To Agent or Not To Agent...

Posted By: Pauline Trent
Currently Working On: thank you cards for wedding presents. the novel is on hold for another week or so.
Mood: a little crazed but mostly excited (did I mention there's a wedding...)

To Agent or Not To Agent, that is the question. Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer...sorry. But surely I wasn't the only one thinking it. Anyway, onto the more or less serious topic of agents ~ or at least the assigned topic of agents.

This is a hard subject for me because, up until this new contract that's being negotiated, all of my contracts have been presented, signed and completed without an agent (although my first novel just came out, I've got three other published works of nonfiction). How much of a difference will there be in this agent-negotiated contract and the ones before it? A lot, I hope ~ but I don't know. Will publishing houses be willing to read my submissions faster because they come from an agent than when they just came from me? I don't know. And if they do read them faster, will it be because I have an agent or because I am now a published novelist? I don't know. Can you tell there's still a lot I don't know?

Here's what I do know...I know I am breathing easier and stressing less over this contract than any of the others. I know there's a comfort in saying "my agent", even before I know if she's a good agent or not. I know I feel less like I'm alone in an industry I'm still learning than I did before. I know I am nicer to my fiance', my friends, my family and even my dog when I have someone "official" at my back.

All of these may be quirks of mine that you don't share. Fair enough. Still, for me, if this is the first of many contracts she negotiates for me or the first and the last, I'm glad I've got her. My reasons may be quirky but they're my quirks and I can live with them.

Something else to mull over while you curl up with a good book.

~ Pauline