What Happens When We Treat Agents and Publishers as Genuine Partners
My publishing journey started with two strokes of luck: I found an agent for my debut novel on the first try and she sold my book before I ever published a short story.
But that happened in another country, the Netherlands, and another era, two decades ago. If I had waited for that same luck to find me again, my debut collection of fiction in English would not be released this summer.
It took me an embarrassingly long time, however, to take one crucial step in my writing career. Here’s what happened.
About ten years ago, after four of my novels in Dutch found homes with traditional publishers, I switched to writing in English. I knew the competition would be tougher in the US, yet there would be far more readers for my work if I were to publish in English.
My excellent new agent, Marie Lamba, sold one of my books, A Whale in Paris, to Atheneum (Simon & Schuster) early on, and was doing a great job at getting editors to read my other books. I write (literary) fiction, middle grade fiction, short stories, essays, and memoir. But getting us deals for my other books proved more difficult. I blamed it on the market, the political climate, and waited for things to change.
All I could do was practice patience, right?
—> Read the rest of my article “What Happens When We Treat Agents and Publishers as Genuine Partners” today on Jane Friedman’s blog.
Photo by Ashkan Forouzani on Unsplash
