WWTBAM Bored

I've had an agent for just over three years and she has tried hard (unsuccessfully) to find a publisher for our refugee book, The Dragon's Song.

I received word recently that she took a bad fall and severely injured her head. Her agency partner wrote me to say that my agent is no longer able to carry our her duties and has released me and co-writer Binh from our agency agreement.

I am officially agent-free, once again.

I am trying to find a publisher for The Dragon's Song on my own and I have a few interested (not small presses like my other books). But it's always better with an agent pulling the strings. If I'm offered a contract I will likely hire a literary attorney to make sure the contract and details are favorable. This is a good problem to have.

I do feel a sense of relief since the agent has had a bad couple of years. Hurricane Harvey wiped out their business office and she followed that up with major hip surgery. Because of this and other issues, her communications have been extremely sparse.

Maybe it's for the best.

I'll try to get another agent for my magician series, starting with Devin Drake and The Family Secret. It's a long, drawn out process and it's going to take up a lot of my time.

I still hope to have Decades: Bandstand ready to go for the fall, but this new endeavor cuts significantly into my research time. Also, I may not have time for promos, so those of you wondering who got cast for BrokedBored Mountain, I can say right here and now:

Spoiler

It was never going to happen!

Such is the life of a writer. I'll get through this just fine. Thanks for all the continued support over the years.

It does sound like this will be a good change, even though change is hard.

Ritterskoop wrote:It does sound like this will be a good change, even though change is hard.

Well, a good change for Vandal, not so much for the agent. Head injuries suck, especially if (as it sounds) she's a bit older. Best of luck, V-man.

Good luck. From what limited exposure I've gotten to the industry, I keep finding out how tough a process it is.

Onward and upward!

Have you ever thought of just publishing it yourself? Unless you're with one of the major publishers, you have to do so much marketing of your books, you almost might as well publish it yourself and not share the profits with a publisher.

Of course, I say that even though the book I'm going to write after the current WIP has a very commercial-sounding hook, and if the novel turns out as good as I hope, I plan on shopping it to agents and publishers...

As someone said earlier, Onward and Upward!!

You shall prevail.

danielh41 wrote:Have you ever thought of just publishing it yourself? Unless you're with one of the major publishers, you have to do so much marketing of your books, you almost might as well publish it yourself and not share the profits with a publisher.

Of course, I say that even though the book I'm going to write after the current WIP has a very commercial-sounding hook, and if the novel turns out as good as I hope, I plan on shopping it to agents and publishers...

Self-publishing is a good idea for some types of books, but it's not free. To do it right (as you know), you must pay for an editor and cover artwork and setup which can be hundreds of dollars. The amount of books you need to sell just to break even is often unreachable.

I'll find a publisher for The Dragon's Song. I'm more confident about that than I am about getting an agent for the new series.

Also, writers have to do marketing and publicity for their books regardless of the size of the publisher. It's expected for everyone.

danielh41 wrote:Unless you're with one of the major publishers, you have to do so much marketing of your books, you almost might as well publish it yourself and not share the profits with a publisher.

Even if you're with a major publisher, you still have to do much of the marketing (unless you're a big name author, and even then you market, except on a much higher level). Most of the books I've done blog tours for were published with major publishers, but, except for the Michael Connelly book, the authors were very involved with the tours and other marketing activities.

Both of you are better writers than a lot of those I've reviewed, so it's just a matter of keeping plugging.

Still waiting...

Hang in there, friend.

Good luck. --Bob