One of the aspects of the writing business I do not know very well at all (as I have spent most of my writing career thus far writing highly obscure literature and essays) is the job of a literary agent.  In doing a search for agents in Florida, I found that the pickings were very slim, sort of like the leftovers at a vulture convention.  Not knowing any literary agents myself (they are not exactly plentiful in Central Florida), I thought to pose a set somewhat open question about their conduct.

For example, what is it that a literary agent represents?  Does an agent represent an author in all of his (or her) works, seeking to find the right fit for an author’s entire body of work, even that if that body of work spans across numerous types of work, to say nothing of genres?  Or does an agent represent a given work, seeking to marry a work they believe to be salable and marketable with the appropriate publishing house that is best equipped with its existing customer base and resources to meet the demands of its markets for the sort of work that a writer has made?  I must admit, as a writer my understanding of the business side of matters is something I would like to know a lot better than I do, but I’m not exactly sure of where to look (other than books, which I read voraciously).

Likewise, what are the criteria an agent looks at.  I’m assuming that if an agent is responsible for an author’s entire body of work, that the agent and writer are able to develop a fair amount of trust in shaping what works go where, and building on an existing reputation.  For example, any agent who would represent an author like myself would have to appreciate quirky works out of left field that nonetheless have parallels.  For example, a large percentage of my works are dedicated to the obscure, whether they be obscure issues (the barriers to the colonization of space), obscure people (the Sons of Korah), obscure musical instruments or genres (the viola, 1970’s power pop), obscure countries (Somaliland, South Sudan), obscure technology (the inventions of Hero of Alexandria, the Antithykera Mechanism), obscure aspects of history (the Prussianization of the Chilean Army, the military and political genius of Winfield Scott, the portrayal of Japanese Medieval History through the works of Noh Drama), and so on.  The point is, such an agent would need to appreciate quirkiness and eccentricity.  This agent would need to have some idea of how to find people and publishing companies who are interested in purchasing such works.  Finally, this agent would need to know how to market oddball works from an oddball author to suitably oddball people, to be a successful agent for someone like me.

This is asking a lot of any man or woman.  What is needed is for there to be some sort of informed search (or search for a search) that makes the “needle in a haystack” aspect less daunting and can be a good match.  As a person it seems that so many of my searches are for needless in haystacks.  Part of the problem of being a distinctive and odd person is the immense difficulties in compatibility that presents in any realm.  How to resolve that particular difficulty is something that haunts many of my searches in life, a search that thus far has provoked a great deal of thought, and a lot of very difficult question, but so far few if any answers.