Hi friends,
Earlier this year, I parted ways with my agent of five years and started the hunt, again, for new representation. This is what I said to my mentor over email during that process: “I will never again put all my manuscript eggs in one agent basket… I played nice for much too long. Now I’m going to do it my way.”
And I did.
Over the next month, I sent out two projects to various agents, and within six weeks I had signed with two top agencies, Trident Media Group in New York and PFD in London, for my fiction and non-fiction respectively.
When I tell writers I did this, many are initially stunned. They never knew that they have the power to sign with multiple agents representing multiple projects, they tell me. Which makes sense. After all, writers have always been sold the idea of one agent representing the entirety of our careers, no matter if they do a shoddy job (or any job at all). If you’re not happy with your agent, you go find a new one, but no one ever tells you that you could just as well have two, or more. Or sign a one-book agreement and see how that goes before you hand over all your projects. (This is exactly what I have done, by the way.)
Once I explain all this, however, most authors are excited. Because what I’m saying, essentially, is that you don’t have to be pushed around by the industry.
You have choices. You have some level of control. You have some level of clout.
It’s something many writers have never considered before.
And something I’ve had to learn time and time again.
It is clear to me now, yet again, that things only ever work out for me when I do them my way. Any time I’ve gone against who I am and try to play by other people’s rules or follow their strategies, it never sticks. But when I’m true to who I am, unapologetically so, that’s when the magic happens. That’s when it makes sense to me, and not entirely surprisingly, when the best results come as well.
Earlier this year, I reached a point of no return. I had done everything “right” and all I had to show for it was five years of delays and disappointment. I decided then that never again would I allow anyone to have such control over my career that their bad decisions could impact it, disproportionately so.
It was a hard-earned lesson, something that could have been avoided if I’d just trusted myself from the get-go, if instead of reaching the breaking point I’d backed myself in the first place.
But we don’t. None of us do. When it comes to our dreams, a dangling carrot can blindside us, make us work against our best interests. It’s why I recommend working with good mentors and coaches; it’s why I never ever let a coaching client undersell themselves.
I coached an author earlier this year, in fact, someone who had been offered a ghostwriting project. The more amiable and flexible she was, the more she found herself being taken advantage of. The moment she, on my absolute insistence and not with a small amount of resistance, said she would not engage with further details of the project until payment was discussed, the entire tone of the conversation changed.
She went from not being sure if the client even wanted to pay to being offered $15k upfront.
Respect should be a given but often it has to be demanded, especially if you’re a woman, particularly if you’re a woman of color, in this industry. Authors are treated like children, as though we don’t know our own best interests, and many of us go along with it, an offer of a book deal so tempting, we take rates for books that wouldn’t be acceptable for articles.
This is a business. If you just want to hold your “book baby” in your hands no matter what, this isn’t the newsletter for you; I’m speaking to professional writers here. So, if you’re here, reading this, I assume you’re a professional writer who expects to be respected and paid for the work you do. This is your art, yes, but it’s also your job. Your business. And here’s a rule of business that many authors forget: Your team? The people you hire or partner with? If you don’t hold them to account, you will get screwed.
Do you hold your agents, your editors, your publicists to account?
I decided, earlier this year, that I would give traditional publishing one last chance with one last book. That if I ever signed with an agent again, it would be on my terms. That if someone wanted my trust, they were going to have to earn that trust. I was going to take control of my career and do things my way. And if traditional publishing couldn’t give me what I needed, then I’d happily go indie. The line was drawn.
My terms, my way, completely in alignment to who I am and what I want to do with my career.
A career on your terms means a career on your terms.
Do you know what those terms are?
It’s the first thing you learn if you ever work with me.
You can get information anywhere. For free. Find it. But what you get with me that you will get nowhere else, is real talk. Empowerment. The ability to see not only that it can be done your way, but how to make your way a non-negotiable.
I want you to remember one thing: No one will care about your career as much as you do. Which is why it is imperative that you learn to take charge. To know how the industry works so that you can make it work for you. To be unapologetic and incredibly clear about what you want so you can take the steps to getting there.
You can only do that when you know what is true for you and are courageous enough to follow it through.
I’m here to support you every step of the way.
Cheers,
Natasha