On Writing: Agents

Do you need an agent? It’s not a trick question. The answer is yes, yes you do. Just ask any unagented author whose novel or collection was sucked into a publisher’s recent bankruptcy implosion. When it hit the fan those guys were utterly at the mercy of the kindness of strangers. Don’t be one of those guys.

How do you know if an agent is the right one for you? Due diligence. 90 percent of writing has nothing to do with actually writing. Due diligence is a great big chunk of the something that has nothing, and yet everything, to do with making it as a pro.