And it\u2019s probably one of the best answered, too. There\u2019s no lack of advice on this subject, from Jericho Writers\u2019 own Agent Match to any number of websites and chat forums, with agents themselves, publishers, and well-known writers, all offering tips and stratagems to hook that must-have gatekeeper to publishing heaven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But what happens once you have<\/em> secured an agent? How you conduct that relationship, one of the most important you\u2019ll ever have in your writing and publishing career, is crucial. If it goes well, then that\u2019s great. But if it goes wrong<\/a>, what can you do? Where oh where is the advice you need then?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Because these relationships do go wrong \u2013 a lot. It\u2019s hard to realise that from the lack of information out there because the publishing industry doesn\u2019t like talking about the downside. It\u2019s an industry that thrives on the positive, not the negative \u2013 it needs writers as much as writers need it, and it doesn\u2019t want to put them off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Which is understandable. And a bad agent-author relationship is not what the industry wants to have to deal with. But writers do <\/em>have to deal with it, and deal with it more often than they might expect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n Is your agent not returning your emails or calls? Is your agent not sending your book out to all the publishers that they promised they would? Is it a personality clash? Are you just not the right \u2018fit\u2019 for one another?<\/p>\n\n\n\n First of all, you want to establish if you\u2019re making your agent<\/a> any money or not. If not, then they may want rid of you, they just won\u2019t say it. I\u2019ve been with three agents so far. We tend to think a multiplicity of agents in our career is a bad thing, because we all know the stories of successful writers who have had the same agent since forever, who\u2019s their best friend, their right-hand man\/woman, godparent to their first born, etc. It\u2019s the agent-author relationship we all aspire to: success on both sides, as the agent nabs the best deals with the biggest publishers, and the writer cements said agent\u2019s income and status by selling big and winning awards. Fabulous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Unfortunately, a lot of the time it doesn\u2019t work like that. And while we shouldn\u2019t blame our agents if they can\u2019t sell our work to a publisher, or if said publisher can\u2019t sell enough of our work to the public or get it onto prestigious shortlists, we can and should hold our agents to account if they\u2019re ignoring us as a result of our book or manuscript failing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My three agents were all very different. One was with a huge agency, two were with smaller ones, and in different locations. Two were strangers before I signed with them, one was a friend. I left all three of them, although in one case I definitely jumped before I was pushed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Why did I move on each time? Well, the first time was because I didn\u2019t feel my agent<\/a> was very engaged with my work or pushing it with publishers. Her response to my novel manuscript was generic and I worried I was going to miss out. My second book had just come out and was getting a lot of coverage. I thought I might be in a strong position to get someone else so I moved on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some people have likened the author-agent relationship to dating, and when you want out, the excuses tend to be the same (\u2018It\u2019s not you, it\u2019s me\u2019 \u2013 I did actually use that one; \u2018I think the timing\/chemistry\/feeling\u2019s just not right\/there\u2019; \u2018You just don\u2019t understand me\u2019 etc). And because having to end it is always excruciating, we use these excuses, when the truth almost certainly lies elsewhere and goes unspoken.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My second move wasn\u2019t so much of an ending because we had a kind of understanding in the beginning that if he got me a deal, I\u2019d stay with him, and if he didn\u2019t, I wouldn\u2019t (already it sounds so personal). In the end, I got my third deal myself, but I still paid him an agent fee because he\u2019d done a good job sending round a non-fiction proposal for another book (which didn\u2019t make it). My fourth book, a historical novel, wasn\u2019t really his area, so I went shopping for another agent, and, after a lot of leg work, I \u2018hooked\u2019 one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My third agent experience was the one that really pushed the scariest questions. When you find yourself in a no-win situation and you know you want to leave, these are the ones you lie awake at night asking yourself: \u2018Is it too late to back out of my contract?\u2019 \u2018Will it harm my chances of signing with anyone else if I do this again?\u2019 \u2018Is moving from agent to agent just making me look bad?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n I was never given a reason for my third a<\/a>g<\/a>ent<\/a> ignoring me, but it soon seemed clear why. After signing me up, she had worked with me over a few months to get my manuscript right, then sent it out with much excitement. After three months, I\u2019d heard nothing so I emailed her but got no reply. Then just three days before Christmas, she emailed me the news that the first round of publishers had all rejected it. I burst into tears, but she had promised to send it round a second lot of publishers in the New Year, so I clung to that small ray of hope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She didn\u2019t email me again until the end of February, and that was only because I\u2019d eventually rung her to ask what was happening (she was \u2018in a meeting\u2019 and couldn\u2019t come to the phone). By May, I\u2019d had two emails from her in 8 months, no list of the publishers she\u2019d sent my manuscript to in the first instance, despite my repeated requests to see their responses, no idea who she\u2019d sent it to in a second round (there was no \u2018second round\u2019, as it transpired), and my requests to meet face-to-face were ignored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I couldn\u2019t ignore it any longer \u2013 I was being \u2018ghosted\u2019, and probably because of my book\u2019s failure to get picked up in the first round. I was being dropped, without it being spoken out loud. What on earth should I do? Hang on in there? Hope that someone out of the blue took my book and my agent started talking to me again? I looked for advice online, but there was little to help me. I asked agented friends, but they weren\u2019t sure either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I came to the only conclusion I could. My confidence was being eroded \u2013 I hadn\u2019t written anything in the eight months since my agent had sent out my novel, and all my ideas for other books seemed pointless. I had to stop feeling worthless because I was being ignored, and that was when I knew I had to end it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So I did. I emailed to say I wasn\u2019t happy with her lack of response and felt that the relationship wasn\u2019t working for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n No reply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I emailed again, this time to say quite firmly, that it was over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n No reply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I posted a written letter, as my contract stated that it could be terminated only in writing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n No reply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I wrote another letter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Finally, a response, thanking me for my \u2018brave, wonderful novel\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was a relief. It took another six months after I ended the contract for me to start writing again, but at least the writing did return. I don\u2019t yet have another agent, but my confidence is still growing and I am looking for one. I\u2019m also trying smaller publishers who don\u2019t require submissions from an agent<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019ve learned several things from this experience, and here is my advice to anyone in a similar situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Recently, my blog about this experience was viewed over 1000 times and I was inundated with writers, some very well-known, on their own bad experiences. So it does happen to most of us at some time, and it is survivable. The important thing I learned from it is to develop a sense of flexibility, appreciate your own mobility, and keep positive. This is the game, but some know how to play it better than others. You have to make sure you are one of the better informed.<\/p>\n\n\n\nWhy It Goes Wrong<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nWhat To Do When It Does Go Wrong<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
10 Top Tips For Surviving The Wrong Agent<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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More On Finding An Agent<\/h3>\n\n\n\n