An agent, if they do their job, serves as a guide and reference on how to get the best possible agreement in the Author's best interest. Each party, publisher and writer, want the best agreement in THEIR interest and those don't always coincide. An agent serves here to go to bat for the Author, especially a first time one, and make sure the agreement is in their best interest and most beneficial for their career.
These are, of course, very good points -- I sort of folded them in because for the most part, and in the genre I write in, I have seen zero movement for things like royalty rates in first novels, either boilerplate or agented.
Also? I understood these things before I sold a book or went looking for an agent because I did read a lot about them in an attempt to make sense of what was going to govern the career I hoped to have. Once, a long time ago, I posted the actual contract, clause by clause, for my first novel, so that people in similar situations would be able to read it and see what it meant.
But my agent didn't explain any of it to me; I asked him what he could better (mostly: advance & holding on to rights) when I had the contract in hand, and he assumed that I understood what the contract actually said, fwiw.
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2009-04-26 02:09 am (UTC)These are, of course, very good points -- I sort of folded them in because for the most part, and in the genre I write in, I have seen zero movement for things like royalty rates in first novels, either boilerplate or agented.
Also? I understood these things before I sold a book or went looking for an agent because I did read a lot about them in an attempt to make sense of what was going to govern the career I hoped to have. Once, a long time ago, I posted the actual contract, clause by clause, for my first novel, so that people in similar situations would be able to read it and see what it meant.
But my agent didn't explain any of it to me; I asked him what he could better (mostly: advance & holding on to rights) when I had the contract in hand, and he assumed that I understood what the contract actually said, fwiw.