Some Q&A

Do I need an agent?
And

I've heard of a publisher that print one copy at the time on the order of a customer, though its name eludes me at the time. What's your opinion on the matter?

Good questions, both, and I hope I don’t sound snarky when I say my opinion should be pretty self-evident. I have an agent. I have a traditional New York publisher who pays me for the right to print and sell and profit off my words. As much as this still thrills (and floors) me, I know that paying someone to do that for me is not only bad business sense, but yanno, morally wrong. (You want me to create the work and then pay you to publish it? Um…would you like my first born, too?) My agent made sure this never happened. I would have never gained said publisher – or sold my books in the UK and Russia and Germany – if not for her. There are many reasons for this, but the best is this: the likelihood of my ms ever reaching my editor’s illustrious, messy desk without an agent was not something a Vegas bookie would ever take bets on. Another reason: any publisher printing one copy of a book at a time doesn’t really have the time, inclination, or resources to pimp my pages all over the globe. And that’s what I wanted: someone to love it, to buy it, and to get other people with cool accents to love it and buy it, too. That way I might just get a chance to make a long-term career of this scribbling thing.*

Of course, there’s neither any immediate gratification, nor any guarantees when you do it this way. But good books find homes. (Er…some bad books do, too.) So what if it takes time? While you’re waiting you can write more books. The writing is the only thing you can control anyway.

So I guess my answer is to look inward to what you want. If that’s a POD (print on demand) press that prints one copy at a time, then don’t let anyone sway you from that.** (And talk to some POD authors to get accounts of their experiences and opinions as well.) It’s really that simple.

Oh, and I can’t forget what, in my mind, is the most important thing: finish a book. The questions of agent/publisher/world rights/royalties and so on are all moot if you don’t do that. Until then (and even after that), this should be your only concern.

Hope that helps!

*Actually I’d come to the decision that I was going to write for the rest of my life whether anyone bought my work or not, if only because that’s how I process the world around me, how I make sense of my own thoughts, and how I stay sane.

**My only caveat here would be this: take into account the foibles of human nature. Upon reaching any given goal, no matter how fulfilling or happy that might make a person at the time, it is inevitable that one will set the bar higher, and naturally strive for more. Mere contentment is not what moves this world.