Literary Agent in the Modern Sense?

[Rem]

So I have been giving this a lot of thought lately, especially with 2 novels under my belt and a decent response to them. I am not really interested in finding a publishing house. That's not really my goal. I am sure that would be very flattering, of course.

But, I am now moving on to writing my 3rd in the series and I try to put some time aside to promote a little each day. I wonder if it would be in my best interest to find someone with the marketing skills I apparently lack, and have them get the book out there in front of those who will enjoy the read, and in return paying a % on those sales they personally can bring in themselves.

I know it doesn't really follow the Control aspect of the fastlane principles, but it would be equivalent to a company hiring a sales/marketing person or team. Also I am not sure if anyone would be willing to act in such a position, especially with books. I just want to allocate wisely. Any self-publishing authors out there who have had success in hiring out marketing or have stories of their own in this regard?

 

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[ChickenHawk]

Interesting idea! One thing I wanted to point out is that a literary agent is unlikely to fill this role. Literary agents generally sign clients and sell manuscripts to publishing houses. Under this scenario, they usually take a percentage of ALL book royalties, whether or not it was generated by the agent him/herself. In fact, if you have an agent, all of your royalties are generally through them. In short, they give you your cut, not the other way around.

It might just be semantics, but I figured I'd point out the terminology to aid your search. To me, it seems that what you're seeking is more of a publicist or marketing manager, or something along those lines. But I'm not sure you'd find a good one willing to work for a percentage of some sales.

If you do end up having luck with your search, please consider updating us. It really is a thought-provoking idea.

 

[Gymjunkie]

I used to be pretty much against those but as often happens in life, when a profession has a reputation, it isn't always truth. Some idiots bring bad name to good people. Agents might be the case. I think you can find a good agent who is up-to-date with the situation currently in the market and has the right deal terms and won't take too much cut etc. Here is a good article about it:

http://annerallen.blogspot.ie/2015/01/why-you-dont-need-literary-agent-but.html

You don't need, one but one can help.

Quote:

At the most basic level, a literary agent is an author’s business partner. An agent locates a publisher interested in buying an author’s writing and then negotiates a deal. But a literary agent is so much more than that. An agent is:

• A scout who constantly researches what publishers are looking for
• An advocate for an author and his or her work
• A midwife who assists with the birth of a writing project
• A reminder who keeps the author on track if things begin to slip
• An editor for that last push before submission
• A critic who will tell authors what they need to hear in order to improve
• A matchmaker who knows the exact editors for an author’s type of writing
• A negotiator who will fight to get the best deal for an author
• A mediator who can step in between author and publisher to fix problems
• A reality check if an author gets out of sync with the real world
• A liaison between the publishing community and the author
• A cheerleader for an author’s work or style
• A focal point for subsidiary, foreign and dramatic rights
• A mentor who will assist in developing an author’s career
• A rainmaker who can get additional writing work for an author
• A career coach for all aspects of your writing future
• An educator about changes in the publishing industry
• A manager of the business side of your writing life

 

[Digamma]

You're talking about marketing. There are marketing agencies out there that work with authors.
(Actually, you are talking about having affiliates paid by sales closed. But I guess that what you really want is having someone work your marketing for you.)
However, the shiny thing today is having a personal relationship with your readers, something you should do personally.

An aside. Good agents are "agents in the modern sense". They are businessmen and evolve with the market.
Now, say you just want to write. Then you should get an agent, publish traditionally and have him guide you through promotion. Self publishers are entrepreneurs, they don't just write. Entrepreneurs don't need agents.

 

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[ChickenHawk]

A dirty non-secret...it's nearly impossible to get a good literary agent to represent you. Your odds are literally like 10,000 to one. Sad, but true.

And here's the great irony. If you're already a top-selling author, it's probably fairly easy to get a good agent. But if you're already selling tons of books, you probably don't need an agent at all. These are amazing times, that's for sure.

 

[Rem]

Great input, thanks. Yeah I guess I was looking at it from a marketing standpoint. Although I do like being an entrepreneur, I think I like writing better. Of course, I can still work at doing both

From a literary agent or a marketer's standpoint, it makes almost zero sense to promote someone's book and get paid based on sales. Unless for some reason, deep down inside, they truly believe in a person's ability. Otherwise it's probably not going to land them much income. Sure you could get lucky and be that one agent who helped get the next big book out there, but they'd have a better chance getting struck down by a bolt of lightning... on a full moon... in May...

Since I enjoy writing more than promoting my work, I'll get busy writing

 

[Rawr]

A dirty non-secret...it's nearly impossible to get a good literary agent to represent you. Your odds are literally like 10,000 to one. Sad, but true.

And here's the great irony. If you're already a top-selling author, it's probably fairly easy to get a good agent. But if you're already selling tons of books, you probably don't need an agent at all. These are amazing times, that's for sure.

have you been approached yet since you self pubbed? I almost want to say yes and you've mentioned it or was it someone else?

 

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[ChickenHawk]

have you been approached yet since you self pubbed? I almost want to say yes and you've mentioned it or was it someone else?

Yup, that was me. (Good memory!)

I was approached by one agent (maybe more than one, I seem to recall several emails about it), one publisher, and a company that was interested in the audio rights. But all of this was in early 2014, when I had two books in the Amazon top 100. I've heard that publishers have gotten slightly less enthusiastic about scooping up works that have already been indy-published, because in a lot of cases, these books have sold so many that it eats into the potential of future sales. I'm guessing, though, they're mostly interested in a slice of future books, so they take on the past books as part of the deal.

All that aside, I do feel I could get an agent fairly quickly these days. But as of now, I have zero interest. It really is the great irony. When you desperately want/need an agent or publisher, they're nearly impossible to get. Then, when you no longer need them, they're much more accessible.