The basics of managering & agenting
April 28, 2018 9:27 PM Subscribe
Artistic/creative people with managers and/or agents, especially those whose work is relatively unusual for your field/is in a weird field: How did you find them/how did they find you? What sort of work do they do for you? Have you found them worthwhile?
I've been curious about how managers and agents for creative types work, especially for work promoting a person more than say a book or a screenplay. I'm not actively searching for either at the moment, though my work is ramping up to the point that I think it's worthwhile considering it for at least the near future, but I'm more interested in hearing about personal experiences than advice on how to get one for myself. I'm especially not 100% clear on what the difference is between a manager and an agent (or if someone can play both roles), so some elucidation on those differences would be highly appreciated!
I've been curious about how managers and agents for creative types work, especially for work promoting a person more than say a book or a screenplay. I'm not actively searching for either at the moment, though my work is ramping up to the point that I think it's worthwhile considering it for at least the near future, but I'm more interested in hearing about personal experiences than advice on how to get one for myself. I'm especially not 100% clear on what the difference is between a manager and an agent (or if someone can play both roles), so some elucidation on those differences would be highly appreciated!
DISCLAIMER: I'm probably not the best person to answer this question. My knowledge of managers is based on experience I had more than a decade ago. Also, I'm not sure how unusual my work is within my field. But nobody more appropriate has answered it in two days, so I'm going to jump in. If somebody more knowledgeable speaks up, listen to them instead of me!
If you ask a manager what separates them from an agent, they'll usually say something like, "An agent is focused on getting you your next job. I'm here to help you plot out your career as a whole." At least in the state of California, this distinction has some legal force behind it-- managers are legally prohibited from soliciting work for their clients.
That's the theory. In practice, there's a lot of overlap. A good agent will always have one eye on your career as a whole. And even in California, managers often get work for their clients. (After all, if your manager gets you a job, what are you going to do -- bust him for helping you?) However, I've never heard of anybody being officially called a manager and officially called an agent at the same time.
I currently write children's books (picture books as well as middle grade novels.) I have a fantastic agent. It's kind of a long story how I found her, but in brief: at a conference for children's book writers, I met an editor who liked my work. The editor invited me to submit more work to her, but she wanted it to come through an agent. That gave me the confidence to approach my top choice agency via email. An agent there liked my writing enough to give some feedback on it, but not enough to take me on yet. I rewrote my manuscript based on her advice and resubmitted it, and she took me on. This whole process took about a year and a half.
My agent does a lot for me. It I'll break it down into a few categories:
THINGS THAT ANY COMPETENT AGENT WILL DO
• She submits my manuscripts to editors.
• If an editor wants to acquire one of my books, she negotiates the deal on my behalf
• She takes a percentage of the income she has negotiated, so that she only gets paid when I get paid. (You probably know this, but any agent who asks for money before they've gotten you work is trying to scam you.)
THINGS THAT VERY GOOD AGENTS DO
• She doesn't blast out every manuscript to every editor in the world-- she knows individual editor's tastes, and she is able to target submissions to people most likely to be interested. As a result, editors know she won't waste their time. They approach her submissions with a positive attitude.
• She offers helpful feedback on my work but doesn't try to impose her vision on it. She will tell me honestly if she doesn't think a manuscript is ready to send out. If I disagreed vehemently with her and insisted, she would probably send it out-- but that hasn't come up yet, because her feedback has always made sense to me.
• She is honest with me about the realities of the market but she doesn't push me to do the same thing over and over again, just because it sold last time.
• If I have a couple of ideas that I'd be equally happy to work on, she advises me on which one she thinks is most likely to sell.
• She has sub-agents to represent foreign rights and film and TV rights to my books.
• She offers me excellent big picture advice.
THINGS THAT ARE UNUSUAL
• Her agency has a deal with an external marketing expert. As part of this deal, the marketer offers general advice and information to agency clients for free, and offers a discount to clients if they want her to do targeted promotions for a specific book.
• Her agency runs an annual retreat for its clients. It's also attended by the sub-agents and the marketing expert. There are talks on areas of interest within the field, and lots of opportunities for clients to share knowledge and support. Throughout the rest of the year, we all keep in touch through an online forum.
posted by yankeefog at 2:44 AM on April 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
If you ask a manager what separates them from an agent, they'll usually say something like, "An agent is focused on getting you your next job. I'm here to help you plot out your career as a whole." At least in the state of California, this distinction has some legal force behind it-- managers are legally prohibited from soliciting work for their clients.
That's the theory. In practice, there's a lot of overlap. A good agent will always have one eye on your career as a whole. And even in California, managers often get work for their clients. (After all, if your manager gets you a job, what are you going to do -- bust him for helping you?) However, I've never heard of anybody being officially called a manager and officially called an agent at the same time.
I currently write children's books (picture books as well as middle grade novels.) I have a fantastic agent. It's kind of a long story how I found her, but in brief: at a conference for children's book writers, I met an editor who liked my work. The editor invited me to submit more work to her, but she wanted it to come through an agent. That gave me the confidence to approach my top choice agency via email. An agent there liked my writing enough to give some feedback on it, but not enough to take me on yet. I rewrote my manuscript based on her advice and resubmitted it, and she took me on. This whole process took about a year and a half.
My agent does a lot for me. It I'll break it down into a few categories:
THINGS THAT ANY COMPETENT AGENT WILL DO
• She submits my manuscripts to editors.
• If an editor wants to acquire one of my books, she negotiates the deal on my behalf
• She takes a percentage of the income she has negotiated, so that she only gets paid when I get paid. (You probably know this, but any agent who asks for money before they've gotten you work is trying to scam you.)
THINGS THAT VERY GOOD AGENTS DO
• She doesn't blast out every manuscript to every editor in the world-- she knows individual editor's tastes, and she is able to target submissions to people most likely to be interested. As a result, editors know she won't waste their time. They approach her submissions with a positive attitude.
• She offers helpful feedback on my work but doesn't try to impose her vision on it. She will tell me honestly if she doesn't think a manuscript is ready to send out. If I disagreed vehemently with her and insisted, she would probably send it out-- but that hasn't come up yet, because her feedback has always made sense to me.
• She is honest with me about the realities of the market but she doesn't push me to do the same thing over and over again, just because it sold last time.
• If I have a couple of ideas that I'd be equally happy to work on, she advises me on which one she thinks is most likely to sell.
• She has sub-agents to represent foreign rights and film and TV rights to my books.
• She offers me excellent big picture advice.
THINGS THAT ARE UNUSUAL
• Her agency has a deal with an external marketing expert. As part of this deal, the marketer offers general advice and information to agency clients for free, and offers a discount to clients if they want her to do targeted promotions for a specific book.
• Her agency runs an annual retreat for its clients. It's also attended by the sub-agents and the marketing expert. There are talks on areas of interest within the field, and lots of opportunities for clients to share knowledge and support. Throughout the rest of the year, we all keep in touch through an online forum.
posted by yankeefog at 2:44 AM on April 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
Sorry, just wanted to say -- when I composed my answer, there weren't any answers posted yet, so I commented that you hadn't gotten a response from anybody more qualified then me. Aielen must have hit "post" a minute or two before I did, so my comment ended up looking like a dig against them. That was totally not my intention!
posted by yankeefog at 4:59 AM on April 30, 2018
posted by yankeefog at 4:59 AM on April 30, 2018
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posted by aielen at 2:42 AM on April 30, 2018