Literary agents: a bad agent will kill your career

Over the past week, I’ve had several messages from writers about agents. Each writer thought an agent would be the answer to their woes.

If only that were so.

Pay attention: a bad agent will kill your career. Ask any professional writer for their “bad agent” horror stories, and stand well back when they unleash their rage.

Big tip: wait until someone offers you money for your book, and then get an agent. Agents make money from your sales. If you don’t have any sales, guess what kind of “agent” you get?

I don’t mean this post to sound as if I’m down on agents, I’m not. Most agents are professional, hard-working people, who do their best for their writers. As in any group, there are incompetents and bad apples.

If you’re a new writer, it’s impossible for you to get a good agent unless you’ve already sold a book, or are close to selling.

Focus on your writing — you have complete control over that — and not on details, like agents. Once you write a good book which someone wants to publish, you’ll get a good agent, not before.