Interview with literary agent Molly Friedrich

Poets & Writers magazine has an excellent, in-depth interview with literary agent Molly Friedrich. Friedrich has been in publishing for three decades and is one of the top reps in the business.

This piece is long, but it's full of important information. (As a colleague, a bestselling author, put it: "This should be required reading at all writers conferences.")

Here's just a sample:

Q. How has technology changed the business from your perspective?

A. I'll tell you, what is hard about being an agent now is the Internet. The Internet is both the joy and the bane of everybody's existence. The bane part of it for me, for an agent, is that it used to be that authors were in isolation. Which was partly bad, obviously, but it was also a good thing because they really got to focus on their work and confront what was on the page. They weren't distracted and hyped up by too much information. Today, if you are a writer of a certain genre, you feel that you've got to get blurbs, you've got to cultivate all these people, you've got to go to this or that event, and on and on. So you have writers who aren't really being given enough time to write the best book they can write. And meanwhile they have become a kind of awful consumer. There are a lot of conversations about who has what. Like, "Well, Joe Blow has shelf talkers. Why don't I have shelf talkers?" No! I don't want to hear about Joe Blow's shelf talkers. You don't have shelf talkers because your career is set within an entirely different context than the person you just mentioned. They all compare notes. They compare advances. Part of it is that they have been told it's no longer enough to just write a good book. They are told that they have to get out there, press the flesh, have blogs, have Web pages, and get advance quotes from everybody and their dogs. Then they're told, "By the way, don't you think it would be a good idea to do two books this year?" This is insane! It is altogether too fast. Everything in this business is too fast.

I recommend reading the whole thing.

 

Comments

[I.J.Parker]

Way too long to read. Should have been severely edited.

I agree that books are turned out too quickly, probably because that is an author's only defense against lack of promotion and subsequent poor sales. As a result, there are too many books on the market, all competing for a shrinking group of readers and making things worse. A vicious cycle.

I do not agree that authors should stay away from the web and stop taking an interest in how things are run or comparing their lot with that of other authors.

This business of "be quiet and write, and let me worry about your career" is just a tad arrogant.

[Josh Kosterflux]

The internet sux, dude. i know this one guy who was like all cool and everything and then he got on the internet and he became a total DwEeB!!! He was always being on the internet and like not being cool any more and once I said hey lets go to dave & busters and he was all like no dude because I have to play this rad game on the internet and I was like DuDe you so suck now with all that internet stuff. I like google image search though.

[Michelle Gagnon]

This was a great interview, David. What I love about Poets and Writers is that they're not afraid to provide a lengthy interview, a dying breed of journalism in this day and age. I also loved the one they did a few months back with Nat Sobel.

[The King of Ding]

I have not read this author she refers to, Joe Blow. Can anyone make some suggestions of which books of his to start with?

Thank you.

[Laura Benedict]

It was nice to get an in-depth interview that included her career story as well as sage advice. In these days of monster advances that never earn out and poorly-written, over-hyped books, it's an excellent reminder that most success comes from hard work on everyone's part. Thanks for the post!

[Patrick Balester]

Read the article. Long, but in-depth, and very informative. Good advice from an agent who I had not heard of before, but obviously has a lot of experience. Perhaps it's time to dig out that query letter and spruce it up.

[Debra Darvick]

I thought it was a terrific interview.
I appreciate P&W going against the current penchant for clipped bits of information and instead providing an in-depth exchange with a top-notch agent.

[Mavis20Harris]

According to my monitoring, thousands of persons on our planet receive the credit loans at different banks. Therefore, there is a good chance to receive a short term loan in any country.

[First Historic Fiction]

First Edition Book offers a wide range of first edition historical fiction by various contemporary authors. These first edition historical books are well maintained and are of very high quality. The First edition historical book are mostly written by contemporary authors and some of these historical books are signed and lined by authors.

[cheap jerseys]

Thank you for this post, really interesting. Feel free to comment on my blog, I was solving similar problem.

[ugg knightsbridge]

I lost the article! Your own personal opinion about the topic! I like your thinking! You have no interest in sharing with me your ideas?

[buy first editions]

First Edition Book prides itself in its range of Hyper-modern, contemporary signed and lined first edition books all in fine condition.

[Air jordan shoes]

We shall defend ourselves to the last breath of man and beast. (William II, King of England)

[Nike dunk high]

The context is good,I saw many people agree with you.me,too.I recently blogged about the prevalence of "as-seen-on-TV" brand conventions in the medical device industry, which strikes a discordant note in that environment. and now can you link my name to see my website,thanks.

[Retro Jordan]

Each of the simple life is desired! Sometimes people can not simply live! Often feel tired! Really frustrating! So people should maintain a childlike innocence.If you'll make a guy delighted, tend not to add to his possessions but subtract from his needs. Did you concur with me?

[jordan shoes]

Love is demanding, because demanding and temporary, Friendship is tolerant, because tolerance and long lasting.

[coach outlet]

This story is very useful. Really I like it. Thanks for sharing with us.*

[air yeezy]

I am denser than I thought! I love them and will approach the guild about buying them.

[fake christian louboutin]

My hometown is in China, and welcome to China travel.

[cheap jordans]

Never leave that until tomorrow, which you can do today.

[taobao spree]

i love you posts