In a lot of the book forums I frequent, I often see posts by newbies asking plaintively how one goes about getting an agent. The traditional publishing segment, of course, continues to bleat out its timeworn advice to writers: get an agent, get validated by being traditionally published. It’s interesting, isn’t it, that the only way to get “validated” is by doing things their way, playing by their rules? But that’s another post.
A much more interesting note is the fact that recently traditional publishers have found that combing through the growing ranks of indie writers is yielding a double bonus for them: these writers have already gambled on putting their voices out there and for some the public has responded positively. The traditional publishers are now taking a new look at the indie boom, since they’re finding (1) good books, already vetted by the public, with (2) a built-in following. The publishers are definitely seeing—and jumping on—the opportunities of the growing indie movement.
But the ones who are still dead-set against it? You got it. The agents, the very ones who are being marginalized by this new tete-a-tete. After all, if you can put your book out there, gather a following and possibly, eventually, get picked up by a traditional publisher, who needs an agent? Continue reading “Agents: Got one? Need one?”
Back when I was in journalism school, I was assigned to interview a professor I didn’t know for a story that would run on the campus radio station. On interview day, I yelled and hyperventilated all over my dorm room – to the point where my roommate said something to the effect of, “Gosh, Lynne, if this is so stressful for you, maybe you should change your major.” I calmed down, did the interview – the prof was perfectly nice and, in fact, probably had more radio experience than I did – and did not change my major. Then I went on to spend twenty years in the news business, and only occasionally suffered the sort of panic I’d had before that first interview.