Authors & Reviewers discussion

Howdy everyone,

My name is Din Ka and I'm a fellow author. I have a question in regards to those that are willing to share your practices when searching for an agent or agency or if you just focus more on other areas instead..

I started my search for an agent 10-12 years ago when I finished my first screenplay when I graduated college with a film/tv degree. A handful of years later I realized screenwriting isn't for me as your writing gets dictated and changed so many times that by the time the product is finished, that only maybe 10-20% of you writing actually made it into the final production draft. A lesson I learned the hard way, but that's a whole another story in itself.

Anyhow I've gotten so many rejection letters that I could plaster the walls and ceilings of my room and more. So after 7-8 years of rejections I finally got one agency that was interested that was a startup and so I signed with them. The agent assigned to me left after a month of working with him, so the president of the agency stepped in to represent me. He wasn't the best when it came to communication and eventually disappeared as if vanished into then air. I never paid any fees for anything, but an email or phone saying he closed his agency would of been nice.

Eventually I moved on and found a publisher willing to publish my work. At the moment I'm still sending query letters to agency but to no avail. Has anyone given up trying to secure an agent and just focused on promoting themselves and just writing in hopes that maybe one day an agency or agent is gonna come knocking on your door rather you knocking on theirs?

I guess the reason I'm asking is, I'm tired of looking for an agent and the rejection letters do take a toll, and recently felt like I'm wasting time and should just focus on promotions and writing. So I'm curious on everyone's take on how they come about this?


Thanks and hope to hear some experiences.

Din Ka
https://www.facebook.com/AuthorDinKa/
https://twitter.com/Author_Din_Ka

Hi Din

I wrote a blog about my experiences of being professionally published, then my decision to go self pub:

http://chryscymri.com/blog/from-tradi...

Based on my experience, if you're getting actual rejection letters then you're ahead of the game. Ninety percent of my agent queries were never even acknowledged. Of the handful that replied, only three or four offered any useful assessment of my work and situation.

If you've gotten a publisher, I'm not sure why you need an agent anymore. They will take 15% of your royalties before you see a dime -- and for what...?

It is truly an agent will take 15% of the commission of royalties. However, sometimes it required, as they can save your time and money.

@Chrys check out the link you suggested and pretty interesting. I'm actually considering self publishing my next book release.

@Joel you make a good point. I've had some of my work, screenplays and manuscripts looked at by some top agencies, and half through their consideration I'll get an email saying "Interesting read, so far I'm liking it" or "Unique concept", to only be rejected in the end as it wasn't for them. And I was only seeking an agent as I wanted to try my luck at hopefully landing at a bigger publishing house.