The Bookseller.com

8th October 2008

Clare Alexander is a literary agent with Aitken Alexander Associates, and ex-president of the Association of Authors’ Agents. She was formerly a publisher at Viking and Macmillan.

A climate of anxiety

07.08.08

The Bookseller recently drew attention to the fact that three authors had left their agents to join Curtis Brown. This in fact is just the tip of the iceberg. After all, the majority of clients at Peters, Fraser & Dunlop chose to remain with their agents but leave the agency, although one or two—chiefly the literary estates that lacked the same long-standing personal relationships—moved elsewhere entirely. The press has covered the vicissitudes of the PFD/United Agents story extensively, often misleadingly presenting it as a sort of cat fight, where in fact most of those involved have conducted themselves with dignity and restraint. But it cannot have failed to create a climate of concern for writers. For many, as publishers struggle to continue publishing those whose track record is not strong, their agent had been the one dependable element in an insecure world. Now they have reason to wonder if even that relationship might be more provisional than they had thought.

And many agencies are struggling. At a presentation earlier this year, the chief executive of one of the major conglomerates noted that agents would be pleased to learn that total advances paid by the group had gone up. But if the literary agents looked surprised, that must surely be because a fair proportion of advances are actually paid via sports and celebrity agencies and lawyers, and that the author's agents who were assembled were not seeing any part of that up-swing.  In fact, many publishers are consciously seeking to bring down advances other than for the most fail-safe authors—and of course, celebrities.

All of this must lead authors to question if they have the right agent to see them through the predicted economic downturn, and has led to what seems to be an unprecedented amount of movement of writers between agencies. I myself have been approached several times this year by authors wishing to change agencies, and have taken on three writers previously represented elsewhere.

Authors want to feel assured that their agents can represent them strongly in every market and can survive for the long haul, which is probably putting extra pressure on smaller agencies and contributing to the increased movement of writers. In the meantime, members of the Agents' Association promise not to poach other agencies' authors. I am not suggesting that poaching is any more prevalent now than it was, but in this climate of anxiety, I predict that it will become increasingly difficult to tell where loyalty ends and poaching begins.

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