Where Have All the Agents Gone?

Our guest blogger, Susan Malone, is back again with an interesting take on whether traditional publishing is heading for demise at the hand of e-publishing.

I always smile when thinking of trends in publishing. Especially due to the answer all my editor friends in NY give when asked (at virtually every writers’ conference) what the new trends will be:  “I’ll know it when I see it.”

But as much of a joking reply as this is, it stands up over time because, well, it’s true. Nobody ever knows what’s going to happen in publishing—until it’s happened. And then when it does, everybody wants a piece of it. Only they want it yesterday, and with a fresh twist. This of course has stymied writers since the days of quill dipping-pens. And now in the age of speed-of-light-changing technology, the new trend in publishing is the industry itself.

Of course, everybody is waxing profound these days on what will happen to the business model. Will traditional publishing survive?  Have e-books slung the final arrow into a dying monolith? Will the only authors gaining traditional publishing contracts be of the Amanda Hocking ilk?

That’s what we’ve all heard for the past two years or so. I was speaking at a big conference last summer, and of course sat around kibitzing with some good friends of the agent, editor, and publisher variety. This discourse dominated the conversation, and one of the points gaining consensus was that in the end, two publishers would remain: Random House and probably Viking. How soon this doomsday scenario would occur was the only real arguing point.

And occur, this very well may. Although lately, the big houses have been fighting back with all the guns in their own e-book arsenals (and some from Justice, but that’s another story completely). But does any tangible evidence exist that rumors of publishing’s demise may be greatly exaggerated? (Apologies for the butchering, Mr. Clemens.)

Lately, I’ve seen some subtle signs of exactly this. Which will bring me back to the title of this post, about which astute readers by now may be scratching their heads. But, for example, I have an editorial client with whom I’ve been working a few years. This young man’s second novel is a bang-up Mid-Grade Reader.  Really well done.  He’s worked so hard, honed his craft, and the book is just beautiful.  Funny.  Poignant and profound.  Unfortunately for him, it includes not one vampire or werewolf or anything that sucks another’s life-blood.  And we have not been able to get him agented on a danged bet.

In large part because just as publishers aren’t buying anything from unknown authors, paring down their lists to existing ones (especially if those are of the already-dead-but-with-huge-followings variety), scrambling around as if their offices are on fire, agents are doing the same thing. Including the scrambling.  Many have given up the agenting ghost entirely, going on to more fruitful endeavors (which could include picking actual apples at this point). Nobody has wanted to even look at an unknown’s manuscript—no matter how highly it came recommended.

I’ve just hated it.  For all my writers, but especially for this young man.  He’s gifted, put in the blood, sweat, and tears, and has such a genuineness of spirit (which comes through in his work) that my heart has just hurt for him.  Unfortunately, he’s completely unknown, has no platform whatsoever (although he’s working diligently via social media), and did I mention no blood drips from the characters’ fangs?

And then . . .   Something has changed.  It’s one of those whispers on the wind.  So quiet you almost can’t hear it; one of those tilt-your-ear-again things.  He queried four new agents, and one who had rejected the manuscript a year and a half ago. All five requested at least partials, and two so far, from the partials, have requested the entire manuscript.

I can assure you his query letter hasn’t changed.  And as we all know, agents don’t request manuscripts because they have nothing better to do, but only because they think they may be able to sell them.

The pendulum in publishing has started to swing back, ever so slightly. Common wisdom has said for a while that e-books would reach a tipping point this summer.  Perhaps summer has come early . . . 

Will this last? Who knows. Will self-publishing continue to be the rage (at the expense of the traditional model)?  Where’s my crystal ball. Or will the trend turn again to traditional publishing?

I guess we’ll all know it when we see it!
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Award-winning author and editor Susan Mary Malone has four traditionally published books to her credit (fiction and nonfiction) and many published short stories. A freelance editor, forty-plus Malone-edited books have now sold to traditional publishers. You can see more about her, and what authors say about working with her, at: www.maloneeditorial.com

Posted by Maryann Miller, who agrees that traditional publishing is not dead.