One of the more prevalent and persistent misconceptions about the future of publishing is that if we move to a model where you don’t HAVE to go through an agent and publisher to find publication, suddenly agents are going to go out like the dodo bird by way of the buggy whip.
Here’s the thing: being a gatekeeper is one of the smaller parts of any agent’s job.
It’s easy to see where misconceptions about agenting and the importance of gatekeeping comes from: in the traditional publishing model, you need an agent to get to the editors to get to the bookstores to get to the readers. Thus agents loom very large as the first hoop and first ring of the funnel, and to an aspiring author this gatekeeping role looms very very VERY large. For an aspiring author, the gatekeeping function is basically all they think about when they think about agents.
But in actuality, agents spend most of their time on their existing clients, who happen to be the ones that have already made it through the hoop. We’re cutting new deals, tracking payments, keeping tabs on the new process, brainstorming new book ideas, etc. etc. While it’s absolutely important to me to find new clients and I take my role as gatekeeper pro tem very seriously, I don’t spend my entire day answering queries or even most of my day or even a third of my day. There’s way more to my job than that.
Think of it another way: Stephenie Meyer and JK Rowling and countless other bestselling authors do not need to go through the submission process again, at least not in any sense that a debut author would recognize. They’re already way way way past the gate. And they still have agents.
And you may have heard how J.A. Konrath has made waves by doing deals directly with Amazon for his e-books. He also has an agent.
The reason agents still exist when you take away the gatekeeping is that there are a wide range of functions, from selling subrights to career management to contract negotiation to opportunity creation, that authors aren’t usually equipped to handle on their own, and that will still be true in the new era. Agents offer professional expertise and guidance that authors usually want and draw upon even when they’re past the gate.
Agents existed in the era when publishers still accepted direct submissions from authors, and agents will exist when e-publishing is easy for an author to do on their own. We’re not middle-men, we’re on the author’s side. The way authors and agents connect may change in the future and not everyone will need an agent to be published, but take away the gate and we’ll still be here.
Evil laugh.
"being a gatekeeper is one of the smaller parts of any agent's job."
However, as an unagented author, it is the only part I currently give a damn about.
Surely the agent is who you go to the pub with once you've been accepted by the publisher, yes?
*trembles from evil laugh*
The horror! The horror!
No, actually I never really saw agents as the middle men. The idea of trying to work out a contract with a publisher (should that ever take place) without someone there on my side who knows what he's doing is quite terrifying. I'm very glad agents are around.
I cannot imagine traversing the minefield of a publishing contract without a knowledgable agent. Or reading a royalty statement. Or figuring out foreign rights. Or…well, you get the idea.
uMy three-year-old has, like, the cutest super-villain laugh ever. It's like he's already in training.
And I believe agents have to buy their clients beers occasionally. Right? All part of being a valuable resource.
Thank God for agents, Nathan. The very little that I know about the publishing business is daunting enough already. To have an agent there for you would be a relief, like we're not alone. Wait, are you guys aliens or something?
… I figured it out…
😉
I guess I never really saw the agents as the middlemen…I look at them more like the Lancelot to any writer's King Arthur. They protect the writer from evil sorcerers and keep the kingdom at peace 🙂
bryan-
Beer purchases during nights out are part of the deal, yes. It's a good thing I didn't rep Hemingway.
Nathan,
I like this post a lot (great attitude!) and I agree that authors need agents for many things.
But (of course there's a but) this strikes me a bit like charles barkley claiming not to be a role model back in the day.
Perhaps "gatekeeping" is less of a willful responsibility for individual agents and perhaps this responsibility is more of a consequence of tightened publisher belts.
Anyway you skin it though, the decision processes by which agents collectively select authors is the greatest form of gatekeeping in the industry today. The choices agents make beat back the hungry mob astride the walls.
I think gatekeeping is necessary and it will be present in one form or the other as long as there are more writers than slots for books.
What worries me is the decision process agent's go through in making their selections.
mayowa-
I'm not saying agents aren't gatekeepers to a large extent, only that they're not just gatekepers.
All entertainment is a team sport. Music business parallels kick in when deducing the number of people that it takes to put even a solo performer, with an acoustic guitar, on a particular stage, in a particular city, at a particular time; while ensuring the performer is not the only person who shows up. The number of people it takes to make a movie goes without saying because it's talked about frequently from many different perspectives. In comparison getting a book published and launched propitiously is nothing more than a walk in the park on a sunny day with a few dozen close associates: all of whom you love trust and respect in a timely politically correct fashion.
Evil Grin
…And just in case anyone doesn't have an agent yet…. *bright shining marquees* CHECK OUT NATHAN BRANSFORD!!!
😉 Just kidding. Kind of. 🙂
In all seriousness, though, I couldn't begin to think about all the bookkeeping-y things agents do… it would blow my mind. You guys are awesome
Agreed, Nathan. Agents are so much more, indeed.
Now that I have an agent and see first hand all the work she does and all of the hats she wears for her authors, I find the idea that an agent's job security is at risk in this current publishing climate to be truly confounding. And yet the discussion is out there, as we all keep reading.
If anything, I would think agents are more invaluable than ever nowadays.
I like it when your laugh is an evil laugh.
I also like that you see your role in broad terms, responsive to the changing times, but with a clear vision of the core of of your role as an agent. (And not just in this post, this is just the first time I'm commenting!)
As an aspiring author, I have similar feelings about being published. I want to be published (not to self-publish), but what form that takes is less important to me than the core of how I see my role: I want to produce high-quality content (in my case, novel-length stories) and have them published through some kind of gatekeeping process, so when readers pick up my work, they know they are getting something that has been vetted. The particulars are less important to me, and I feel pretty flexible about working with how this process plays out in the future. But I know I will want an agent to help me navigate it.
Agenting and professional writing have been going on for a long time, and will keep going on for a long time yet. I like that you take a long view!
Great post. However, you are picking books to sell to NY, Nathan. You aren't picking books to sell to readers.
That's a vital function for NY editors who don't want to be pestered by a billion submissions they don't need (even the ones that are publishable but will never be published.) The function is less important when it's readers doing the picking and not the agents.
Still, an agent who is good at the other aspects of the business are well worth the 15 percent.
Mayowa,
I think the Barkley thing is often misunderstood. It was a rhetorical device. He wasn't really just saying he didn't want the responsibiulity of being a role model, but that parents and teachers have to step up and accept the task of teaching values rather than letting kids absorb them from popular culture. In other words, because someone's good at shooting hoops does not mean they are necessarily capable of being a good role model.
I think the same goes for agents, too. It's not that people can abdicate being a rolemodel/gatekeeper, but that's not what they're paid to do. These are subsidiary responsibilities that are important but not completely central.
And isn't it great, mixing writing and basketball? Who's watching game six with me tonight? I think Kobe is attempting 112 shots tonight. Just sayin'.
Nathan, when, and if, agents are not the author's first step will it be like hiring a lawyer? I know some agentless writers who do hire a literary attorney to help them through the financial bits. I presume it doesn't matter what the book is like in this case.
Would you, in future, just set a fee and take whoever can pay?
jil-
I think there will probably be a range – I'm sure there will always be queries in the future, though what qualifications authors put in there and what agents want out of a client may be different. Agents will continue to look for talent, and yes, you may see some sort of consulting-type businesses crop up. As on the publishing side, I think there are going to be a range of options until things get sorted out.
Nathan, I love this post. You made some excellent points.
I'm curious about how you see your role as an agent evolving with the changes that the publishing industry will go through in the near future. May I make that my request for one of your future posts?
First of all, anything that ends in an evil laugh is definitely okay in my book!
I look at it a bit like this: as a writer, I *could* try to navigate my way to publication on my own, but it would be a lot like a rookie playing a football game without a referee. *Could* that rookie play? Sure. But he might not know all of the rules, and someone's bound to get hurt. It just seems smarter to craft (and almost certainly re-craft) my work and hit the gate when I'm ready to give it my best shot. I'd rather trust the process, even if it ultimately leads to me going back to the drawing board. But that's just me.
Incidentally, Nathan, if you are the Gate Keeper, where is the Key Master?
Argh, sorry. Ghostbusters got the best of me 🙂
Oh shoot. I keep having to delete my posts. I'm out of school, finally, and feeling playful.
I'm also abit confused about what I do or do not want to say about the current state of the industry. I'm still working out the line between diplomacy and integrity.
Anyway, what I will say is I think this post is excellent in it's clarity, and completly on target.
I think unhooking the agent's role from the publisher's role is important – they are not the same, and their roles will continue to not be the same in the upcoming e-book era – and it's good for authors and others to see that.
I like the future and the way it is shaping up for both authors and agents. I actually think that agents will enjoy stepping more firmly into the advocacy role, rather than (I imaginine) feeling somewhat pulled between two agendas.
I like your vision of the future, and I agree with that vision.
Hopefully, I'll get to have a beer with you someday. 😉
What percentage of your day is spent on this blog, leading all of us readers in the path to enlightenment? I appreciate it, though I have often wondered how you find time to do all those things you listed plus this.
Must be your evil superpowers!
pensees-
I usually spend about half an hour per post, and write ahead and on weekends so I have something ready to go in case I'm busy.
So very little time percentage-wise.
My truly fabulous agent and her agency earn every penny of the percentage they get from my sales. She combs over contracts so I don't need to know about out-of-print thresholds and term-of-license, she deciphers royalty statements, and, most importantly, sells my books.
Plus, she doubles as the book fairy and gets me tons of amazing ARCs. That in and of itself is reason to have an agent. =)
It helps me to understand your point to think of sports agents.
An athlete doesn't need an agent to be recruited from her college team or to attend an open tryout.
But an athlete better hope she has an agent when that contract is put in front of her and she's looking for endorsement deals.
LOVE your Evil Laugh, Nathan.
The evil laugh was really the icing on the cake on this post. 😉
I think that those of us who are spending a lot of time getting to know the industry, and who are taking the time to get acquainted with a range of agents are getting a very good picture of all that you do. It's easy to get fixated on the gatekeeper aspect of the query quagmire because that is the first major hurdle for an author, but if any of us are lucky enough to receive an offer of representation, we need to be aware of all that our agent might do for and with us so that we can make an informed choice. Agents will have specialized skills that authors simply don't have, so they are a crucial part of the publishing process.
Thank you for clarifying this aspect of the agent persona.