Have Publisher; When Should I Seek Agent?

[PhilBrody]

Nathan,

I have a novel being published by a medium-sized publisher in August of 2012. I also have a book of narrative non-fiction I'm considering self-publishing in the near future. Currently, I do not have an agent or manager.

My question is: should I be seeking an agent at this juncture? Should I wait until my novel is published? Or should I wait until I complete my second work of fiction and query that?

I feel I am in a unique position having found a publisher without an gent, but I still aim to find one to help guide my career.

Any advice?

[Nathan Bransford]

Nathan,

I have a novel being published by a medium-sized publisher in August of 2012. I also have a book of narrative non-fiction I'm considering self-publishing in the near future. Currently, I do not have an agent or manager.

My question is: should I be seeking an agent at this juncture? Should I wait until my novel is published? Or should I wait until I complete my second work of fiction and query that?

I feel I am in a unique position having found a publisher without an gent, but I still aim to find one to help guide my career.

Any advice?

If the deal with the publisher is already done, I'd say it depends. If there are rights you'd like an agent to handle (audio, translation, etc., if you retained those) you could perhaps query an agent, but bear in mind that unless your novel is looking like it's really going to take off there probably isn't much an agent can do for you there. So more likely I think the time to query would be when your next project, whether that's nonfiction or fiction, is ready to go on submission.