- Agents are people too.
What I learned at the Santa Barbara Writers’ Conference
Agents have a job
to do: Sell books to publishers.
A long time ago I
sold life insurance. I lasted only a year before I felt the need to become an
alcoholic. The stress of convincing people to buy something they believed they
did not need stoked the urge to drink even though insurance did fill a gap in
many portfolios. Sales and rejection share the same shelf.
Like life
insurance representatives, literary agents stand in the middle, representing
the life or death of an author’s manuscript - a work of art filled with the
writer’s passion and faith, and hope their creation will become the Great
American Novel. If only….
There lies the
rub.
This year’s agents’
panel represented all generations of agents. Toni Lopolo, who opened with the
same line as last year,” The name is Hawaiian not Italian,” displayed her antiquated attitude toward the evolving industry by asking Marla Miller “What
is this new term, The, Entrepreneurial Author?”
Kat Brzozowski, the youngest agent and first
timer at the conference became excited when I told her the energy at last year’s
panel became a little heated. Her spirit and forward thinking will carry her
the distance in this new age of publishing.
Agents occupy the
front lines in the war between writers and publishers and those who have
survived are donning more than one hat. They have added editing and workshops
to their shingles. And like everyone, some hang on to old ideas while others
embrace the future of publishing with anticipation.
Agents’ jobs are
like other jobs, filled with rejection – angry clients and demanding bosses.
As people,we are
all on the same exhilarating ride filled with a passion to share ourselves and
create, in this case, The Great American Novel.
If I were an agent I'd be wondering how to survive. I think there are options but it'll look very different from the past. "May you live in interesting times" has never been more true!
ReplyDeleteYes, I thought Toni Lopopolo was a little behind the times when she kept insisting that "Entrepreneurial Publishing" was simply the old "vanity press." The Internet and e-books have changed all that. Still have a lot of bugs to work out, but agents have to find a new reason to persuade authors to give up a percentage of their earnings to them -- and sorting out, explaining, and offering legal advice on selling the diverse collection of rights out there (which is growing all the time) is, in my opinion, their strong suit right now and the area where they should promote their services.
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