If you post the novel online you will have a much harder time finding an agent because most publishers do not want previously published (self in this case) novels. Is it done? Sure it is. David Wellington did it. Clearly others have. Do I think you could? Probably, but it will be a lot harder to attract an agent before you have a million readers and so on.

I know it costs (a lot of) money, but I can’t speak well enough about pitch sessions at conferences. It’s just different than cold emails or letters.

Research the FUCK out of the agents your considering. Read their blogs. Read their interviews. Be sure you know what they’re looking for to make sure your a ‘good fit.’

Obey Yog’s Law.

Wait. For reals? Is that certain wisdom? I’ve heard the total opposite: free books online is a good way to build (and show) audience, and a good way to move toward publication.

Anyone else have experience with pitch sessions? Those a better way to go?

(And time to Google Yog’s Law!)

– c.

(FYI, to all)

Gloria Weber recommends: http://www.agentquery.com/

(Also, another tweet from her) –

Some useful agent blogs:
http://bit.ly/hI4xl
http://bit.ly/hN3Ti
http://bit.ly/XE5W9
http://bit.ly/JxzIe
http://bit.ly/22Mnxl

Yog’s Law: Money flows to the writer.

If an agent says, “Sure, but I need a reader’s fee.” or “Great, but here’s an editor/book doctor I know who can fix it up and then I’ll sell it.” Put on your sneakers and run the fuck away.

And yeah, here’s some common wisdom. http://misssnark.blogspot.com/2007/04/previously-published-and-contests.html

http://misssnark.blogspot.com/2006/07/pod-peoplecause-this-is-my-favorite.html

I can check with a few more agents, but Miss Snark (Janet Reed) is a great place for research.

Right, got the reader’s fee part. Thanky! Will poke those links.

(I should clarify, Filamena: I knew that short fiction is a no-no when it comes to trying to get a story sold; zines and journals seek first rights, and have small enough audiences that previous publications are competition. I had understood that novels and big publishers didn’t consider this as much a concern. As Johnny-5 said in Short Circuit: Need Input.)

A David Wellington quote on the free model:

“Q: You have had great success with online publishing. There seems to be a lot of controversy surrounding the idea of having your work appear online for free. Some believe that appearing for “free” ruins your chances with traditional publishing houses. Any thoughts on this?

A: It doesn’t ruin your chances at all. Enough people have done it successfully that it has become an accepted marketing strategy. Of course, a publishing house is a business, and nobody in business likes the idea of giving things away for free, but they get over it when they see all the free publicity rolling in. The biggest opposition was actually the old guard of writers, who see online marketing as somehow being unfair competition–as if they couldn’t do the same thing. That’s pretty much died down by now, because everybody is online. You have to have an online presence if you want to sell real world books.”

Food for thought. Now my head’s full of contrary ideas.

Part of the point of the Dirty Model was the notion that some people find self publishing to be a sign of a crap product. The exceptions, like your David Wellington’s, are supposedly the ones that prove the rule.

I think it’s entirely possible that you simply wouldn’t get on with an agent who believed that releasing a novel online was a fool thing to do. So this may be moot — you weren’t going to get that kind of agent anyway.

Going the other way, what do you need to promote yourself online with free novels for? Why build your audience yourself? You’ve got things cooking such that an agent should take you seriously anyway. Don’t give your novel away for nothing, and don’t eke out exposure in the wilderness when you could have somebody grow it for you in a garden.

Big picture, though: Your agent probably won’t have a problem with you building your audience online. If he did, he wouldn’t be YOUR agent, I bet.

Will:

Well, I need to find an agent who covers fiction — the things that I have cooking are first and foremost, not novel-length fiction, and second, are still “cooking.” The last time I floated a few queries to agents, they had little engagement in my successes in that realm, or what was cooking. (Now, admittedly, things have changed on that front, but — still.)

So, in looking for an agent now, I need one to handle my novel aspirations. For the other stuff, I’ll likely need an agent in LA, and that will hopefully come from a natural outgrowth of (cross your fingers and toes and pray to your favorite deity) my success out there.

Some agencies could handle both, but many don’t. Even those that do generally have separate agents handling different areas, so I’d still need to scare up different agents.

As for why free? It’s a good question. It’s because the publishing companies — and this isn’t just there, but all throughout the entertainment industry — want people who are already successful, who already have an audience at-least-partly built. Come knocking with a bunch of people who read you semi-regularly, and you’re better off than the guy knocking who has only an unseen book-in-hand. Unfortunately, I don’t see a lot of evidence that big publishers grow an author’s work as much as they used to; lots of authors (Douglas Clegg, Caitlin Kiernan) really do a lot of the groundwork themselves, and quite successfully. Plus, given that the novel I’m working on is the start of a series, I see logic in building people toward the series and brand, not just investing them in a single-serving novel.

That being said, I’m going to hold off my “free release” until I have more information.

Remember how I said I don’t let my anxieties and neuroses affect my writing? Still true.

I do let them affect the business of my writing, though. This type of stuff is paralyzing. It’s death by a thousand uncertain options.

– c.

[...] you read my last post? The one where I decide I need an agent? That’s a good place to start. Go on. I’ll [...]

I’ve never sought a fiction agent. I got a film lawyer from a friend’s recommendation, got a manager through the lawyer’s recommendation, and got an agent through the manager’s recommendation. This suggests to me that people wind up with representation when they’ve got an in with someone the representative already trusts. My guess is that this is the same in fiction as in film. So, bash your network against a brick wall until appropriate contacts fall out of their pockets.

I’ve done pitchfests in film, but never paid for the opportunity. Paying to pitch strikes me as something I wouldn’t want to do. But my uncle goes to three or four of them a year, and keeps going back, so he must feel like it’s doing him some good.

Jeff:

On the film/TV side, that’s how I’m hoping it’ll shake out. I’ve already met with an agency in that regard. (Though, I’ll ask: should I seek the lawyer-slash-manager combo?)

Fiction, I have no in’s, no cracks in which to shimmy and slide my body.

– c.

[...] As noted, I’m looking for an agent, Also as noted, I was looking to maybe release my recent novel for free and build audience. The first is true, the latter is no longer true. In my search for an agent, I accomplished quickly what I thought would take me weeks of agonizing anxiety — I finished the query letter! Woo-hoo! I’ve tried to write those things before and they always killed me. The act of distilling a 300-page novel down to a single paragraph was always gut-punching. Maybe it’s because I’ve grown as a writer. Maybe it’s because I’ve been writing this query letter in my head for months. I dunno. I do know that I got the draft of it done, the wife took a pass at it, I tweaked as per her suggestions, and it feels good. I’m gonna let it sit for the weekend, see how it looks after. But it’s one solid page. Hook, pitch, bio, close. [...]

[...] of you may remember that I was on the Great American Agent Hunt, ‘09. Well, no longer! I am now a represented man! Huzzah, hoo-rah, and all that. I won’t [...]