Parting Ways with Your Agent
By Elisabeth Weed | October 4, 2013 |
photo by Maja_Larsson
I’ve posted about the author-agent relationship here on Writer Unboxed, and have come to the end of the cycle…parting ways with your agent. As someone who has been fired well and fired badly (it’s happened to every agent I know) I’d like to share what I humbly think one should do and not do.
First Step: Reconsidering
First, ask yourself why you want to part ways with your agent. If it’s just that your agent hasn’t been able to sell your book, that might not be enough of a reason. Sorry, but it might just be the book. Or the market. Or the sad state of affairs of publishing–trends, bad track, etc…
So, take a step back and assess the situation.
- Did the agent get the project to the right editors?
- did the agent help you get it into submission-ready shape?
- Is your agent up to the task of rolling up her sleeves and getting it there?
And backing up farther
If the agent did their job in honing the book and getting it into the right hands, and the feedback was that the book wasn’t there, then it might be a case of needing to rework the project.
(I ask myself that question before I take on any new project. If I can’t sell something right out of the gate, is it a book I am so passionate about that I will be excited to work on it through several more iterations? If I am not, then I ultimately step to the side.)
Hopefully, after asking these questions, you will come to the conclusion that it might be a matter of shifting gears, and even more hopeful still, you will be able to do this gracefully, with your agent championing your new approach.
Second Step: The Tough Talk
Of course there are a million reasons I can think of to fire your representation. I have heard some horror stories (and would welcome anyone to share stories here as I think it’s worth having an open dialog.) I work with an author who came to me after her prior agent sat on her book for a year. Yes, one year, without reading it. That is a pretty good sign that you are not a priority in that agent’s eyes. Or the agent who just ignores, point blank your calls or emails. Not acceptable.
But what about when things aren’t so black and white?
Perhaps your career is taking a different turn or moving into a genre that your agent doesn’t handle or have as much expertise in. It’s perfectly acceptable to call your agent and have an honest discussion about that. Or it might be a matter of coming to different conclusions about your current project. For example, I worked with a wonderful author, who over the course of several books also became a friend. When he delivered his latest project, we were not on the same page about what needed to be done with it editorially. In a nutshell, he felt it was close to being ready and I felt it needed an overhaul. I was concerned about my ability to sell the work as it was. We had a frank conversation about edits, and ultimately decided that it was in his best interest to find someone who loved the book as much as he did in the form it was in. I love that he had such a conviction about his work and was not surprised to learn (always lovely, he emailed me first so I could hear it from him) that he was snatched up by a big name agent several weeks later. I wish him only the best moving forward and mention this anecdote here as a perfect break up in that, through it, there remained a mutual respect for one another…AND he found a better fit for his work. A win win.
Of course not every author/agent has this kind of back and forth and I get that calling your agent up and telling them you are leaving may sound scary. I am a bit of a chicken myself when it comes to confrontation so I get the desire to send an email (and I believe most agency agreements that you sign do ask that you put such things in writing) but if most of your dialog is done verbally, then you really do need to pick up the phone and call them. The letter can come second. It really depends on how you communicate.
The only big don’t I want to give is this: Don’t let yourself get to the point of being so fed up with your agent that you are pissed off beyond belief. I have many an agent friend who have been shocked to get a termination letter from a client with no prior hints of frustration. If you are frustrated about something your agent is or is not doing, you need to speak up. Your agent is busy and not a mind reader. If you have voiced your concerns and the problem continues, then it is time to part ways.
Last Consideration: Timing
Finally, the other big question is, do you wait to fire your agent before you find another or do you fire your agent first? As scary as it may seem to be without representation for a time, it’s important to part ways with your agent before looking for someone else. I get many referrals and have signed clients who have terminated representation and it’s usually for reasons mentioned earlier–a shift in what the author is writing or perhaps an agent who is paring back his or her list.
That’s my two cents. What do you all think?
Elisabeth Weed formed Weed Literary LLC in 2007. Prior to that, she worked as a literary agent at Curtis Brown, Kneerim and Williams and Trident Media Group. Weed Literary is hands-on in every stage of the publishing process, from developing proposals, to submitting books to the all of the major houses and negotiating contracts with those houses, to involvement in marketing and publicity of books, as well as in the selling of foreign and film rights.
I like this advice, Elizabeth. Very clear and positive. I’ve had three agents with dreadful results. The first agent passed away within 6 months, the second agent went out of business in the first year, the third agent ran over my MS with his car and mailed it back to me with his tires marks on the pages when I told him I didn’t want to work with him because he was charging me fees. Today, I remain agentless and managing fairly well. Just sayin’ that in the literary world, there are lots of curves thrown at you. Your 3 points about getting the project prepared, submitted, and assertively pitched to the right people can apply to editors, publishers, PR agents, etc. Thanks!
I’m shopping my first novel around to agents, and hoping for the perfect fit. I can see how that might change over time, as does everything else.
Elizabeth, I love your hands on approach and the fact that you want to love a project enough to see it through heavy edits if necessary. As an aspiring author, I love the idea of finding someone I could collaborate with like that, to take my writing to the next level.
It’s all good! I’m off to your website to see what type of projects you’re looking for right now!
Elisabeth-
Ah, as a fellow agent I am grateful for this sensible post. There does come a time to change representation. I’ve seen that change happen, though, when it is *not* the time.
Frustration with one’s career can happen. Authors know a change is needed, and so sometimes they change the one thing they feel they can control: their agent.
But is that always the right solution? Sometimes but not always. As you say, the problem can lie in other areas. When a novel has failed to sell even after appropriate submissions, well…we can see that the market and the novel itself need a look.
More often, I find that frustration builds over time and a number of titles. “My publisher isn’t doing enough for me!” It’s an odd complaint when it comes from authors who have stuck to a sub-genre formula for six books in a series, and/or who have not grown their fiction. The reading public is right to grow weary of same old, same old.
Not that publishers can’t coast, or that agents can’t become too busy, too slack or themselves harbor pent up feelings. That happens. But whatever we might question about an agent–or what an agent might gripe about a client–it is almost always something we can first question or gripe about in ourselves. (And I include me!)
Your advice about the tough talk and timing are right on. To that I would add only the advice to, after a while, take stock. “What did I learn?”
Several times in my career I’ve had former clients write to me to say, “I see now that you were only urging me to be a better writer.” Ah. That’s nice to hear. I know those authors will be okay. They’ve gained a healthy and helpful perspective.
Great post, Elisabeth. Couldn’t have put it better myself–and probably wouldn’t have!
Elisabeth, thank you for summing up the subject that many writers and agents don’t want to talk or think about. I appreciate your perspective, of grace and professionalism, and agree that communication is key.
I’ve been through the situation, and mutually agreed with my former agent that my writing didn’t fit his area of expertise, after I’d grown as a writer. It was a tough discussion, mainly because we’d become good friends. Your story of your former client who emailed you to share the news of his new agent says a lot, and it’s a great example of how to continue forward after parting ways. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
If you want to read about a bad breakup, I commend to you the chapter in Joe Eszterhas’s memoir, Hollywood Animal, wherein he leaves Michael Ovitz and CAA.
Oh. My.
Over 20+ years publishing books in many genres, I’ve had 7 agents:
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/lev-raphael/first-kill-all-the-litera_b_1935093.html
Good counsel. I’ve found some books are ahead of their time and no agent can sell into a market that says, “That stuff doesn’t sell.” Changing agents won’t help, best to put the ms. on the shelf and wait until the market changes, it always does.
Sensibly and sensitively written, excellent advice for any author, agented or otherwise. The questions you raise are also wise considerations for those of us still querying, submitting, and ultimately choosing an agent, a coda to your previous posts.
You ask for horror stories. I’m unagented, and when I deemed the manuscript of my novel to be honed, toned, and copy-edited, I sent a query and synopsis off to a college friend, now an agent representing only non-fiction. In a backwoods attempt at networking, I asked him for suggestions and references to agents who handled fiction. I waited for almost a year until I called him and received a mea culpa with a chuckle that he hadn’t gotten around to it, but he promised to “soon.” I waited several months, screwed my courage to the sticking place, and called again. His secretary sighed, “It’s not right for us, but thanks anyway.” Although I hadn’t seen him in years, we had been part of a closely-knit group of friends, and I (the original tough cookie) was (I’ll admit it) steamrolled into crumbs by his dismissal. It was my own fault for being so hesitant. I had never considered him as an potential agent, but it was painful.
You use phrases like “honest discussion” and “frank conversation” — music to any author’s ears who has been put on forever hold with Lily Tomlin at the switchboard.
I had queried you only days before you announced that you were taking time to spend with the new baby. Armed with the courage of a ‘writer unboxed,’ I will now be impetuous enough to assault you with another query.
Hope your maternal hiatus was wonderful and that you’re itching for some fresh reading!
The advice here is stellar, as always.
Thank you, Elisabeth! Having struggled, and succeeded by any number of measures, in publishing my first book on my own, I’ve discovered two things. First, I learned invaluable lessons from having taken on the enormity and entirety of the publishing process, from draft to edits to previews to re-edits to production to promotion. I’ve no doubt those lessons will serve me well for the rest of my writing career.
Secondly, I’ve learned I’d prefer not take it all on again. Next time I want a team, starting with an agent who’s a good fit. I’m only now preparing for a new project, having given up months on the aforementioned tasks. Yet, seeing that window start to open now, I want to learn about agency generally for a time rather than putting myself – or an agent -in an interviewing or query mode. Your post and the comments I read each week on WU are perfect for that. So thank you for so openly sharing your lessons learned. I very much appreciate them, as do many others I’m sure.
As many, I’m sure, I’m sad to see the end of this series–as I found it insightful and infomative.
I’m new querying agents. And was becoming a little frustrated at how long the process was taking. Thank you for helping me see that it’s not how fast but rather finding the right one that matters.
Looking forward to learning more from you someday, I hope.
Excellent advice, Elizabeth. Particularly about letting your agent know if you’re frustrated or unhappy. And if you mostly communicate by email that could be part of the problem. We all interpret email differently so just pick up the phone once in a while and check in. No one likes confrontation but talking is the best path to understanding.
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