Why You Need to Keep Track of Your Sh*t

Dear Storyteller,

I won’t lie, the publishing world is in a strange place these days. Twitter, once considered the “water cooler” of publishing, has been diminished to a place where those publishing folks who are left either deal with a torrent of misguided abuse or partake in the same. I’ve seen many new agents announce themselves, though I am wary of how many of them actually know what they’re doing. I want to give the benefit of the doubt, but I know how important apprenticeship was for me (and how crucial when I started building my own client list), and I’m not sure how many of these folks are receiving it. Passion can take you far; how far, though, is dependent on more than just loving books.

But this is not a post to dig at new agents because of course I, too, was once a new literary agent and it was HARD. It’s a tough spot to be. You do what you can. You give your all. You make mistakes. And you hope your clients will stick with you through it.

Even so, no matter how amazing or incredible your agent turns out to be, you need to be ready for the potential that it might not always be amazing. Your agent could leave the industry or, of course, there’s always the potential that you might part ways mutually and amicably or, you know, not so amicably. It’s hard to predict. You might be with your agent for a million years.

But in the eventuality that things may not always go according to plan, you must make sure you have your information recorded and handy, because you may not be able to request it/obtain it after the fact. So this is not only for yourself, but for whichever agent steps in next to resume representation of your career. I have personally had three agents. They were all amazing. But I absolutely needed to share with them information from previous submissions. You just never know.

So, what do you need to make sure you have handy? Well, luckily for you I’ve created a very basic SAMPLE BOOK TRACKER in Airtable for you to peruse. Even if you don’t have a sale or contract yet, knowing where your agent has taken your book on submission is also important, even if you are unaware of who the publishers are or what they do. You never know when you will need to share that submission list with a new agent.

Knowing when you can expect to receive royalties and/or statements each year is also important. Know the terms of your deal - which rights you licensed and which ones you didn’t. Know what your termination clause looks like. Know your royalty percentages. All of these could be important for various reasons.

I know it’s tempting to lean entirely on your agent to keep this information for you (that is, of course, part of their job), but it can also be helpful for THEM if you are aware of where you’re at in the contract process or when you should be receiving a royalty statement. Discuss the terms of your contract with them and ask them questions - familiarize yourself with what is happening in your deals. Hopefully it’s all just records you keep for yourself. But you never know - so start at the beginning, before you ever need it.

Sincerely,

Hannah