I was rereading some of the Wordplay Hall of Fame posts last night and came across this little gem from Seth:
Metaphorically speaking, an agent is not a fairy godmother. An agent is a virus. They are opportunistic parasites with no ability to survive without the presence of a host organism – namely you …
… So if you’ve got one blindingly good script and I’ve got three reasonably good scripts, chances are good I will get more notice than you … One big rock does not a career make – an agent needs to know that if he takes a pickaxe to you you’re likely to come up with a few more gems in the rough.
Seth, Stop acting like a diamond and start acting like a diamond mine, on Wordplay.
Love the analogy, love the message he was trying to get across. Agents rely on writers to make them money. No matter how good your one story is (Seth was talking about scripts, but it applies equally to novels), it just isn’t enough. You have to keep producing. Otherwise your agent will jump hosts.