What's the point of literary agents?

Source: Guardian Blog

I thought getting signed up would kick start my career. In the end it was going direct to a publisher that got me into print


Aspiring writers are frequently told that the quickest route to getting published is via an agent. Having been on the books of two, neither of whom got my book on the shelves, and then secured a contract with a publisher myself, I wonder if that's really true.

When I first secured representation back in the early 90s I naively thought fame and riches would follow. My agent advised me to put aside any literary pretensions and write a thriller, about a gangster whose daughter has months to live. Unsurprisingly, perhaps, publishers were unconvinced and rashly I signed off the agent's books and back on the dole.

A few years later I secured the services of another agent. Again, she felt my surreal, polemic tales about boozing and brawling across London wouldn't attract publishers and I should introduce a thriller element into my writing. Once again, publishers didn't bite.

View Complete Blog