Comments on: A Tale of Two Agents

By: Robin S.

Robin S. — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 22:49:23 +0000

Hi Dennis,

Thought I’d stop by and say hi. We talked a few months ago on BookRoast.

It reads like I should want Agent B, but I have to tell you, I’m happier with Agent A – doing his own reading, thinking about the prose, not leaving this to an assistant. I say this as a potential client.

Totally off the mark?

By: Lars

Lars — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 19:22:50 +0000

Agent A is a drudge… slaving away, tied down by traditional methods, disconnected from the larger community. There is only one way to reach Agent A: the query.

Agent B is immersed… connected to culture, aware of local trends and opportunities, open to new ways of finding good work. There are many ways to reach Agent B: send a query, get a personal referral, start an online journal, or just be an interesting person (like the police detective).

Agent A is passive, waiting for the good stuff to reach him. Agent B is actively seeking the good stuff, and likely knows exactly how to get it published when she finds it. I’d much rather have Agent B on my side.

By: LincolnLog

LincolnLog — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 18:22:41 +0000

The efficiency that agent B seems to employ illustrates her ability to sort through the minutia to find the “true gems” while her constant connection with the real world keeps her up to date with the latest trends and possible ‘big hits’. Although seemingly harder to reach, once you have made it through two gatekeepers to her top layer you can be assured that you have something worth representing.
The care Agent A has is rare and very special, but I can’t be certain that his pacifist attitude would be the best route for me.
Beyond networking this seems like more of a parable on the difficulties of making sure your work can stand out in a crowd whether or not your agent spends a great deal of time sorting through queries or not. Either way, if you don’t have a good hook up front you will never get through regardless.

By: denniscass

denniscass — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 16:53:57 +0000

Glad you liked it, Sara. But what I’m getting at here goes beyond mere networking . . . .

By: Sara Aase

Sara Aase — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 16:42:46 +0000

Your question is rhetorical, right? This is a much clearer way to understand the importance of networking in addition to the work and the query letter (which I know I just ragged on but which is good practice in backing up an idea). Nice.