Your Agent Is Not God (And Other Things That Should Be Obvious, But Aren’t)

It seems like all of the conversations I had with writers lastweek were about agents—what they do, what they don’t do, how to get one, and when to leave one.

That might be because it’s conference season, and writers all across the country are pitching new agents or arranging meetings with their existing agents. Or it might be because literary agents still hold this mysterious place of power in the publishing journey.

Many of the new writers I meet (and some who aren’t so new) think that agent...