While the author should perhaps not be giving "orders" as to how to sell her book, she absolutely should be bringing her take on how to do so to the table. One of the things I had to learn, when I had an agent, was that this didn't mean I should become passive and wait for someone else to do all the work; I still had to be every bit as much involved and on top of my career as before.
If you hit a point where you just can't agree on something major, of course it is time to part ways, though. An agent can't be expected to go out and sell a book he doesn't believe in, any more than a writer can be expected to sit back and watch a book she does believe in go unmarketed.
In fact, my former agent and I amicably parted ways over just such a different: I had a couple of projects that I thought were marketable that he didn't.
I think one thing that sometimes does create tension is: the agent's career requires on submitting stuff that is on-target more often than not. But the writer's career requires being persistent with projects that don't sell quickly. And these two things are sometimes at odds.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2004-12-17 07:23 pm (UTC)If you hit a point where you just can't agree on something major, of course it is time to part ways, though. An agent can't be expected to go out and sell a book he doesn't believe in, any more than a writer can be expected to sit back and watch a book she does believe in go unmarketed.
In fact, my former agent and I amicably parted ways over just such a different: I had a couple of projects that I thought were marketable that he didn't.
I think one thing that sometimes does create tension is: the agent's career requires on submitting stuff that is on-target more often than not. But the writer's career requires being persistent with projects that don't sell quickly. And these two things are sometimes at odds.