Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America

Posts Tagged ‘agent’

Drewlie and Julia: Or, The Case of the Alias’d Literary Agent

Monday, December 21st, 2009

Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware

Last August, I received several emails from writers who’d had a very strange experience.

They’d submitted to a literary agent in Boston called Sara Levine, only to be informed by Levine’s assistant, a few weeks later, that Levine had died suddenly of a heart attack. The regretful assistant suggested they contact Levine’s colleague, Julia Levin of the Florida-based Julia Levin Literary Agency, who was taking over Levine’s business. Other writers who’d submitted to Sara Levine were approached by Julia Levin herself, with much the same story.

No one had ever heard of Julia Levin before. Her profiles on MySpace, LinkedIn, and Facebook (the only info that could be found on her, online or off) indicated that she’d been in business since 2005, both on her own and as a co-agent with Sara Levine. In emails to prospective clients, as well as in a September Open House on Facebook, through which she hoped to add to her agency roster, she reported a number of recent book sales to major publishers. (more…)

Tags: agent, victoria strauss, Writer Beware
Posted in SFWA Blog, Writer Beware | 2 Comments »

Hunting for a Literary Agent

Monday, December 14th, 2009

Written by Chuck Rothman

Index

1. What is an agent and why do I need one?
2. When do I need an agent?
3. How are agents paid?
4. Where to I find information about agents?
5. How do I choose an agent?
6. How do I contact an agent?
7. How do I create an outline and sample chapters?
8. What happens if I don’t get an agent?

1. What is an agent and why do I need one?

   An agent is a writer’s business representative. His job is to market your book, negotiate a deal with the publisher, keep track of rights sold, and generally handle the business end of things so that the author can concentrate on writing. (more…)

Tags: agent, Chuck Rothman, Intermediate, Rothman, writing
Posted in Agent Etiquette, How to Sell Your Novel, Information Center, SFWA Blog, The Business of Writing | 5 Comments »

Exclusives and Literary Agents

Friday, July 31st, 2009

Reprinted with permission from Nathan Bransford’s Blog

Becca asked an interesting question about exclusives in the comments section of a post a few days ago, and it occurred to me that I’d never really blogged about these slippery devils. So consider this niche filled, and the FAQs will be amended accordingly.

First off, definition: an exclusive means just what it sounds like. You are giving an agent the opportunity to consider your work exclusively and you are agreeing that you will not submit to another agent until you’ve heard “yea” or “nay” from that agent. Sometimes exclusives are open-ended, sometimes there’s a time period attached.

Feelings about exclusives vary wildly among agents, so please take my feelings as my own and not as any kind of industry standard. There is no standard when it comes to exclusives. It’s a veritable Wild West run by nonconformist anarchists.

I’m going to break down my thoughts on exclusives based on the different stages when they might arise and give you some dos and don’ts along the way:

Query stage: Agents expect that you’re querying simultaneously and widely, and frankly, if they don’t, they should. If you’re querying agents one-by-one I hope you plan to live as long as Methuselah because that’s how long you’re going to be querying. Remember to target your agent search, personalize your queries, and don’t query the entire agent world all at once, but also don’t needlessly slow down your search by waiting on exclusive queries.

Now, you might give your first-pick agent first crack, say…. oh, I don’t know, a certain agent who will get back to you within 24 hours if you submit on a weekday, and you might mention that you’re querying them first, but mentioning that it’s an exclusive is not necessary, and don’t give them forever to get back to you before you move on to the other agents you plan to query.

Partial or full manuscript request stage: Some agents will ask you for an exclusive when they ask for your partial or full. Whether you choose to grant this is up to you, but I would strongly, strongly advise against granting an open-ended exclusive that ties you up forever. 30 days is a reasonable time period for an agent to consider a partial or full exclusively, after which you should feel free to send your manuscript to any agents who have inquired in the meantime (and keep in mind that submitting your partial exclusively does not preclude you from continuing to query other agents, although it does mean that you have to put any agents who ask for a partial on hold until the period of exclusivity is up).

You are within your rights to (politely) decline their request for an exclusive, in which case you may simply write that you would prefer to continue sending your manuscript to interested agents but hope they will still consider your work. Or you can decide to grant it. Up to you. But keep in mind a few things: 1) You can’t grant an exclusive if another agent is already considering your partial or full manuscript (and you should let the inquiring agent know this.) 2) Some agents feel that if they are going to take the time to read a manuscript they want to do so with the understanding that the author is not going to be swept away by another agent in the meantime (thus wasting the time they spent reading that partial), and they may well decline to consider your partial on a nonexclusive basis.

So when faced with an exclusive request, you have a decision to make: possibly alienate the agent or try and keep your options open? That’s a decision only you can make. No matter what you decide though, be exceedingly polite, and always notify any agent considering your work when you have an offer of representation.

Revisions: I don’t generally ask for exclusives at the partial or even full manuscript request phase. But there is one situation when I often will. And that’s during a revision.

It’s very time consuming for an agent to read partials and fulls, although I see it as going with the territory. But a revision with a prospective client takes time-consuming to a whole new level. It means a serious commitment on the part of the agent without a sure prospect of success, it means committing to reading a manuscript multiple times, taking notes, thinking about the manuscript during most waking hours, and for me it means writing 10-20 page e-mails full of suggestions on each draft.

I don’t know if there would be anything more gut-wrenching than to embark on a time-consuming revision to improve the manuscript only to have an author take that improved manuscript to a different agent who gets to benefit from my hours of hard work. Quel horreur! The mere thought of this happening gives me dry heaves.

Fortunately this hasn’t actually happened to me, but just to make sure we’re all clear what a full manuscript revision means, I often ask for an exclusive before embarking on a revision, and I think this is fair. When the author is done, if either of us aren’t happy with the manuscript or how we’ve worked together in the process then we’re still free to go our separate ways, but while we’re working on that revision we’re going steady, pinning each other, and any other serious dating metaphor you can find. If we are happy with the manuscript at the end, then it’s time to move on to formal representation and submissions.

Ultimately, the thing to remember about exclusives is that agents mainly ask for them for peace of mind and efficiency. Agents are busy and they want to know that when they are reading something they don’t have to worry about having an author swept out from under them and having that time wasted. But they aren’t always advantageous for an author because they can limit an author’s choice and stall the process.

Be selective about how you grant exclusives, and make sure there’s a time limit affixed.

Tags: agent
Posted in Agent Etiquette, Information Center, SFWA Blog, The Business of Writing | 1 Comment »

SFWA Model Author-Agent Contract

Monday, July 6th, 2009

This contract was written under the direction of the SFWA® Contracts Committee. The model or sample contracts have been written as a guide to writers in understanding common publishing contracts and to help them negotiate better contracts. They are not intended to be used as boilerplate contracts by publishers, writers, or agents, nor should such use be cited as being SFWA approved. These contracts have been written by writers for writers, and are for educational purposes only. As with any legal document, you should consult a lawyer for exact interpretations of law. Advice herein is not intended as legal advice or the practice of law. Some model or sample contracts are badly in need of revision or updating. As part of its ongoing efforts to educate writers about publishing contracts, the Contracts Committee periodically writes new sample contracts or updates old sample contracts. Address comments or suggestions to the Chair, SFWA Contracts Committee.

Revision 2.1

20 August 1996
As author-agent contracts don’t seem to be a one-size-fits-all item, a few alternative contract clauses are included in this draft, accompanied by italicized comments. — John E. Stith

PRELIMINARY STATEMENT. This agreement (the “Agreement”) dated [date of signing], sets forth the relationship between [author's name here] (the “Author”), also published under the name(s) [pen names here] and [name of literary agency Here] (the “Literary Agent”).
1. LITERARY AGENT REPRESENTS AUTHOR. For the term of this agreement, the Author hereby retains the Literary Agent:

(a) To represent the Author for the sale of the following works (“Represented Works”), written or to be written by the Author and not covered by a prior unagented sale or prior agency agreement: (1) all full-length fiction, and (2) any other writings that Author and Literary Agent may agree upon.

(b) Subject to the Author’s approval, to negotiate sales (“Represented Sales”) of (1) Represented Works in the U.S., its territories, and Canada (“Domestic Sales”), (2) Represented Works in non-domestic markets (“Foreign Sales”), and (3) derivative or secondary rights in the Represented Works (such as film, TV, recording, or other dramatic media) anywhere in the world (“Subsidiary Sales”).

(c) To receive payments and royalties from all Represented Sales as long as the contracts for such sales remain in force.

Author attests that, during the term of this Contract, the Author will employ no other Literary Agent to represent the Author for the Author’s Represented Works. It is acknowledged that some of the Author’s backlog may be excluded from this contract because it is covered by a prior agreement with another agency. {Some authors prefer to have separate film agents. Whichever way you go, the decision should be clear to both author and agent.}

2. CONTRACTS. Literary Agent shall use best efforts to promote the Author’s Represented Works. No proposed Represented Sale shall be binding unless approved by the Author in a signed contract (a “Represented Contract”). Author may, in writing, authorize Literary Agent to sign contracts on his behalf. {Authors might want to provide a limited authorization that lets the agent sign only foreign contracts or sign only contracts the author has verbally approved.}

3. AGENT’S COMMISSION. The Literary Agent shall be entitled to a commission (“Agent’s Commission”) equal to X percent of all Domestic Sales, Y percent of all Subsidiary Sales, and Z percent of all Foreign Sales. {While authors would like these commission rates as low as possible, we recognize that agents would prefer them as high as possible. A number of agents charge 10 percent for domestic sales, 15 percent for subsidiary and 20 percent for foreign, and obviously these rates play a part in the determination of whether a particular agent is the one to sign with.}

4. SUBSIDIARY RIGHTS. Subject to Author’s reasonable consent, the Literary Agent shall engage all subsidiary or co- agents which the Literary Agent believes best represent the Author in Foreign Sales.

5. EXPENSES BORNE BY LITERARY AGENT. From the Literary Agent’s Commission, the Literary Agent shall pay (a) all subsidiary or split commissions required by foreign or subsidiary agents, and (b) such other costs, listed in the attached Rider, as Literary Agent may incur in promoting or selling the Author’s Represented Works. The Literary Agent shall not be reimbursed for such expenses and need not account for them to the Author, except that the Author shall reimburse the Literary Agent for unusual expenses, incurred by the Literary Agent with the Author’s prior consent, for the Represented Works. {This phrase is the best case for the author, but it’s just another component of the give and take between author and agent, and should be factored into the projected agent commission when comparing two otherwise equal agents. Often, the agents charging higher commission rates are willing to include some expenses in their commission. Just be clear on what you’ll be expected to pay for, and if you can, limit additional expenses to those applicable to works actually sold.}

6. DISBURSEMENTS. On behalf of the Author, the Literary Agent shall collect all payments due the Author under any Represented Contract (“Author’s Payments”) and shall, within ten days of the funds clearing, disburse the amount of such Author’s Payments to the Author, less any Literary Agent’s Commission and less any mutually approved expense charges.

7. STATEMENTS. In January of each year, the Literary Agent shall provide the Author with an annual statement showing all Author’s Payments, Agent’s Commissions, and other itemized deductions for the previous calendar year. {Not all agencies do this, but it’s desirable for the author. The minimum notice consists of an IRS Form 1099 that identifies the total payments and total commissions.}

8. NOTICES. The Literary Agent and Author shall promptly send each other copies of (a) any legal notice under any Represented Contract, (b) any important communication from any publisher under any Represented Contract, and any material correspondence.

9. TERM. This contract may be terminated voluntarily for any reason by either party upon thirty days’ prior written notice to the other, detailing causes for termination, sent via certified mail, return receipt requested, to the addresses below:

If to Literary Agent, at [Literary Agent's address]

If to Author, at [Author's address]

or such other address as either party may designate in writing to the other.

After termination, the Literary Agent shall continue to administer Represented Contracts which the Literary Agent negotiated while this Contract was in force, and retain Agent’s Commission on those Represented Contracts. The Literary Agent may make no further sales of the Represented Works.

10. CONTACTS. Mail sent to the Author in care of the Literary Agent may be opened by the Literary Agent and dealt with, unless it is apparently of a personal nature, in which case the Literary Agent shall forward it to the Author promptly. When the Author is approached directly by any party interested in the Author’s Represented Works, the Author shall inform the Literary Agent immediately and refer the party to the Literary Agent.

11. AMENDMENT. This Agreement contains the entire agreement between the parties hereto. It supersedes any prior agreement, and may be amended in writing by mutual consent.

Many authors already have an existing written or handshake agreement with an agent and may not wish to impose most of this sample contract. Since many standard contracts and handshake agreements don’t define how termination is handled, authors might consider using section 9 (TERM) as a rider to an existing contract or as a separate agreement. Many agencies use their own contract, and there’s certainly nothing wrong with that. We recommend, though, that you use this model as a guide to remind you to make sure terms you feel are important are addressed satisfactorily in whatever contract you do sign.
The above items represent the consensus of the then-current SFWA Contracts Committee: Michael A. Armstrong, Damon Knight (who has since left the panel), David Alexander Smith, and John E. Stith. In addition, Michael A. Armstrong and Damon Knight recommend authors include the following in the TERM clause:

– JES, 8/20/96

Tags: agent, business, contract, literary agent, representation
Posted in Contracts and Copyrights, Information Center, Sample Contracts, The Business of Writing | Comments Off