I’d admit right away that I don’t know how to dress.
I’ve never cared about clothes. I wear a sort of uniform every day during the summer: a v-neck cotton tee-shirt (I have them in every color), shorts, and flip flops. They’re…comfortable.
Then I have dresses. When I go to book signings or conferences (or church), I wear these very pretty dresses—because it’s either the dresses or the shorts and v-necks!
I have nothing in-between. Dinner out at a nice restaurant, but not a fancy one? I’ll be there in a dress because I don’t have dressy, casual clothes.
My college roommate came to visit me a couple of days ago. She’s a political fundraiser who lives in Dallas—she has nice clothes. And not just fancy clothes—nice casual clothes. So we went out to dinner (yes, I was in my cotton v-neck top and vastly underdressed) and I told her that I didn’t have clothes—and I have a book tour coming up in August. I thought I might be overdressed in my dresses at the bookstores we’re going to.
She immediately said, “Elizabeth, you should go to Nordstrom’s and use their personal shopper.”
Dollar signs started floating in front of my head. “Well, but that sounds expensive…”
“The personal shopper is free. And Nordstrom’s is having their big sale next week. They are going to know what you look good in. You can give them a budget and they’ll call you whenever something in your size and in your price range comes in.”
Ahh. Outsourcing my shopping. This I liked.
The reason I bring this up is that recently I’ve talked to a few authors I know who don’t have agents. They have publishers, though—and a few books on the shelves. They’d unsuccessfully looked for an agent before getting published, then they’d found a publishing house for their book and decided to just not worry about getting an agent.
I have to bite my tongue when they tell me they’ve stopped looking for an agent.
Yes, it’s very hard to find an agent. But, especially, if you’ve got a publisher, you need to have an agent. I’d keep on looking.
I negotiated one book deal myself, without an agent. I promise that I did much better (and my agent paid for herself) when I kept looking and used an agent to negotiate my next book deal.
By and large (and this doesn’t apply to everyone…but it sure applies to me), writers don’t have brilliant business brains. Many writers are creative thinkers, not negotiators. It’s just not what we’re good at.
If you do get a publisher on your own (like I did a few years ago), keep looking for an agent. You’ll change your query letter to: “I’m an author, published by XYZ house.” You’ll still get rejections (I got a ton of them, even post-published). But eventually, you’ll get some bites.
Because we all need to stick with what we’re good at. And leave the rest to qualified professionals.
Elizabeth – What a good argument for getting an agent, even if one’s been published. As you say, writers write. Agents represent. Those are very different skill sets. An agent can certainly recognize good writing, and a writer can certainly realize whether an agent is trustworthy or not, but why not get a professional if you need one? That’s what musical artists do. That’s what sports talents do. I liken it to fixing a car. Most of us are not talented enough at mechanics to do all of our own car repairs. So…you find an excellent mechanic.
Exactly. We shouldn’t try to be everything because we aren’t going to do some things well. An agent has a specific job to do and frankly knows how to do it.
Re: clothing. You have a daughter. Believe me, one day she will gladly help you shop for clothing AND do a great job. Shoes are my yawn. My daughter has literally made me put back shoes that were awful. FUNNY.
Very often the way to get a good agent is to make a sale first! An agent is of more use to a published writer than an unpublished one. (Can anyone spell “subsidiary rights”?)
And yes, outsourcing any task that you are not good at – or that you just don’t like – is often the most efficient way to do anything.
We do have to keep in mind that we’re not good at everything. You can be good at one thing, or even two or three different things. (A few people are good at more than that, but not me.) I agree, keep looking for an agent. An agent negotiates for you and also fights for you with the publishing house. Two things that most writers are not experts at.
I didn’t know Norstroms had a person shopper. Cool. I just might check that out. My sisters think I dress so badly, they shop for me… and do my hair. I spend so much of my time alone, I rarely think about my clothes but I guess I don’t want to embarrass my son.
CD
I will keep that in mind!
Hm. Personal shopper, huh? My wife’s always telling me I don’t buy myself clothes. Maybe this would help me move beyond the khakis and casual dress shirts I wear pretty much every day.
Outsourcing FTW, then!
Also, yeah. Agent is the first step on my road to pub, methinks. I mean… mehopes. :)
Margot–Right! Because we’re not going to open up the hood of our car and start yanking stuff out. Good analogy!
Journaling Woman–My daughter LOVES to shop. Of course, everything she picked out for me would have had flowers on it, or have been pink. :)
Helen–Exactly. And whenever we have an issue with our publisher (not that I have, but I hear stories), then the agent gets to look like the bad guy instead of the writer.
Clarissa–I think my kids have *definitely* gotten to the age where I can embarrass them! Especially the 13 year old.
Alex–Thanks for coming by!
Simon–I’m going on Monday morning.:) The personal shopper called me yesterday and made an appointment with me and is even pulling some things in my size out before I get there. Yay! Maybe it won’t even take long. :) Shopping is grueling for me.
Frankly, your dress problem reminded me of Kinsey Millhone. I think one of the reasons I feel so relaxed in the company of Kinsey is that she is never over-dressed :D
I have probably told you before, but in Denmark writers do not use agents so just for once I cannot use your advice (well, apart from your clothes solution).
Great point, Elizabeth. We might be able to catch a publisher’s eye by ourselves, but most of us don’t know now to negotiate a deal with enough toughness and fairness. I’ve had some really punitive clauses in contracts I got by myself that an agent wouldn’t have allowed. And I didn’t dare query them because I didn’t want to lose the job.
i’m so happy i stumbled on this blog via twitter — thank you for sharing this insight. as frustrating as the rejection — oops, i mean QUERYING — process is, it is important to remember that agents know their business.
The argument makes perfect sense. I couldn’t find an agent and ended up going direct to the publisher and that was fine but I would still prefer to have an agent. I think it would just make things that little bit smoother and easier.
Thanks for sharing your advice.
Those last two sentences sum it up perfectly!
Marvin D Wilson
OK, I cry Uncle or maybe Auntie Elizabeth! I’ll go back to my agent search – I’ll do a two stream search for an agent and a publisher. argggh! Thanks, I think.
Elizabeth, thanks for the sound advice. You bring up factors of writing that I have never really thought about.
I, like others, thought that once published, an agent would be unnecessary. However, upon reflection, I see how one should have an agent who will protect the writer’s interests business-wise.
Great post!
This is a great message about taking inventory – what can we do on our own, and when do we need to call on some help. I am taking note. And, BTW, I went shopping today and got some snazzy summer things. You can do it. It might be fun with a helper who dotes on you.
dirtywhitecandy–That’s the thing–the writer is stuck between a rock and a hard place. With an agent, we’re in a much better spot.
The Daring Novelist–There are so many tasks that I don’t like to do that I think I could hire a whole staff! Like “Upstairs, Downstairs.” :)
The Crazy Baby Mama–It *does* feel like a rejection process, doesn’t it? :) I wish I could say that the feelings of rejection stop, but every time there’s any type of a negative review, the old feelings of rejection tend to stir up again. I’m so glad you came by today!
Dorte–Kinsey and I have a lot in common, I think. :)
You know, I’d forgotten that! Maybe just keep it in mind if you sell to a US or UK house. :)
Marvin–Thanks! And thanks for coming by.
Jan–It’s definitely not fun! You could do one set of letters to small/medium sized publishers and one set to agents. :)
Chary–The agents just have more of a general market sense–they know how much we should be getting for our writing. And that’s something I really have no clue about.
Mary–I think a doting helper is just the ticket!
Cassandra–That’s *exactly* what happened to me. It’s a great way to *get* an agent, actually.
Hi, Elizabeth! I ordered both your novels from Amazon today. YAY!!! I can’t wait to read them. Hope you’re having a great weekend! :)
I loved your story about your workday uniform and your dresses, and just when I was absolutely satiated you make the story even better by tying it in with a lesson. Vintage Elizabeth.
I happen to have a lot of clothes, because I have almost always worked in places where clothes matter, BUT, I have nothing for a casual dinner. Casuals, yes. Office wear, yes. Really formal wear, yes. But something to wear, no. Story of our lives!
Thanks so much, Laura! I hope you’ll enjoy it. :)
Rayna–You’re so sweet! Hmm. Casual dinner? Sounds like tee shirt and shorts to me! But…I did go to the personal shopper on Monday and got some dressy slacks and tops. The shopper kept asking me what I had at home (to coordinate with things.) I just winced a lot and said, “Wellll…I really don’t have much. Lots of shorts!” I think he was stunned. :)