From my perspective, without an agent I probably would not have made it into print, let alone made a living at it from the first. The first sale was via intense networking and insider trading, which I had zero access to and no knowledge of. I was in academia, not retail--so basic street smarts were not there. The agent got me read and noticed by people I had no access to on my own--I knew nothing of the con circuit, knew about SFWA but only through its Nebula anthologies.
No Internet for the masses then. We're talking 1981. I typed my first ms. on the latest and spiffiest Smith-Corona typewriter.
Both of my agents have been strong on career-building and project development. It's very much a collaborative effort for me, though my actual novels are totally solo, I don't workshop or share them until they're finished. (Personal quirk.)
The observation that bad sales figures are not fatal or permanent should be strongly qualified. Yes, they drop off the computers after a decade or so, but ask yourself how many meh-to-shitty-deal "rising stars of fantasy" from, say, 1993 are still publishing novels, and how many of them died the death of shrinking sales figures. Computerization of the system means that your agent can no longer fudge the figures. Anybody can look and see just how sucky they are--and decline to purchase your next project no matter how much they personally may love it. You might not get driven out of the business--but you might have to start over under a pseudonym.
Yes, bad sales figures are a bad thing, and yes, they will affect your ability to sell subsequent projects. Consider that book sales are currently judged by performance in the first eight weeks, and ordering systems order the same number of new books as they sold of the previous book. Since sell-through or sales before returns runs around 40% on a good day, that means your first order can be for 100, but the next order may be for 40, and the order after that could conceivably be for 16. As long as your name is in the system with X number beside it, that's your number. It seldom goes up, but often goes down. And each time it goes down, it's pretty much guaranteed to drop further. This is lethal for series writers, especially if you add in Stupid Publisher Tricks such as taking volume one out of print shortly before the publication of volume three--you may only see two or three volumes before the publisher declines to purchase more.
Bestsellers are feeling this, too, by the way. Figures are down even for top authors. An editor told me recently that authors who used to sell a million at 40% are now selling half or a third that, still at 40%. The system seems to be designed to implode.
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2004-09-12 08:25 am (UTC)No Internet for the masses then. We're talking 1981. I typed my first ms. on the latest and spiffiest Smith-Corona typewriter.
Both of my agents have been strong on career-building and project development. It's very much a collaborative effort for me, though my actual novels are totally solo, I don't workshop or share them until they're finished. (Personal quirk.)
The observation that bad sales figures are not fatal or permanent should be strongly qualified. Yes, they drop off the computers after a decade or so, but ask yourself how many meh-to-shitty-deal "rising stars of fantasy" from, say, 1993 are still publishing novels, and how many of them died the death of shrinking sales figures. Computerization of the system means that your agent can no longer fudge the figures. Anybody can look and see just how sucky they are--and decline to purchase your next project no matter how much they personally may love it. You might not get driven out of the business--but you might have to start over under a pseudonym.
Yes, bad sales figures are a bad thing, and yes, they will affect your ability to sell subsequent projects. Consider that book sales are currently judged by performance in the first eight weeks, and ordering systems order the same number of new books as they sold of the previous book. Since sell-through or sales before returns runs around 40% on a good day, that means your first order can be for 100, but the next order may be for 40, and the order after that could conceivably be for 16. As long as your name is in the system with X number beside it, that's your number. It seldom goes up, but often goes down. And each time it goes down, it's pretty much guaranteed to drop further. This is lethal for series writers, especially if you add in Stupid Publisher Tricks such as taking volume one out of print shortly before the publication of volume three--you may only see two or three volumes before the publisher declines to purchase more.
Bestsellers are feeling this, too, by the way. Figures are down even for top authors. An editor told me recently that authors who used to sell a million at 40% are now selling half or a third that, still at 40%. The system seems to be designed to implode.