The picture is only there because I like it a lot, my husband Alan Lees painted it, it reminds me of some very happy winters spent working in the Canaries - and it's also going to be used as the cover image for one of a pair of novels, coming soon. Watch this space!
Meanwhile, back in the real world ...
Many writer friends seem to be in the process of trying to secure the services of an agent, a process that involves sending out the dreaded 'query letters'. Dozens of them. It's a hideous process that involves browsing agency websites and how-to posts, trying to draft out the right letter, sending it out in whatever form the agency demands, keeping records and waiting. It's demoralising not least because, although it's a bit like job hunting, getting an agent doesn't necessarily mean you'll get a publishing deal, and getting a publishing deal doesn't necessarily mean you'll make any money ...
I've posted quite a lot about the hunt for an agent already on this blog, especially in 2021, with a post titled Disappearing Agents, and a follow up post here, a week later.
A quick Google of that term 'query letters' throws up - I kid you not - 87 million results. That's a lot more than the entire population of the UK. Vast numbers of people are busy telling other people how to write query letters. On the other hand, a search for 'how to be a good literary agent' results in 23 million results, and of those, the vast majority are still about how to get an agent, or where to find an agent, with the rest focusing on simply 'becoming' an agent.
Anyway, in contrary mood, I thought, wouldn't it be great to find pieces online with titles such as:
You're claiming to be an agent? Why is your website such a mess?
How to design an agency website that wows your potential clients.
Five essential elements of a good agency.
How to be a darn good literary agent.
The essential traits of agents that work.
What not to do as a literary agent.
Five things that make a competent agent.
Ten marks of a poor agency.
Highly effective agencies and how they do it.
How to become the perfect literary agent.
and in view of my own past experiences
Agents: how not to disappear.
Well, we can but dream, can't we?
