Agents in Other Places

[claudiam]

Hey guys,
Just wondering who on here with an agent is signed to an agent in their same city and who signed to an agent far away from them?
How often are you actually required to go into an agent's office after they have accepted your ms and signed you?
I'm wondering because I have two fulls out right now- one with an agent in toronto and one in NYC.
I live in Toronto but I think the agent in NYC seems more appealing.
I know I haven't gotten any offers yet but I'm more just curious: Does it matter whether or not your agent is close to you?

Thanks!
Claudia

[Pandean]

From what I read, most people don't live close to their agents. Which makes sense, since most live in big cities like NYC. Truthfully, I think a lot of people have never visited their agent in person or anything unless they happen to be in NYC or another place on a good day. I've never heard of a client having to meet their agent in order to sign with them.

[claudiam]

Yeah I wasn't thinking of having to meet in order to sign with them. I was just thinking of meetings that would come up as a result of working together on everything from revisions to cover art. But yeah makes sense. Thanks!

[farseer]

With email and other forms of electronic communication, there is no need to be in the same city as your agent or anyone else. I live in New Zealand, I've never met anyone involved in the production of my novels. Contracts are scanned and emailed back (or couriered if they have to have a wet signature). Revisions, edits and cover art consultation are all done via email or a shared drive. Anything that needs to be "face to face" is done via skype or google hangouts.

[claudiam]

Damn. Movies have lied to me yet again!

Thanks

[Doggy Teng]

And it's a good thing this isn't an issue or most writers would have to live in or near NYC!

Actually, it's never really been an issue -- even long before email and Skype -- because writers could live just about anywhere in the world and do all their business with their agent via snail mail and over the phone, so there have always been plenty of authors who never met their agent or editor in person.

[FlyingViking]

Could there be an advantage to having a NYC-based agent, though?  Janet Reid is sometimes blogging about having lunch/whisky with editors from various publishing houses, to better understand where the market is, what they are looking for and so forth.  An agent living outside of the big cities may only meet the people they try to sell to at conferences and other events, and may not be as up-to-date on the current market.

For the writer-agent relationship I agree, there is no reason to be in the same city.

[Sarah Ahiers (Falen)]

I've never met my agent in person. We just talk over email or phone.

I have met my editor in person a few times, but that's because she's originally from MN and comes here to visit her parents every now and then.

The bonus of having an agent in new york, is they can make personal connections with editors which can later help them to sell your book. But there are some great, big name agents who aren't in NYC and they do fine, too. It just really depends on the agent/agency

[SamIAm]

Yeah, I live nowhere near my agent. I'm on Ontario, and she's in San Diego. But we talk on the phone or email. All contracts we sent through the mail. It's definitely not an issue. 

Though, I do keep saying I'm going to go to comicon one year and make a point of meeting her, too.

[claudiam]

Does it matter that you're presumably Canadian and your agent is in the states? Like have your books been available in the US market before they're here in Canada? I was thinking about this and am kind of curious as to how it works.

[SamIAm]

Does it matter that you're presumably Canadian and your agent is in the states? Like have your books been available in the US market before they're here in Canada? I was thinking about this and am kind of curious as to how it works.

Nope! Doesn't matter AT ALL. The only thing is once you get a book deal, you have to apply for an American ITIN in order to get paid, as part of your taxes will now have to go to the IRS, too. And you'll probably need an accountant come tax time.

My debut is ebook first, so it is world rights (coming out all over the world the same day), but print works the same for Canadians as it does Americans. Based on the rights purchased, it usually comes out Canada/USA at the same time, then your agent (or their foreign agent at the agency) will try to sell the foreign rights to other countries.

And it made no matter to my agent I am Canadian. She has lots of other Canadian clients. In fact, some of them were kind enough to walk me through the tax process and applying for my ITIN.

[claudiam]

Sweet! I had no idea about an ITIN. Thank you! Now I just need to get an american agent and everything will be perfect...

[SamIAm]

Sweet! I had no idea about an ITIN. Thank you! Now I just need to get an american agent and everything will be perfect...

Neither did I, till my agent sent me the forms to fill out and I was all, "Huh?" But it's actually not super hard. I'm still waiting on my ITIN. *drums fingers*

And good luck! Once you do, feel free to ask anymore questions, if you need to. But definitely do not worry about being Canadian having any impact on getting an agent. The only thing I changed was using American spelling in my ms. Writing colour without the "u" is hard. :P

[slightlysmall]

Writing colour without the "u" is hard. :P

No, it takes less time, since it's a letter shorter. (Yes, I'm choosing to ignore the fact that by now we all touch-type and words have a kind of muscle memory in our fingers.)

[SamIAm]

Writing colour without the "u" is hard. :P

No, it takes less time, since it's a letter shorter. (Yes, I'm choosing to ignore the fact that by now we all touch-type and words have a kind of muscle memory in our fingers.)

Shorter, yes. But much prettier with that u in there.