Do You Need an Agent?

This is a question that I have pondered over and over again for the past few years and I still do not have an answer for it.  I am sure having an agent would be a wonderful thing.  Having someone in your corner who believes in your work and is trying to help you find the right venue for it, sounds like an oasis.  Practically speaking, an agent would also be a tremendous time saver.  I probably spend just as much time on queries as I do on writing my stories.  However, finding an agent is just as time consuming as finding a publisher, if not more so and the question remains.  Do you really need one?

If you look, there are publishers that take unagented manuscripts.  Most of the large houses are only interested in agented material.  I often wonder how Mary Higgins Clark found hers when she was a struggling writer who would wake up at an ungodly hour to write before getting her children up for school.  Some writers tell you that an agent is necessary if you want your work to find commercial success.  Yet there are others who will tell you that an agent is a blood-sucking leech and going it alone is your best bet. I suppose it is like one of those research studies.  If you look, you can always find data to support your stance either way.  I may not have found commercial success, but I have had some things published and as with anything in life, you take it one step at a time.

I do not know if you need an agent, but I have come to the realization that I am probably never going to have one.   I have sent numerous queries out to literacy agencies that have gone unanswered.  Once in a while a standard rejection would arrive after an incredibly long amount of time telling me that they only take clients on referrals.  However, the last straw was when I asked another author for a referral and the response was no.

That was when I came to the realization that if I wanted to get published than I had better get to work because sink or swim, it was all on me.