How to Write Safely in a Publishing Universe.

Maureen Johnson blogs brilliantly about James Frey horribly scamming newbie writers with dodgy contracts. She also quite rightly calls out creative writing programmes (specifically MFAs) for not including business advice along with artistic training:

"Look, MFA programs, stop being so snobbish. You're not making your students better artists by sending them out into their fields with NO KNOWLEDGE of the business side of things. You're leaving them vulnerable to bad deals, and putting them into a position where they can be taken advantage of. You set up the conditions in which your artists end up slaving away because they didn't know any better than to sign on the dotted line. You make this James Frey situation possible. Devote a few weeks to teaching your students some survival skills. After all the money you've taken from them, they're going to need to know how to make some more."

Sarah Rees Brennan follows up with a very fun (but at the same time very wise) post about the seductive appeal and dreadful dangers of "shortcuts" to getting published, how to be selective about the advice you take, and how much hard work it actually takes to even get started on that road:

"I have heard people say in horror 'You have to write a whole book?' Yes, you do. Already-successful writers can sell on proposal (summaries of novels, can be 1 to 60 pages long, I've seen both) but the vast majority of new writers have to write a whole book. And then they have to throw out that whole book and start all over again, with no consolation but 'Well – that's one book closer to The One. Maybe THIS one will be The One!' Like dating. Dating lots of different people you have made up in your brain."

Another of the things she talks about is the importance of getting an agent:

"Sometimes people skip this step. They can if they like! If they are totally amazing at negotiating, then at contract language, then (if you haven't sold your foreign rights to your publisher) at finding good foreign publishers. Then you negotiate with them, and fiddle with those contracts. Next step, to movies, and finding the right people and getting a good contract! Also if you think whenever problems arise (I hate my cover/My book's publication date has been pushed back four years/My editor wants me to add Martians with probes in the middle of the love scene!) you will be able to deal with your publishers all by yourself and be perfectly cool, calm and collected in achieving your ends.

If all that is true, go ahead, and know you have my undying admiration. If it all sounds like it might be beyond your grasp or within your grasp but leave you with little time for actual writing, a literary agent is good to have."

This is a piece of advice that I tend to be pretty evangelical about. I have sold novels through an agent, and not through an agent, and every single time I have sold a novel directly to a publisher without an agent, I have had regrets. Some niggly, resentful regrets, some major, career-implodey regrets. I know it's hard. Finding an agent feels at times like being on one of those treasure hunts in a sandpit, only someone keeps driving the sandpit out of your reach. And that's with a decent track record as a writer, let alone being a completely new name. We are lucky in Australia that there are several opportunities open to writers to be noticed by publishers without having an agent make that first introduction. However…

Should you be in the enviable position of having a publisher accept your novel entirely from your own efforts, I cannot stress enough my recommendation that you try to get an agent *before* you sign that contract. It may in fact be your best opportunity to get the attention of an agent. It is not rude or insulting to your publisher to try to do this. It's normal.

I think there's a rather pernicious myth that the agent's main job is to get your manuscript noticed by the publisher, and that if you sold a book without them, there is no reason to hand over a percentage of your own hard-earned money. Nothing could be further from the truth. The agent is there to protect your interests, and if you don't have one, you are extremely vulnerable. This is even true if you have a good, friendly relationship with the editor who bought your book. Editors move on. Publishing houses get bought out. Writers can easily end up as collateral damage.

An agent could be the difference between you signing a good contract and a great one, or they could be the reason you walk away from a contract that looks like it would do your career more harm than good. Agents work VERY HARD to protect your interests, and they don't actually make decent money at it unless you also succeed greatly.

Some writers end up in awful situations because of politeness, because the person they were dealing with at a publishing house was super friendly and nice, or sometimes out of desperation to be published. The awesome thing about having an agent is, if things ever get sticky, you get to preserve that lovely relaxed friendly relationship with your editors and publishers, while your agent plays "the bad guy" and sorts out the mess.

If you don't have or can't get an agent in time for a particular project, and you REALLY REALLY want to sign the contract, don't go to your family lawyer. Very few lawyers, even contract lawyers, know enough about publishing to be useful. Instead I heartily recommend paying the very reasonable membership to the Australian Society of Authors (or whatever the equivalent is in your country) and making use of their free/cheap legal advice (initial phone consultation is free and you can also pay to have them properly assess a contract on your behalf). I've used the ASA in the past and was really pleased with what they offered – among other things, peace of mind.

Getting published is awesome, but the best possible way you can transition from a book sale to an actual writing career (believe ME the process is not automatic) is to make sure you have representation.