🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <4105@iris.mincom.oz.au> marks@iris.mincom.oz.au (Mark Stavar) writes:

>Greetings Writers,
>
>I have two questions that I would like to field among the readers of this
>group:
>
>1. "Going to Auction ..."
>
>An Australian author, Bryce Courtney, wrote a story (The Power of
>One). When he was ready to try and get it published, he quizzed a few
>publishers about it.  He received such strong interest in the work
>that he decided to take the book _to auction_, and received the
>unheard of sum (for a first book) of Aus $1M ( or so the story goes.
>
>The term implies getting publishers to bid against each other in order
>the get the highest price for the rights to publish the book.  Apart
>from this, can anyone shed light on how one goes to auction?  Is there
>an accepted procedure or forum for doing such a thing?  Can anyone go
>to auction?

In practical terms, you need an agent (and the higher-power, the
better) to go to auction with a work (see below).

>2. Agents
>
>In many other fields of artistic endeavour it is common to have an
>agent to negotiate rights, prices, etc. on behalf of the artist,
>television and film script writers for example.
>
>Is it a common, acceptable, desirable thing to engage and agent for
>the purposes of negotiating on behalf of writer?

Absolutely!  I'm amazed that you think "writers" are different from
"writers" like screenwriters, but they're not.  All "writers" can
possibly benefit from an agent, depending on how hard the agent works
for them, and how good they are.

jas
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Jeffrey A. Sullivan             | Research Scientist et al.
jas@isi.edu (Internet)          | Information Sciences Institute
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