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Excerpt:

from the section on Agents, written by Hope Bolinger

You’ve decided to play a game of tennis with a doubles partner. Never mind that you’ve never stepped onto a court before, you want to give the game a try. And you’ve seen it on TV plenty of times. How hard can it be?

Although the scoring makes no sense, you and your partner appear to be failing. You realize, several minutes into a set, why. Instead of getting all the volleys at the net, your partner has chosen to swat her racquet at a swarm of bees.

“What’s the matter with you?” You ask through gritted teeth when another ball claps against her feet. One more point for the other team. “You have to get all the net shots. That’s how doubles works.”

At least, you think so, based on what you’ve seen.

She tightens her grip on her racquet and shoots you a frustrated glance. “You didn’t even bring a racquet.” She gestures at your arms. “How are you supposed to play tennis with that thing?”

You glance down at the baseball bat you’ve brought to the match. That would explain the lack of groundstrokes you’ve been able to get to during the games.

No wonder you and your partner are losing. You’re not working together for success.

An agenting-author relationship works a lot like a tennis doubles match. 

You must compete against two very good players—publishers and readers. And sometimes it seems as though the odds are stacked against you.

For those of you who never had the misfortune of spending three hours a day playing tennis outside in the heat of summer—trying to make the high school Varsity team (definitely not speaking from personal experience) doubles in tennis relies on collaboration.

Even if you have all the skills in the world, a bad partner can sink a match faster than water in a garbage disposal.

How do we, then, create the perfect partnership, so we have any fighting chance of winning the “match”?

Expectations exist for both the author and the agent. We’ll discuss what you can expect your agent to do, and what they expect from you. Neither of you can win the match without the dedicated effort of both players.