Literary Agents Who Work With Horror Writers
A Bad Literary Agent Can Be Worse Than No Agent At All.
Types of things to watch out for with agents:
* Charging the author a fee up front, to be accepted as a client. Can be called a reading fee, or a monthly “office expenses” charge. The best agents, and most successful ones, only charge a percentage fee of royalties the author earns, typically 15%. Suppose a realtor charged you a fee to come over and tour your house before getting the listing? How quickly would you show that realtor the door.. .
* Charging back unusually large “postage and copying fees” to send out an authors’ work. One crooked agency accepts almost every client that contacts them, but in the fine print of the contract they charge “postage and handling” of up to per submission they send out on your behalf. It doesn’t cost to send a letter and a sample chapter of a book to a publisher. This company makes a fortune from these fees whether or not they actually successfully market any of their clients work.
* Directing authors toward specific editing services or giving authors’ names to these services. Sometimes they even own the editing service. Some agents make a significant portion of their income from referral fees from these services.
* Terms in Agency contracts with writers vary widely. Must be read carefully. Not standard at all.
* The agent contacts publishers pretty much at random. The agent’s value to you is in the relationships they have with publishers, so that if the publisher hears from them, they know the book is worth taking a look at. Ask to see copies of rejection letters that come back from publishers. If it looks like just a form letter response, rather than a letter you would send to an acquaintance, you can bet the agent may be just picking names out of a directory of publishers.
* Puts forth a weak effort or gives up on the client’s project after a few months. You have a right to ask how active the agent is going to be. How many publishers are they going to contact, how will they follow up? You also have a right to periodic reports as to whom they have contacted and the results. You must determine how much time and attention they are really going to give you.
Another reason it is imperative to have a reputable agent is that the publishing house typically pays the agent, who deducts their “cut” and sends the remainder it to the author. It’s a frightening thought that a less than honest person gets their hands on the money you’ve earned from sweat, blood, and even tears.
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Does anybody know of a good well known literary agent who can sell my projects?
I am a mexican writer -director, I recently finished two genre scripts, one developed into a high concept idea project that has actually gotten into various production agencies who happen to turn it down because of its production cost. I now of Panamax Films, a company that has produced other films like mine. I called them and they told me than I need to get an agent so I can submit my project, I would like to meet an agent who could deliver my project, and I would also like him to manage my work. I have as I said another genre script and I’m developing 5 more, that vary from horror to sci-fi to adaptations of other things.
I would really appreciate help on this matter for I am now quite stuck with all my work.
Sincerely
Hugo Barbosa
http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums has a section with information on how to find an agent for scripts.
WRITERS: Who Thinks This Is True?
I found this article on guidetoliteraryagents.com. It’s called “18 Easy Steps To Becoming A Writer”
Step One: Decide you’re going to write a story.
Step Two: Decide it’s going to be brilliant. Imagine the response of your [teacher, classmates, reading group, agent] and how it will completely change the way they look at you.
Step Three: Open up Microsoft Word.
Step Four: Stare at the blank white screen stretching on into infinity until your eyes begin to burn and your brain hurts from the sheer emptiness of it all.
Step Five: Check your e-mail. If writing a novel, research agents for a couple of hours.
Step Six: Stare at the blank Word document again.
Step Seven: Realize you need music. Spend the next hour finding the perfect “mood” music for what you want to write.
Step Eight: Inspired by [insert perfect music here], click back over to Word document.
Step Nine: Change Facebook status to: [Your name here] is WRITING!!! Realize you aren’t on Twitter, and that anyone who is anyone is networking/wasting time on Twitter. Sign up for an account and spend the next two hours figuring out how it works and what the crap # means.
Step Ten: Stare at blank Word document. Decide you need a title. Brainstorm for the next hour.
Step Eleven: Come up with a GENIUS title. Proudly type “The Scent of Green Papayas” at the top of the document, followed by your name. Happily consider how easily a story will come now that you have such an amazing, literary title.
Step Twelve: Take a four-hour break for snacks and naptime.
Step Thirteen: Refreshed, sit down and toy around with pen names for a while.
Step Fourteen: Realize to your horror that your genius title is actually the name of a Vietnamese foreign film you saw seven years ago.
Step Fifteen: Erase the title, pressing Backspace much harder than necessary.
Step Sixteen: Stare at the blank Word document until your eyes bleed.
Step Seventeen: Check Facebook. See that fourteen people have commented on your status, asking what you are writing. Feel both guilty and annoyed.
Step Eighteen: Slam your laptop shut and go to the movies. Tomorrow’s a better day for writing, anyhow.
See? You never knew writing was so easy!
—–
Now…who else besides me thinks that:
1. This article is completely brilliant
2. Everything here is completely true
I know I go through this ALL THE TIME!
That is incredibly funny! I’d sub out Facebook and replace with “play X-box” personally – Also, I’d put in the additional steps of “huddle in a ball on the floor weeping” and “laugh maniacally at all the naysayers when you complete your first paragraph.”
Wow – lot’s of thumbs-downs on the answers here – hey people who troll, it’s a joke article meant to illustrate that the writing process can be both lonely and frustrating – stop taking yourselves so seriously!