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Re: [GWL]: Agent or no agent?

I know several (non-fiction) writers, with many books to their credit, who
do perfectly well without agents. If you have one contract in hand, that is
a very good one, you can always use that as your standard. 15% is 15% after
all.

    As to "the vast majority of garden books never made royalties and that
authors had better simply count the advance
they got as the only money the book would ever make,"   I'd say, do your own
PR and do a good job of it, and you will most certainly NOT be one of those
writers whose book never earns more than its advance.
    That said, there is a ton of great advice in Douglas Green's email on
this.

Tom Ogren

----- Original Message -----
From: "Douglas Green" <dgreen@simplegiftsfarm.com>
To: <Gardenwriters@topica.com>
Sent: Tuesday, January 15, 2002 5:07 AM
Subject: [GWL]: Agent or no agent?


> At 09:19 PM 1/14/2002 -0800, you wrote:
>
> Let me enter the fray. :-)
>
> While I know some garden writers eschew agents saying they can do it
better
> - in my experience, they can't.  My agent not only negotiates contracts
but
> finds me work. She has pulled my anatomy out of economic fires and has
made
> me money during our relationship.  She keeps track of current language and
> electronic issues and knows which publishing houses bend and which
> don't.  She has the relationship with any number of editors to simply call
> and ask or discuss current or future projects and get responses that save
> both time and effort on my part. It is difficult to describe those
> intangibles and difficult to put a price tag on them.  I give her the
> standard 15% of signed projects and I'm happy with this. More than once,
> I've seen her get the advances jacked up to more than cover her
percentage.
>
> Bottom line: I can't imagine writing a book without an agent to handle the
> negotiations and follow up after the book has been delivered (nobody ever
> mentions how agents solve "little" problems with contracts after the
fact).
> ;-)
>
> Fiction versus non-fiction.  Not yet having sold a fiction book, I can't
> speak to that but I can tell you when my great Canadian novel finally hits
> the bookstores, it will have been an agented deal. :-)
>
> If you have a book deal in hand, an agent will do the job for 10% rather
> than 15.  That too is standard.
>
> Advances versus Royalties.  Now, here's an interesting one.  My first
> agent, the person who broke me in and taught me all I know about writing
> effective proposals (another story) and now unfortunately dead too young,
> once told me. "Take the money and run."  I, doing my business-like thing,
> was analyzing two competing offers on a book and "proving" to myself that
> the lower advance but higher royalties was the better deal.  She
tactfully,
> quickly and forcefully pointed out that the vast majority of garden books
> never made royalties and that authors had better simply count the advance
> they got as the only money the book would ever make.  Royalties were like
> frosting on the cake.  My best advice to other book writers - Take that
> advance money and run!
>
> Now, some books do make out their advance and if you've had one - you're
in
> the minority and should congratulate yourself on this fact. :-)   Mind
you,
> you may also have received such a low advance that the book *had* to
> eventually pay you royalties. ;-)
>
> (Mind you, I also have to say, if I get X dollars to write this book and
it
> takes me Y months, how much then am I making a month X/Y in bottom line
> dollars?  Intriguing question when it comes to figuring out the real value
> of your next advance.)
>
> About agents doing the negotiating for you on a flat fee.  If its a low
> advance, it is not worth their while to get involved.  So if your advance
> is less than $4000, it likely isn't worth an agents time to get
> involved.  You'll have to pay them by the hour or do it yourself.  Get a
> quote as well as recommendations from other authors you know and trust.
>
> If your advance is greater than that, you might find it worthwhile to
> simply let the the agent do their thing for the 10% of normal standards.
>
> By no means would I ever pay an agent 20% of the advance for negotiating
> the deal (see comment above re royalties) it is far cheaper to give them
> the standard 10%
>
> But then, I wouldn't do any project without an agent. :-)
>
> Doug
>
>
>
> >Andrea,
> >
> >               My understanding of it goes like this: If you already have
> > a book deal in hand, you ought to be able to get an agent at a lower
rate
> > than they normally charge. Most are charging 15% now, so perhaps 10% of
> > the deal is fair? This is negotiable & is done all the time. As to a
flat
> > fee, I have no idea. My best guess: if you can get an agent to negotiate
> > the deal, for around 20% of the advance-- and none of the future
> > royalties, I'd go for it.
> >     I'd look at the track record of the agent too. What have they sold?
> > How well do their writers like them? Congratulations on the sale!
>
> Douglas Green,
> Freelance writing: You've got a story to tell - I can write it.
> http://www.simplegiftsfarm.com/clips/clipmaster.htm
> Tell your friends - a free gardening newsletter at
http://www.gardenbrew.com
>
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