The bad agent I encountered
A visitor recently made a comment that they were interested in hearing about my experience with the bad agent that I had. Okay, here it goes:
I queried this particular agent, along with a number of other queries, in January of 2005. After back and forth communication and the sending of materials, I signed a contract (which was a very good contract, at that) in April. I was not worried about them because I read an article about the agency in which the lead agent indicated that they rejected 98% of queries. Surely an agency that rejects most work is not a scam, I thought to myself. Unfortunately, I was not knowledgeable of sites like http://www.anotherealm.com/prededitors/ and http://www.sfwa.org/beware/ yet. I also did not understand the importance of an agent being a member of the Association of Artists' Representatives (http://www.aar-online.org/mc/directory/viewsimplesearch.do?orgId=aar).
As the time passed they indicated to me that I must pay for my own copies, etc. I could make the copies myself and send them to them, or pay $250 to cover the cost for them to do it. I chose to make the copies myself, but since they gave me that option, once again no red flags went up. Then they asked for money to put my picture on their website, but it was not mandatory, so once again, it didn't worry me. They asked me to submit the stamps for the submissions, so I did. Once again, they didn't ask for money, so I felt safe. Then the submission process began. I, however, did not receive much information other than that they were submitting my work and would be in touch. It occurred to me, based on the wording of their correspondence, that all of the submissions were being sent by mail. They didn't have a finger on the pulse of the business, and they had no connections per se that they could just call up on the phone and say, "Hey, have I got a novel for you." Then, when there were no bites by publishers on my work they had no back-up plan as well.
Then I found out about the sites listed above, and I came across information on Absolute Write http://www.absolutewrite.com/ about this agent as well. It was not good. Then, I did not get copies of the rejection letters, and the list of publishers that they sent to me indicating who they sent my work to was mostly small market publishers that didn't even require having an agent to submit to.
I was disappointed, and devastated, but chalked it up to being a part of my learning process.
I fail to mention the name of the agent because they have already gone after one writer for defamation, and I am not in the mood for that. But, research is an important key. Make sure that your agent is not a chump.
Also, ensure the agent represents the type of material you are sending them, or they will just reject it. Not that rejections are all that bad. It is necessary to receive rejections. How else can one find a "yes" without wading through all of the "noes"?
I read later in Noah Lukeman's "The First Five Pages" that when searching for an agent, make sure that the industry recognizes them as an agent. Bad agents can hurt you because your name with the publisher will be remembered if sent by a bad agent, and some publishers, when they see a work sent by certain bad agents will toss the manuscript in the trash just because of who is representing it.
Comment if you want other details regarding my tale, and feel free to visit my website and leave a guestbook entry, or you can even e-mail me, even if it's to give me a piece of your mind.
http://www.geocities.com/douglasvgibbs
douglasvgibbs@yahoo.com
peace, and God Bless you. notw.
I queried this particular agent, along with a number of other queries, in January of 2005. After back and forth communication and the sending of materials, I signed a contract (which was a very good contract, at that) in April. I was not worried about them because I read an article about the agency in which the lead agent indicated that they rejected 98% of queries. Surely an agency that rejects most work is not a scam, I thought to myself. Unfortunately, I was not knowledgeable of sites like http://www.anotherealm.com/prededitors/ and http://www.sfwa.org/beware/ yet. I also did not understand the importance of an agent being a member of the Association of Artists' Representatives (http://www.aar-online.org/mc/directory/viewsimplesearch.do?orgId=aar).
As the time passed they indicated to me that I must pay for my own copies, etc. I could make the copies myself and send them to them, or pay $250 to cover the cost for them to do it. I chose to make the copies myself, but since they gave me that option, once again no red flags went up. Then they asked for money to put my picture on their website, but it was not mandatory, so once again, it didn't worry me. They asked me to submit the stamps for the submissions, so I did. Once again, they didn't ask for money, so I felt safe. Then the submission process began. I, however, did not receive much information other than that they were submitting my work and would be in touch. It occurred to me, based on the wording of their correspondence, that all of the submissions were being sent by mail. They didn't have a finger on the pulse of the business, and they had no connections per se that they could just call up on the phone and say, "Hey, have I got a novel for you." Then, when there were no bites by publishers on my work they had no back-up plan as well.
Then I found out about the sites listed above, and I came across information on Absolute Write http://www.absolutewrite.com/ about this agent as well. It was not good. Then, I did not get copies of the rejection letters, and the list of publishers that they sent to me indicating who they sent my work to was mostly small market publishers that didn't even require having an agent to submit to.
I was disappointed, and devastated, but chalked it up to being a part of my learning process.
I fail to mention the name of the agent because they have already gone after one writer for defamation, and I am not in the mood for that. But, research is an important key. Make sure that your agent is not a chump.
Also, ensure the agent represents the type of material you are sending them, or they will just reject it. Not that rejections are all that bad. It is necessary to receive rejections. How else can one find a "yes" without wading through all of the "noes"?
I read later in Noah Lukeman's "The First Five Pages" that when searching for an agent, make sure that the industry recognizes them as an agent. Bad agents can hurt you because your name with the publisher will be remembered if sent by a bad agent, and some publishers, when they see a work sent by certain bad agents will toss the manuscript in the trash just because of who is representing it.
Comment if you want other details regarding my tale, and feel free to visit my website and leave a guestbook entry, or you can even e-mail me, even if it's to give me a piece of your mind.
http://www.geocities.com/douglasvgibbs
douglasvgibbs@yahoo.com
peace, and God Bless you. notw.
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