Comments on: blog book (cont.)

By: Jon Husband

Jon Husband — Mon, 20 Dec 2004 01:20:58 +0000

What Steve G said … me too.
I’d love to find an agent … after nmany years of public speaking, and presentations, can’t seem to market myself well enough … and like others here, do lots of work for not much, just ‘cuz all this interesting change-going-on fascinates me.

By: Steve G

Steve G — Fri, 17 Dec 2004 22:21:41 +0000

Hugh, I’m similarly affected by boundless altruism. I too would like to hear a little bit more about how this agent thing works and how on earth you get one and how you are seeing the benefits accrue. Cheers and thanks for all the spiritual guidance this year Steve

By: hugh macleod

hugh macleod — Fri, 17 Dec 2004 19:13:50 +0000

I got my agent via blogging. Somebody sent him a link to my “How To Be Creative” post. After reading it, he sent me an e-mail.
Since he already represents a writer I think very highly of, it was easy to start doing business with him.
Blogs work– take my word for it

By: Watson

Watson — Fri, 17 Dec 2004 18:56:16 +0000

Authoring is not always an end, but rather a means to same.
Street cred.
Talk about how you got your agent, Hugh. Was there a process or was it “who you know”?

By: hugh macleod

hugh macleod — Fri, 17 Dec 2004 17:27:11 +0000

I agree with Robert. I mentioned the agent thing not for money reasons, but for time-energy-management reasons.
As a writer, the advantage of going through an agent is it helps keeps one’s commitments from overlapping. It’s an easy SNAFU to make, especially in the blogosphere.

By: Robert W Scoble

Robert W Scoble — Fri, 17 Dec 2004 17:20:22 +0000

Firas: there are far better ways to make money than working on books. I talked to an author tonight and he’s been working on his next book since January. All for, what, $30,000? And it isn’t finished yet.

By: Firas

Firas — Fri, 17 Dec 2004 06:18:28 +0000

Man, if the project is creating monetary return, then fjck, you want your share of it. Of course it makes sense.

By: shel israel

shel israel — Fri, 17 Dec 2004 04:06:20 +0000

Hugh,
Currently Robert and I are doing thisproject on the sort of “awful enthusiasm” you describe. We also have a gaping void when it comes to money. We will want to have a more businesslike conversation after we have a financial package of our own.

By: Travis Swicegood

Travis Swicegood — Fri, 17 Dec 2004 03:42:52 +0000

Makes perfect sense, Hugh. As a programmer, I love contributing to open source projects, but I have a tendency to want to jump in and contribute when I find something that’s got a lot of potential, or would be great “only if it could do X too”.
If you follow all of ‘em you end up entirely over-extended and not really enjoying what you’re doing which kind of defeats the purpose of doing something for free — you enjoy it and it might get you a little more work.

By: Martino Mingione

Martino Mingione — Fri, 17 Dec 2004 03:39:44 +0000

A wise man once noted that there is a Sex and Cash theory to life. Definitely, defer to your agent. Perhaps he/she can make sure that this gig covers both!