Peter Cox writing in The Bookseller
Agents are in trouble. You may not immediately agree. Flushed with success from the London Book Fair, a bloat of “nice” deals in your hand, perhaps a brace of “good” ones and a certainly a babel of foreign rights, it may well seem as if the Publishing God is in his heaven and all’s right with the world.
How wrong you are. I’m not saying that for some agencies—the older ones—the Dom Pérignon won’t flow for some time yet. But for newcomers to our game, uncushioned by the easy money that dead authors scatter in their wake, winter has already arrived. And to those friends in publishing who, only a few months ago, were beaming at me from across their desks, and are now contemplating joining the motley ranks of agents, I have some sage advice: don’t do it. Do not spend your final pay cheque following this path. You will lose it all.
Here is why. First, there are far too many of us. Did you hear Peter Roche at the Orion authors’ party this year? A record of sorts was achieved: more agents than authors for the first time. I think Peter gave a wry smile when he announced that. Perhaps they’ll change the name to the Orion agents’ party next year.
today’s neophyte will struggle to make a barely mediocre livingBut that’s not all publishers are thinking about. Yes, they’re looking at us. Eyeing us greedily. Stateside, most major publishers now have their inhouse speakers’ bureau (why didn’t literary agents do this years ago?). And even the independent speakers’ bureaux now have their inhouse literary agents, too. All the agents can do is look on dumbly, and wonder how we missed that particular trick.
HarperCollins’ launch of mega-slushpile Authonomy is another blow. Agents are no longer the gatekeepers to the enchanted kingdom. “Come straight to the publisher” is the message to the world’s would-be writers. With vanity publisher Lulu (I’m sorry—that should be “self-publishing company”) ready and waiting to pick up the inevitable rejects, agents are effectively out of the frame. But did anyone notice?
I could go on. About the way that showbusiness agents have muscled in to our field and are creaming off most of the best deals around now. Then consider the massive, accumulated resentment most would-be writers feel towards agents (check out AgentFail—it’ll shock you). Seriously, we don’t have many friends out there now.
Fact is, this used to be a business in which even the mediocre could make a brilliant living. Today’s neophyte, though brilliant, will struggle to make a barely mediocre living. Go figure.
