Today I Am Thankful For......

One of the most valuable groups of people in the writing world are agents. They are definitely worthy of a thankful post :) I am extremely thankful for my agent, Krista Goering. For non-fiction, many publishing houses will accept unagented submissions. However, while I could figure out how to send a query and proposal, after that, I'd be pretty clueless. I certainly wouldn't be able to negotiate better terms for my contracts or make sure I'm getting the biggest advance or royalty possible. I have no contacts in the non-fiction world and pretty much no idea who would be the best editor to contact or the best house to query. Krista handles all of that for me.

Not only does she handle all the paperwork, she also helps me with my projects, editing, coming up with new ideas, finding ways to get my name out there, be more marketable. She's always available if I have questions and quickly gets back to me no matter what the reason for my email.

I think agents are some of the hardest working people out there. I know writers often get frustrated, especially during the query and submission process, with non-responses or slow responses. But think about it from the agents' perspective. They get thousands of queries every year, hundreds of submissions - and that is on top of all the work they must do for their clients. And they don't get paid for most of the time and effort they put in. Agents are simply incredible and I, for one, am very grateful they are out there.