@Teri_Kanefield@mastodon.social
Post #4143800
2026-07-27 17:18 UTC
would be hired to read through the slush pile and look for good books. Lots of good books were picked out of the slush pile.
Literary agents are essentially slush readers for the publishers. There is no more slush pile.
Here is the first problem: There are only a handful of major publishers, and the "power" an agent has is their access to editors.
You might say they work for the publishers but are paid by the writer.
They have a legal conflict of interest.
4/
Replies (1)
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@Teri_Kanefield@mastodon.social 2026-07-27 17:20
They have to keep going back to the same publishers, so they cannot make the publisher angry. Aspiring authors are fungible. There are thousands at the gate. The objection you will hear is "Some agents are tough negotiators and they don't mind making editors angry." Certainly, they may be "tough" when angling for a large advance, because that is how they get paid. Editors get that. But if an actual legal dispute arises . . . 5/