Offer of Representation
You have an offer of representation from a literary agent--now what? Here are some crucial questions to ask before you sign on the dotted line.
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OFFER OF REPRESENTATION TRANSCRIPT
Hello. This is Mary Kole with Good Story Company. And I am here today to talk about an offer of representation.
This means an agent is interested. They're about to make an offer to represent your work. How do we deal with this? What do we think about? And how do we sort of navigate some of the other things that might come up?
This is a wonderful problem to have. Let me just start by saying that. This is everybody's dream. This is the end of a very long road. The beginning of another long road but the end of one very long road, which sort of means that you've cleared this big hurdle and been offered representation or got the interest of an agent, got the interest of a publisher. But it is no time to let your guard down and to just make excitement-based decisions. You're gonna be very tempted to do so and it is very tempting. It's a great, great moment in your writing life.
But there are some downsides. For example, you will need to vet this person and when your excitement is high, your judgment can be low. You want to make sure that it's not just any agent. Ideally, you will have done that with your submission research before you submit it, before you got an offer of representation, but not everybody has done the due diligence from step one.
Now, if you're on step two, getting the offer of representation, and you haven't really checked out the person that's offering, absolutely do so before saying yes. Make sure you have a phone conversation with them. Make sure you learn their editorial plans if they have any, for revising your work because sometimes, people have wildly different ideas that aren't cohesive with yours for where they want to take a project, because they'll say, "Well, I believe it will sell if you will put zombies in it." And that was not your vision. It's a historical romance. You know, that's a silly example but sometimes, you can diverge on editorial. So make sure you find out what the person's plan is.
You also want to make sure that you know what their submission plan is. Do they have the kind of contacts and do they have the kind of vision to take your story to the type of publisher you would ideally like to work with? Believe it or not, not everybody wants a Big 5 publisher. They are more attracted to maybe a medium-sized, very literary publisher. Does the agent have the vision to take them there or are they gonna try and place them with a huge house where the writer worries they might get lost? These are considerations that have to do with your value system. And so, these type of big picture conversations are ones I would definitely have when you're exploring accepting an offer of representation. I'll put a link in the video description for questions to ask when you're being offered representation as well as 10 questions that you might be asked yourself by the person because they're also vetting you.
Another thing you will want to go over is the agency agreement, the terms for termination, payment. All of these things, usually, are spelled out in an agreement that a client signs when they sign with an agent. That could be very important because if things don't go well, and I know you don't want to think about things not going well but it is a very common story, how do you get out and what rights do you have? How are things gonna work if the agent is now your ex and you guys did a book deal together? All sorts of things you don't really want to think about but this is why we sign a prenup because, you know, the wedding's all exciting but things may diverge afterward. And so, are there provisions for how everything is handled? There should be. If you're very meticulous, you may want to find an intellectual property or entertainment lawyer to look over the agent's contract before you sign anything.
Now, some writers are very intimidated by literary agents and I understand why. This is, after all, a big dream and it is something very, very huge coming to fruition in your writing life. And a lot of writers, frankly, never get to this point. At the same time, I have heard a lot of stories of writers who have pushed on an agent or asked a question and the agent did not react very charitably to sort of any inquiries. I would, as a person, want to know about that sooner rather than later. A lot of people are too scared to ask questions, or to ask to see the agency agreement, or to suggest changes to the agency agreement. And the agents that say, "You know, I don't need you. You need me. Bye-bye." I've heard multiple instances of this actually happening. That's probably not the right agent for you.
And so, when you're vetting the agent, remember, you are hiring them. It's tough to remember that because you want an agent, any agent, somebody to take you, and, you know, you're looking to validate yourself as a writer at this point. You're hiring them though. And if they have evasive answers, if they don't sort of present a vision for submission or revision for your project, if they won't let you ask questions about the agency contract, they are not going to be a good advocate for you. Some agents have an ego and depending on who you are and your value system, that may or may not be a good thing for you. And they may not be great to work with if you have questions about your publishing contract down the line or if you ever disagree about something. I think it's a very unfortunate dynamic that a lot of writers live in fear of their agents. And ideally, you would know that sooner rather than later so that you can make a smart choice about whether or not to work with that person because it's something that I would hate to sort of see come out years down the line when you run into sort of a rough patch with the agent. You may need to part ways because communication difficulties is probably the number one reason that I hear and I hear that from hundreds of writers for sort of people parting ways.
So I would be a little bolder if I were you, considering an offer of representation, asking questions, trying to pin the agent down to their vision for you, for your book, for your career as a writer. It's tough to think about all these things now, but I absolutely would encourage you to because the right advocate for you may not be that first person who says yes. It may be someone else that's out there. Not to kind of parade the doom and gloom on your bright achievement, but think about these things now because you may get caught up in the excitement and sign. It's not a terrible thing if you do. Many writers, as I've said in this video, end up parting ways with their agents, but you may want to avoid it if you at all can, and asking some of these questions is a really great way to sort of vet your offer of representation. Good luck.
This is Mary Kole with Good Story Company. Here's to a good story.
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