Agents, Who Needs 'em? Not Me

KILLER OF KILLERS was initially represented by literary agent Anita Kushen. I mentioned just last Friday how she called me to tell me she loved KILLER OF KILLERS and that she wanted to represent it. But unfortunately, as I've chonicled on this blog, she retired soon after that.

The two agents who took over did nothing. Nothing that I know of anyway. I'm not even sure they read the manuscript. And soon one of them parted from the agency. And soon after that the remaining agent did not renew our contract. I'm still bothered that I never got a list of publishers to whom she submitted. I asked her for one. Never got one. So I was OK with not having an agent who wasn't getting anything done on my behalf.

After a bit I started to submit KILLER OF KILLERS myself, and you know what? The second publisher I submitted it to offered a contract. You read that right, but I'll say it again. The SECOND publisher I submitted it to offered me a contract. It's chronicled on this blog. (And when I advised the first publisher it was no longer available, he advised me that he hadn't had time to get to it yet, so it wasn't as if it was rejected.)

The lesson here is don't expect any agent to represent you as well as the agent who signed you. That's the person who loved your manuscript. That's the person who wants to go to bat for you. Not the person who inherits you. Sure there will be exceptions. Sure someone else might have a similar story with a different experience. But that was my experience.

As for how it all turned out? Well... KILLER OF KILLERS is getting published. But not for any agent's hard work. It turned out I never really needed an agent. When it comes to landing a contract, it's just as much about timing and luck as anything else.

But I've learned another lesson along the way. I've learned that contracts in and of themselves are NOT a journey completed. When your manuscript is published and in print... then you will have a journey to publication completed. So stay tuned. August is just around the corner.