Myshkin
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According to Penguin one of their publishing houses DAW BOOKS is currently accepting manuscripts in the fantasy/science fiction genre.Submissions Guidelines - Penguin Group (USA)
In most of the cases I've been involved in, even tangentially, the agent has, in my view, paid for her own commission by the value brought to the deal (higher dollar figures, expertise, and so on). I'm sure that's not always the case, however. But if you have a really good agent I think you're likely to see a net gain.
I will completely agree here. I have heard from many writers exceptionally happy with their agents. I think it's pretty clear that a good agent can be a huge asset. My primary concern with agents is that they are unlicensed, unregulated, and generally unrestricted in their business practices. So you MIGHT get a really good one. You might get one whose last client sued him for embezzling money. Or anything in between those two extremes. But with zero regulation, it's often very hard to tell which is which.I'm not necessarily saying you are wrong. It's more commentary, that it "can" have an effect, and definitely have its benefits. Be leery of authorial blogs, and Dean is a teacher so I can respect that more but it's the voice of a perspective on the industry and it is not the machine itself.
Not always. Amanda Hocking is still actively self publishing multiple books per year, but has an agent to handle her trad pub contracts and movie rights. I think I remember Michael Sullivan saying he brought in an agent to help when major publishers expressed interest in his self published series. Some indie writers use agents to help with overseas sales, too. So there are times when they can help.If you're a self publisher, e.g. kindle, nook etc, then obviously an agent is worthless. At the same time it is much more rare to make a living self published because you bypass a key learning example aka lots of rejection from publishers (which many times give great feedback on why).