To Agent or Not to Agent?

It is true that today more and more authors are jumping on the self-publishing train. However, there remains a vast body of writers out there still longing to attract the attention of the Big Six or land a deal with one of the many smaller presses out there. After all, there's just something especially delicious about knowing you've made it through the traditional filtration system, to have someone choose your work among all the other lovely shells along the shoreline.

Writer's Relief agrees, most of the authors who come to them for aid or advice dream of being among the small percentage of authors who publish their book with traditional publishing houses, like Penguin, Random House, or Hachette. Of course, the question becomes, how do you go about achieving this?

Well, Writer's Relief and I agree on this point as well—your best bet for success in this arena is to hire yourself a literary agent.

Although it's certainly possible to find a home for your manuscript without the aid of an agent, there are plenty of publishing houses (the Big Six especially) who will not even accept a submission if it doesn't come from an agent. Beyond this, of course, is the simple fact that agents are good for a great deal more than simply garnering publisher interest. To quote from Writer's Relief, here are just a few reasons why an agent is a fantastic tool for writers, no matter what stage you're at in your career:

• Literary agents are key for getting your "Foot in the Door.“  If you're shooting for that pie-in-the-sky contract, an agent is the first, best step in getting you there. (Besides a killer manuscript, of course!)
• Agents already have their own mental Rolodex of editors they keep in mind as they read and work to pitch your manuscript, in other words, agents can be much more effective at finding and contacting those particular editors who will be most interested in your work than you likely will be.
• Money, money, money! Most agents don't get paid if you don't, so you know once you've turned your work over to a reputable literary agent that they are going to have the time, impetus, and know-how to not only negotiate with publishers for the best contract possible but will also take care of things authors often don't think about such as tactfully interven[ing] if the art department puts a naked centaur on your story about 19th-century Harlem.
  • Beyond this, it's been reported that some publishing houses are known to pay out smaller advances to writers who don't have agents to go to bat for them, which may be due, at least in part, to the fact that many publishing houses simply won't take work as seriously if it doesn't come agent-approved and represented.

 
Thus, for those of us still dreaming of the day that Random House comes knocking on our door for our latest masterpiece, finding a good literary agent is a must-do!
What have your experiences been? Do you have a literary agent? Do you want one?
(Writer's Relief blog: http://www.writersrelief.com/blog/2009/03/top-reasons-to-query-agents-first/)
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Contributed by K.C. Mead, Editorial Assistant, Chrysalis Editorial