Reading Fees

I have wandered (belatedly) into a collection of blog-posts discussing the concept of agents being allowed, as they currently are not, by the literary agents' professional trade groups of the USA, Australia, and New Zealand (the one in the UK allows limited exceptions), to charge reading fees for manuscripts under consideration.

I started here --> http://accrispin.blogspot.com/2010/06/should-literary-agents-charge-reading.html and followed some of the links for a fuller picture.

I am not an agent, and I am not represented by one, though I hope to be one day. So clearly I'm hardly an expert. But I personally would not pay an agent to read my manuscript, and would assume out-of-hand that anyone who wanted me to was at best woefully ill-mannered and at worst an outright scammer. I understand that some agents raised the issue that they feel they should be paid for the time they have to invest in reading the lengthy manuscripts and so on.

Well, no. Because as far as I understand the process, it goes like this:

Sending a query to an agent is like emailing your resume to a prospective employer. It gives them a basic idea of what you're capable of, what sort of work you'd like to do, and so on.

Sending a partial/synopsis/both is like going to a job interview. You interact a little, show the agent some of your metaphorical phone manner, and give them a chance to get to know your style a little better.

Sending a manuscript is like making it to the second-tier interview. You have a chance to put it all out there, make your best possible pitch, and take your shot at impressing the boss with your style, originality, and voice.

Then you get the job, or you don't.

No money changes hands, and it shouldn't. Nobody gets paid to conduct interviews in any other industry. They're interviewing you because they think you might be an asset working for them. If they want that asset, they have to do the interviews. It's an investment of time in potential future income.

I do not slip a crisp fifty into the hand of the person interviewing me for a position as a supermarket checkout operator. I wouldn't do it for an agent, either. First, because bribing your way into a position is not something I consider ethically acceptable. Second, because it's not the point - I am being interviewed, in theory, as a potential long-term asset, not a short-term revenue source.

I can see why agents who spend far too much of their time interviewing what turn out to be complete duds would like to stop losing money on it, but I don't think they should. Finding the gems is what agents *do*... and that requires some digging.

I don't expect anyone to pay me for the extra hours I spend doing research for a novel. I don't expect to have to pay anyone for the extra hours they spend doing research as to whether I'm a good prospective client, either.

And that is the Complete Outsider's viewpoint for today.