Piggott’s new novel Fire Horses is out in the UK from small publisher Legend, and he explains that he sold it directly after two agents gave him bad advice about what to write (something more commercial) then didn’t manage to sell the results. 

Piggott then went back to writing what he loves – a literary novel – and three agents were interested but said his writing needed “smoothing out.” All advised him to go after a writing based MA (usually called an MFA in the US).  Two wrote references to help him get in.  He did so, and comments that such courses essentially teach you to edit yourself.  (We agree.)  He then sent the newly polished novel to the above small press and they snapped it up.

Next he tells us he queried three “agencies” – he cites PFD, Curtis Brown, and United Agents – and was told to send a synopsis, writing sample, etc.  Which made him feel aggrieved because his published “well received” novel has not, it seems, made the process of finding representation any easier.  Not to worry, he says, Legend wants first refusal on his next book. 

End of blog in question, except that it’s worth mentioning that there have been approving comments from other debut novelists who cite similar experiences.

Folks, we mean absolutely no disrespect to Mr. Piggott when we say there are lessons to be learned here. Mostly about what not to do and how not to do it. That said, the thing that is most obvious from his writing history thus far is that the guy has real talent.  It’s why the two dud (for him) agents took him on, why the course enrolled him, why Legend published his book, and why they are anxious to see/possibly publish what he does next.  The next most obvious thing is that he has not a clue about how to go after a literary agent, and less than no clue about what the agent is supposed to do.

Here’s a bullet list of points to be learned from the experience he relates.  (And in this case they’re absolutely the same whether you’re on one or another side of the pond.)

• Never go with an agent until you ask what the agent has sold recently: author, title, publisher.  Piggott’s duds may not have been selling anything else either.  That’s the first thing you must establish and no legitimate agent will refuse to give you that information.

• Always check that list to be sure the books the agent is selling are not a million miles away from the book you’re writing/hope to write.  In the case of Piggott, he needed (and still needs) an agent who deals with literary fiction.  God alone knows what he actually got, but on the basis of reported advice, not that. 

We're a business and selling our services is what we do. We've been doing it for twelve years.   Agent R&E is a consultancy that helps writers find the right agent.  We do so in a very hands-on manner, and we bring to the task better than a quarter century of research on literary agents in the US, UK, and Canada.  That's Bill's input.  Beverly has spent a similar number of years writing and publishing.  First as a journalist for major publications, then as a novelist whose books are for sale all over the world.  Our Customized Fingerprint, the core of our business, calls on both skill sets and is a good deal more than a "list of agents."  The more experienced the writer (some 60% of our clients are previously published), the more likely they are to opt for that service.

A couple of months ago Ellen Horan called AR&E to get some advice.  Happens I answered the telephone (very rare – the line rings in my office, but I work at home so seldom am the one to answer it).  Thus I was the one who heard the story.  She had written a debut novel, an historical mystery called 31 Bond Street, and junior agents at two quite good firms – one, however, not good for fiction – had  gotten in touch with her after seeing a chunk of the book.  Both expressed enthusiasm and asked to see more.  More back and forthing followed with each.  Including a meeting with one.  Now she was, she told me, conflicted about which of the two to go to for representation.

Neither I told her immediately. 

She obviously had a hot property and junior agents were simply not going to be in a position to get her the best possible deal.  Anyone can sell a terrific book.  How well they sell it is frequently a matter of how much experience the agent has.   And the agency that was good for fiction was not prepared to promise her that one of their senior agents (in fact I told her which one she should have) would actually represent her. 

I went into huckster mode.  You need our Customized Fingerprint I told her.  Then I’ll give you chapter and verse on the seven or so agents you should go to with this, and tell you exactly why, how to go, and how to distinguish between them.  Trust me, I insisted, who the agent is and how they do the negotiation is enormously important.  ”Money,” Ellen said, “was tight.”  She had made enormous sacrifices to cut out the time to write this book, and while she knew our fee was probably worth it, she couldn’t see her way clear to making a further financial commitment.  After all, there were those two other agents…  I pressed her (Bill and I really care about our clients, but this is, after all, a business).  In the end she made the investment. 

After she sent back the questionnaire and we talked more about the book, I produced a report with Marly Rusoff my top pick for her.  It’s now less than two weeks since that contact was made and Marly – who did everything right – has just done a deal for a cool million with HarperCollins, who pre-empted Marly’s auction to get 31 Bond Street plus one more.   World English rights, so Ellen has translation rights sales to look forward to as well.  And Lynn Pleshette has the movie rights.

Pretty good investment of $369.00, no?  (But bear in mind the stipulation above:  an absolutely terrific book.)

Since we’ve been discussing what the people who work for you (literary agents in general and us sometimes) should do when they’re good at their jobs, a word or two more about how agents run auctions is warranted. 

First the definition of terms:  An auction is when an agent submits simultaneously to a  group of editors and tells them she’s closing at such and such a time.  Until then she’ll entertain bids.  Another term frequently seen in this regard is “preempt of an auction.”  Meaning an editor who loved the book called the agent and said I’ll give you X if I can have it right now.  (Otherwise I won’t being either stated or implied.)

An agent has a fiduciary responsibility to pass a pre-emptive offer on to the client, and while the agent will usually have strongly worded advice about whether or not to take it, the final decision rests with the author.  For an interesting permutation on how this can play out see an earlier blog of Beverly’s about another auction.  It’s dated 8/31/07 and headed SWEET SMELL OF…

Both auction stories make the point that the process makes great demands on the skills of the agent.  Years ago someone called it doing the agent dance, and that’s a pretty apt description.  The best agents really know how to jive. 

The September 5^th  New York Times has a story worth reading.  “Comcast has appealed a ruling by the F.C.C. that objected to the way the cable company had slowed down the connection of some users who were trying to share video and other files.”  You can read our previous discussions of the Comcast kafuffle in the e-zine archive.

After many, many years the UK’s Publishing News  is no longer publishing news in hard copy.  They retain a web presence on which the following is prominently displayed:  Although the print issue of Publishing News is no more, you can still access many of the online services on this site.   So far The Bookseller  is hanging in with a hard copy edition, but it has an active and growing web presence.  The parent company of the US’s Publishers Weekly, Reed Business Information (a division of Reed Elsevier) is for sale and there’s much speculation about PW’s likely fate under new ownership.  That magazine, too, has a growing web presence.

Diversion:  Here’s something for every author who ever smarted over a bad PW review:  In June it was revealed that the magazine had reduced the price paid to reviewers to $25.00 per, with the sop that they (reviewers) would henceforth get a byline.  Perhaps a dubious honor.  And you have to have gotten an advance bigger than that.