That said, I’d fret such a system would have a significant adverse impact on socio-economic and racial-ethnic diversity in the field. And that’s already a major problem.

While money doth not a writer make, it would certainly dicate the name on the spine. Eventually, the only books available for us to read would be those sponsored by authors able to afford the fees.

It would exacerbate the “celebrity sells” mentality. And really, how many Donald Trump books can the world take?

But I think you’re right; it wouldn’t work in the long run. Not the way everyone who is in favor of fees and billable hours hopes it would.

For the writers/authors:
Although I received invaluable advice from Mary, and some other professionals at the NJSCBWI Conference, the guest speaker said one thing that made a lot of sense to me. She said, “write the book you want to read!”
Not that it matters, but I’ve already incorporated some of Mary’s advice from her critique of my manuscript, along with some advice from another agent. However, those words “write the book you want to read,” keep floating all around me as I write, read, and sleep. It makes all the sense in the world. Forget the $, forget the contracts, forget everything, just write the book…! And everything else will take care of itself!
CB

Represent as many people as possible; rake in the cash.

There’d be no reason to search for the gems in the slush, since sales wouldn’t really matter. And the J.K. Rowlings of the world, writing novels on napkins, wouldn’t be given a second glance, since they can’t pay the hourly fee.

Nope, the current system is the only system that works. If the book doesn’t sell, neither the writer, nor the agent, gets paid. It’s a fair system. And it works.

New agents have so much to learn and so few contacts on their own that, unless you were the most well-connected person in publishing already, I’d advise against starting your own agency. There’s one thing writers don’t think about: contracts. Each agency has negotiated deals with publishers, set precedent, and gotten preferential wording in contracts for their clients. At ABLA, we have almost 30 years of precedent and contract language with every publisher out there. We have our own agency boilerplate that is much more advantageous for the writer than a publisher’s standard boilerplate. When you start out on your own, you’d have to negotiate each deal fiercely to set precedent…and you’d have to start building those contracts from scratch. Just one reason to work with an established agency…the best-for-the-client contract language is already in place with most publishers.

We still negotiate fiercely on the client’s behalf, but we focus on the big stuff, instead of spending months hashing out every word in the out-of-print language, for example. At ABLA, I can almost guarantee that I can reference a contract for that house with great, advantageous out-of-print language and the argument is over. So when I negotiate, I try to set new precedent or refine existing language. I don’t have to do the hard work of hacking into standard boilerplate and fighting for every clause.

What’s that saying, “It’s the nature of the beast?”

What I’ve been wondering is how agencies work as organizations. Do they ever prop up beginning agents with starting salaries? Share big commissions? Or is it always each agent for herself? What are the benefits, besides name recognition and colleagues, of joining an agency as opposed to starting a agent business by oneself?