Why You Do Want An Agent Up Front

For many years I've heard various publishing professionals suggest that the best way to get an agent is to get an offer from a publisher. Teresa Nielsen Hayden put it this way:

"If you're writing fiction, the True Secret Answer is "get an offer." If you've got an offer, you can get an agent. If you don't have an offer, you don't want the kind of agent you're likely to get."

I respect Teresa enormously but I disagree for two reasons. One is that the number of places that will look at unagented manuscripts has dropped significantly and with it your odds of being able to work this trick. On that level I think that 10 years ago this was great advice. It was probably even okay 5 years ago.

But that's not my only point of disagreement. This bit: If you don't have an offer, you don't want the kind of agent you're likely to get." contains a couple of assumptions that I want to address.

1). The idea that you wouldn't want an agent who'd pick you out of the slush carries a hidden assumption that the writer will be submitting to bad agents or scam agents. The way to avoid this is simple–do your homework. Submit only to reputable agents who you would want to represent you.

2). There is an assumption here that agents are interchangeable and that the highest-end agent willing to pick free money off the table is the best agent for you. This really bothers me.

Here's why: Even more than an agent who can make this deal, you want an agent who really believes in your work. One who will advocate for all of your books, not just the one you've already pre-sold. Now, that agent might well be the one you call with that sale in hand–it happens with some regularity–but you won't know for sure till things go awry. And they will go awry. Editors leave houses and orphan authors and books. Authors choose different directions that don't fit with a publisher's line. Authors turn in books that aren't acceptable to a given editor but might well sell elsewhere.

The best agent for you is the one who cares about your work and supports your career. Yes, they have to be a good enough agent to make better deals, strike bad clauses, etc. but if you've done your homework, you aren't submitting to anyone who can't do those things anyway. The benefit of getting a good agent before you've sold is that you know said agent personally picked your book out of the slush because they saw something that shines there. They took the project because they believe in it and you. They chose to pick you up knowing it's going to take a long hard slog to get to the place where you are making any money for them at all and a longer, harder slog to get to the place where it's more than a dollar an hour plus tips. They have a personal investment in you, and that matters.

One final note. Any agent can turn out to be the wrong agent for you, whether it is the agent who loved your work enough to pull it out of the slush or the one who picked you up with a pre-sold book. When that happens, you have to remember that it's a business relationship and understand that sometimes you have to move on.

Anyone want to explain to me why I'm wrong? Add points? Throw flowers or rotten fruit?