript with you beforehand or just do small edits and send it off to editors. Both have their pros and cons, and one might matter to you more.
In other words, how much time do they have to devote to you and your career. You can also ask, on average how long does it take to get a project on sub?
This one I think is rarely in questions lists, but I think it’s a fun one to see how passionate an agent gets about their career.
This one is to see if they are signing and selling projects like yours. If you write sci-fi and all they’ve sold recently are contemporaries in a different age group that’s good to know!
This will allow you to see if they are excited to send to large publishers or are leaning more toward mid-sized, etc. This might matter more to you one or the other way.
If there are things you are not willing to change that the agent mentions, better to have the conversation before. Many agents won’t tell you everything, you can always mentions some things you don’t want to change too.
If this is super important to you, you can definitely ask about money up front and the value they think your project has.
Career building and planning is definitely something that your agent should have some idea on. A lot depends on what happens with project one, etc, but just an overall idea if this is something they do with clients is good!
I’ve found that a lot of my agent sibs and I have a similar commercial style and it makes me feel like I’m in the right coven. Knowing that your writing fits into what your agent likes to read will make you feel confident.
Last year I attended KT’s bi-annual retreat for the first time and got to know some of my amazing agency sibs and my agent. Definitely is a plus!
This is a business and knowing that your agency has access and experience with other avenues that will make your $ is awesome! If they can give you examples of this even better!
Some agents can and some can’t. Some may leave the industry entirely. Important to know what will happen to you if any of this happens.
This might be important to you even if you are not a marginalized writer. Some agents/agencies are sadly are sometimes racist, etc. Good to know beforehand!
At KT, I think it’s one or two years before I could use a manuscript again with another agent if (Gods forbid) my agent and I parted ways. Important to know!
I also love Jim McCarthy’s list of questions here: https://t.co/JtWuqOu3XG
More from Writing
Things we don’t learn in this article: that the author wrote David Cameron’s speeches during the period when they were intentionally underfunding the NHS and other services, directly creating the problem the author is concerned about now.
We also don’t learn that the paper it’s written in stridently supported those measures and attacked junior doctors threatening strike action over NHS cuts and long working hours, accusing them of holding the country to ransom.
We aren’t reminded that NHS funding and the future of health provision was a central part of previous election campaigns, and that attempts to highlight these problems were swiftly stomped on or diverted and then ignored by most of the press, including the Times.
I’d underline here that “corruption” doesn’t just mean money in brown envelopes: it describes a situation where much of an organisation is personally motivated to ignore, downplay or divert from malfeasance for personal reasons - because highlighting them would be bad for careers
Foges was Cameron’s speechwriter at the height of austerity; Forsyth is married to the PM’s spokesman; Danny F is a Tory peer; Parris is a former MP; Gove used to write for them regularly, and that’s before we get to professional mates-with-ministers like Shipman or Montgomerie.
Today we learn health services are brutally underfunded with scant support for hard pressed staff, although it\u2019s left unclear who is responsible for that and it appears to be an exceptional, totally unpredicted phenomenon, like a freak weather event. pic.twitter.com/StwFR7RejE
— Flying_Rodent (@flying_rodent) January 25, 2021
We also don’t learn that the paper it’s written in stridently supported those measures and attacked junior doctors threatening strike action over NHS cuts and long working hours, accusing them of holding the country to ransom.
We aren’t reminded that NHS funding and the future of health provision was a central part of previous election campaigns, and that attempts to highlight these problems were swiftly stomped on or diverted and then ignored by most of the press, including the Times.
I’d underline here that “corruption” doesn’t just mean money in brown envelopes: it describes a situation where much of an organisation is personally motivated to ignore, downplay or divert from malfeasance for personal reasons - because highlighting them would be bad for careers
Foges was Cameron’s speechwriter at the height of austerity; Forsyth is married to the PM’s spokesman; Danny F is a Tory peer; Parris is a former MP; Gove used to write for them regularly, and that’s before we get to professional mates-with-ministers like Shipman or Montgomerie.
I want to talk about how western editors and readers often mistake protags written by BIPOC as "inactive protagonists." It's too common an issue that's happened to every BIPOC author I know.
Often, our protags are just trying to survive overwhelming odds. Survival is an active choice, you know. Survival is a story. Choosing to be strong in the face of the world ending, even if you can't blast a wall down to do it, is a choice.
It's how we live these days.
Western editors, readers, and writers are too married to the three-act structure, to the type of storytelling that is driven by conflict, to that go-getter individualism. Please read more widely out of your comfort zone. A lot of great non-western stories do not hinge on these.
Sometimes I wonder if you're all so hopped up on the conflict-driven story because that's exactly how your colonizer ancestors dealt with people different from them. Oops, I said it, sorry not sorry. Yes, even this mindset has roots in colonialism, deal with it.
If you want examples of non-conflict-driven storytelling google the following: kishoutenketsu, johakyu, daisy chain storytelling/wheel spoke storytelling. There was another one whose name I forgot but I will tweet it when I recall it.
Writing tip: let\u2019s talk about the INACTIVE PROTAGONIST. I\u2019ve seen a lot of amazing books lately with incredible plots, intricate worlds, and just really great writing with one recurring issue, which is the inactive protagonist. I think it can get tough when you\u2019re writing (1/10)
— Briston Brooks (@briston_brooks) January 26, 2021
Often, our protags are just trying to survive overwhelming odds. Survival is an active choice, you know. Survival is a story. Choosing to be strong in the face of the world ending, even if you can't blast a wall down to do it, is a choice.
It's how we live these days.
Western editors, readers, and writers are too married to the three-act structure, to the type of storytelling that is driven by conflict, to that go-getter individualism. Please read more widely out of your comfort zone. A lot of great non-western stories do not hinge on these.
Sometimes I wonder if you're all so hopped up on the conflict-driven story because that's exactly how your colonizer ancestors dealt with people different from them. Oops, I said it, sorry not sorry. Yes, even this mindset has roots in colonialism, deal with it.
If you want examples of non-conflict-driven storytelling google the following: kishoutenketsu, johakyu, daisy chain storytelling/wheel spoke storytelling. There was another one whose name I forgot but I will tweet it when I recall it.
