When agent searching is like going on a blind date...

Tip of the Day: Michigan really needs to get a Sonic, because I’m craving cherry limeades way too much lately.

Having just gotten back from a wedding, I have relationship fever. You know that feeling when you start to think about your own relationships and reminisce about all the big relationship-milestones in your own life. It’s sort of hard to get away from during weddings when all your family likes to share how they met, fell in love, and then married. But if you are like me, and love a good love story or stories with happy endings, you don’t usually mind.

But I do have to admit it has gotten me thinking that finding an agent is kind of like being set up on a blind date (at least I assume it is given the fact I neither have an agent nor have been on a blind date or even a first date in over twelve years. But based on things I’ve heard it sounds very similar to me.)

Basically you are never going to know what it’s like dating, or in this case working, until you actually meet someone and give it a try. For example, if your agent feels like only submitting a manuscript once a year and you have completely different views on this subject than you might not make a good match.

But you aren’t going to really know this until you work together.

Sure, just like a blind date, you can ask friends or other clients to get their experiences and find out more about the agent. But they might have completely different viewpoints on aspects of publishing and look at stuff differently than you.

All this to say that with publishing you have to keep an open mind.

We all like to think we know exactly what the perfect “match” is going to be when we meet them. You might think you want someone tall with dark hair that likes to take long walks on the beach. But in actuality you click with someone that’s short with blonde hair that’s deathly afraid of water. You just never know. But if you keep an open mind, you have much more to choose from and are open to the possibility when the right agent that meets your needs and also “clicks” with your books does come along.

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