First Cup of Coffee - November 7, 2018

Changing agents - what's the protocol, some ways to know a good agent from a bad one, and why having no agent is better than having a bad one. 

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Good morning everyone. This is Jeffy Kennedy. This is my first cup of coffee. My first London fog again, but delicious. Today is Wednesday, November seventh. It's about eight in the morning. And yeah, I'm feeling good. Feeling good about the elections. I the US elections, I should specify. But yeah, the Democrats took back the House, it looks like, and we made several quite a lot of strides all across the country. Um and really eroded holds in various states that have been um Republican by huge, huge margins in for like the last 25 years on a lot of them. So though we looks like we did not take back the Senate, uh this is uh a big I'm I'm just really happy. I feel like this is a forward movement going back to where we needed to go. Uh in New Mexico, we elected a Democratic governor who ran on gun control. So people are excited about that. Um you know, I just think that these things take some time. You can't wave a magic wand and put everything the way you want it to be, but uh I think that we definitely have a a good wave going here and feeling good about things, feeling good about things overall. Beautiful weather, um things are going well with the writing. Uh so so yeah, yeah, it's all good. I'm not sure if I have anything to say, however. That that is a drawback. That is um. Yeah, I'm sort of uh still ramping up on the first book in Sorcerer's Moons. I did contact my cover artist yesterday. Uh she's in Australia, and we had last communicated in January of 2017 when I'd said, Oh, um, I wasn't ready to talk about the cover for the next book yet, and could I get back to her in like April? And she said, sure, no problem. So now it's been a little bit longer than that. So I was I actually went and looked at her um website first just to make sure she was still in business, because I I prepaid for the three covers, even um, because she had a deal that if you prepay for all three covers, you got a a much better price. And so, you know, I mean, I guess it was no skin off of her teeth, right? You know, she I know that's the wrong metaphor, but it amuses me. Um no skin off of her teeth to, you know, let me dangle because she had the money. Um, so I thought, well, if she's out of business or moved on to other things, then that just is the price I pay for, you know, I I let it lapse. Um it's funny to look back at oh wait, I shouldn't diverge topics, right? We'll talk about that. Um, but she was still in business, and I emailed her and she replied very fast and she remembered who I was. I told her I said I was glad she didn't say, Who the hell is this? And she said, Well, it took her about half a second, but then she caught right up. And and we've actually scheduled in the next two covers, so so it's totally happening, people. Um, it is funny to look back at January of 2017, because that was when I um divorced my previous agent, Connor Goldsmith. Um, I've been with him for like three years, and he hadn't been able to sell anything for me. Just hadn't worked out. And so in January was when I had first started talking to Sarah about whether she would be interested in representing me. And, you know, I'll talk about that some. Well, let's see, I do have things to talk about because people have asked me about this, authors ask me about this a lot, um, because there's this whole etiquette where agents are very, very careful not to poach authors from other agents. I mean, some are not, some are totally unethical and just poach away. Um, but an agent who, if you're already represented and an agent approaches you and tries to woo you away, um, you know, be wary of that person because that means that they're not going to have a good relationship with the community. Uh you know, it's it's it's very much uh a small community and an interconnected community, and you really don't want someone who doesn't care about um you know doing someone else in. But if you're an author and you're not happy with your agent, and it happens far, far more often than you would realize. Um and some agents take advantage of this. I mean, there are some bad actors out there, but it is so validating to have an agent, especially if you're an author who's been struggling for a long time and querying and you know, getting rejected. When an agent wants to sign you, it is so validating, and you feel, you know, you feel like maybe you're worthwhile after all, after a long time of feeling like, you know, where you're just sort of scribbling away, and your family is saying, Are you still writing that book? Um, when are you going to get it published? You know, all of those horrible questions. Uh but just you know, there is a saying that's often put about that having a bad agent is worse than having no agent. And it's so true. It's absolutely true. It's like that being in a bad marriage is far worse than being single. But in the same way, it's scary to leave both of those situations because if you're in a marriage, even if it's a bad one, you feel like you have a certain level of security and validation, right? Somebody is married to you, or at least you're not single and alone. Um, but you don't realize when you're in it how much damage it's doing to you, how much it's destroying your life and yourself. And a lot of people discover this. Like when they finally get out of the bad marriage, um, they discover that they're so much happier. Um, you know, they might be lonely sometimes, but at least they don't have this thing dragging at them and weighing them down. They can move out and be, you know, start taking care of themselves and doing things to move themselves forward. And being with an agent, I often compare it to like a marriage. It's like a business marriage. And searching for an agent is is like dating. So, you know, when an agent offers you uh representation, it's like getting that big old diamond ring. And if you've been on the dating market for a really long time, that big old diamond ring looks really good. Um, but it can trap you in a bad marriage. And agents, especially the bad actors, know this and they will play on it with authors. And if authors ask questions or are unhappy about things, they'll say, Well, you could always go it alone, right? And it's the same thing that would happen in a bad marriage, right? It's like, well, what are you gonna do? Leave? You know, you're gonna be out there alone. How are you gonna pay for things? You're gonna you're you'll be ruined. Um, it's that same kind of manipulation. Um the thing is, is that some agents are fundamentally, I'm gonna say it, I think there are some who are lazy. It's a good job to have because they they get a lot of um power because people want the agent to represent them. Um and so and they get to go to parties and talk to people and say, yes, I'm a literary agent. And it sounds good. Um it they have a power in being an agent that they would not have in being an author. Um being an author uh means that you are creating and always trying to find somebody who will buy your thing, whether you publish digitally or self-publish, it's the same thing. You know, it's like here, please spend your money to buy my thing. Whereas agents are in some of that, but they're like, here's my client's thing I want you to buy. And and it's not their own creativity that's on the line. And so it's a more comfortable position to be in. A lot of agents are people who want to be writers and um either have not yet or decided not to. And um, I feel like um I really people go back and forth on whether or not this matters, but for me, I really didn't want an agent who also has aspirations to be an author. Um, and one that's one thing that I really love about my agent Sarah Younger at Nancy Yost Literary Agency, is that Sarah uh feels like she doesn't have it in her to be a writer, but she loves books and she loves authors, and so this is how she brings books into the world. And to me, that's the perfect fit. I really like that. I want her to love my books and get my books out there and not be thinking about her books, which I know is a very selfish perspective, but that's what I want my agent relationship to be like. Um and also agents will blame the publishing industry for their for their, I'm gonna say failures, and and it's not always failures because sometimes they'll, you know, they'll like send stuff out on submission and they'll just send it out wide, and they like won't even put any effort into it. They'll just sort of um, it's like uh you know, throwing spaghetti at the wall and they see what sticks. And then if it doesn't, if no one buys the book, they're like, uh, well, better write something else. It didn't work, you know. I can't control the publishing industry. And while it's true that an agent can't control the publishing industry, they can they can put maximum effort into it. And a good agent, part of what they bring to the relationship is they know which editors are buying what kind of thing. Um, and they should have good relationships with people. It's back to this thing of you know, like an agent who will poach other clients, other agents' clients, is um, you know, not building the right relationships in the community. They're poisoning the water. Um thing that I find remarkable about Sarah when we went out on submission is that um all of the editors, almost every single one, replied to her immediately and said, I can read this now, can I have a few days? Um, I'm getting right on this because I know how fast your projects move. Uh there were a few who didn't, but then they all had reasons because they were, it was like they were out or something like that. Whereas I've been in situations uh with my own agents and I've heard it countless times with other authors' agents where they're like, oh, well, nobody ever replied to that agent's email. Well, you know, if you have an agent who's sending stuff out and the editors don't reply to them, won't answer their phone calls, then you know that's a warning sign that um, you know, they're not paying attention to what that agent sends them. Um, editors want to buy good work, and when an agent that they know and trust and have a good relationship with sends them something, they hop right on it because they're like, Oh, yes, please let me see this. Um, you want that in an agent. So winding back around to how you handle it, if you feel like you are not happy with your agent, you have one and you want a different one. Um, it is everybody will tell you that you have to break up with your agent that you and a lot of them have um different agencies have different contracts. Some ask for 30 days notice, some 90, some a year, which is ridiculous. If you're gonna sign a contract, really go for something that's no more than 30 days, um, 90 max. Uh but they'll say that you shouldn't talk to any other agents before you break up with your first agent, uh, that it's polite and all of these things. And you know, frankly, that's kind of similar to, you know, that you shouldn't start dating before your divorce is final. And, you know, to me that's different because I think that's where the analogy diverges because with matters of the heart, you uh I think it's better to not date. It's better to get divorced and spend a year being totally alone so you can figure out who you are again before you date again. That's emotional, that's matters of the heart. Matters of business, why the hell would you not start talking to agents before you've divorced your agent? That's something that's a courtesy that plays entirely to them. And they will say that that's what you're supposed to do, but you know, it's it's something that benefits the agent and not the author, and I don't believe in it. So I did start talking to Sarah and several other agents off the record because they can't possibly be um accused of poaching. And um I'm I'm thinking now if I should not be saying that about Sarah. I mean, I I approached Sarah and I asked her to talk to me. And and she was like, well, I can talk to you, but I can't promise anything because she is very careful with her relationships. Um but we talked about that. Would she be ready to represent me? And so when I let my previous agent know, gave him notice, then Sarah and I started working behind the scenes and getting things ready. So all of that was in January of 2017, and I'd been planning to finish the Sorcerer's Moons books, but Sarah was one of the things that we did was she said, okay, show me all of your everything you've got. Let's talk about what we can go out on submission with. Because I had not sold anything new in forever. And the project that my previous agent had taken out, um it was just no one replied on it, no one would respond. Um and we thought uh, yeah, we thought it was better just to go out with something new. So I sent Sarah a list of like 12 different ideas with little blurbs on them, things I've been thinking about writing. She picked her favorites, and I got to work on writing one of them. And that ended up being the Orchid Throne, which she I mean, we had been together for three months when she sold that for me in a three-book deal. So, you know, that's the mark of a good agent. I mean, a lot of things came together on that, but you know, she was able to uh guide me in picking the idea and helped me revise it to tweak it to the market, and she knew exactly who to send it to, and we had several different editors um uh making offers on it or expressing interest, coming close to making offers. Um, so it was, you know, it was a real real it was a very reassuring thing to me, but it also started taking up my time. That was a pretty intensive process putting that together. And then at the same time, we ended up doing another three-book deal with Rebel Base, Kensington's science fiction and fantasy imprint. Um, and we've that kicked in by like April or May. So all of a sudden, I had a ton of work to do that was not working on Sorcerer's Moons. So and then it just kind of piled on, snowballed from there. So that's what happened with that. It's just amazing to look back and see how fast that time has gone. Yeah. So working on Sorcerer's Moons now, sent off twin star collaboration to Sarah for her to see. I'm excited. I'm really excited about that. I think she's gonna like it. And um, yeah, been making all kinds of notes for the next book. Haven't decided what to call it yet. But I'm now committed. I need to give uh Jade cover ideas by the 19th of November. So yeah, I'm looking at my calendar, and that is like a week and a half away. But I should be sort of into the story by then, and then I'll know where it's going. So, speaking of, I think I shall get to work. Hope you all have a marvelous Wednesday. Hope you are feeling energized and ready to contribute to the world and make it the place that you want it to be. I know that I am. And I will talk to you all tomorrow. Bye bye.