Agents and Writers

Rachelle Gardner posted a list of 13 points writers need to know about agents. It’s a good list, and sparked a lot of comments. One of the greatest benefits writers have gained from social media is the amount of information now available from agents and editors.

However, I posted a comment to her question:

What are some things agents may not know about writers?

My list also became 13 points and garnered a variety of comments. So here’s my list:

What agents need to remember about writers:
1. We don’t want to be agents.
2. Most of us are not editors.
3. Few of us grasp marketing or are comfortable in public.
4. We put in tons of hours and still have to get our paychecks doing something not writing related.
5. Contracts make our eyes cross.
6. We’d rather be reading.
7. We don’t understand why everyone is not totally enthralled with reading.
8. We don’t want to read everything published by a publisher we’d like as our publisher to determine how to write for that publisher.
9. We love our stories and want to share them. We know this is not a career path to be in for the money.
10. We know there are easier ways to make money so we write for the love of the story.
11. As writers, we totally “GET” the business model of publishing has many layers and we really don’t want to deal with that, so we accept pennies on the price of books sold.
12. We’d rather go to the movies.
13. Our writing career doesn’t keep us awake at night, our stories do.

Do you agree?

What would you add to this list?