There are two ways to mine authors. One is to choose from the first batch of successful authors. For example, tom clancy's first novel, with its unique high-tech thriller, attracted a large number of readers, attracted the attention of dozens of publishing agencies and lobbied for the agency. The second is to find customers from creative novices. For a publishing agent, it is undoubtedly a great success if he can find a rookie with distinctive writing style, superb writing skills and huge market potential to represent his own works. A successful publishing agent must have a unique vision and constantly explore and cultivate new star authors. According to the agreement in the brokerage contract, the broker is responsible for dealing with copyright matters related to the author, including finding publishers, negotiating publishing contracts, and arranging marketing. Free the author from the tedious work, save time and effort, and concentrate on creation. Make sure that the author doesn't worry about publishing affairs.
Compared with the mature copyright brokerage system in western countries, the creation and publishing process of China authors is much more difficult. Some famous writers are constantly disturbed by publishers in their creative process. For ordinary writers, it takes a lot of energy and time to find a way out after hard work.
As the writer Li Xiuwen said, "The writer's job is to write. Screenwriters and brokers are two different professions and should have different division of labor. Adapting film and television dramas and negotiating are the business of brokers. If you let a writer face it, it will hurt his writing. " As an agent, a copyright broker should strive for the best interests for the agent. For example, the publishing house was selected through bidding for important manuscripts, which made the author's prepaid royalties reach a new high. In the west, through the efforts of publishing agents, the royalty price of non-literary works sometimes reaches one or two million dollars. For example, some popular scientific and technological publications can also sell for millions of dollars, while a good literary work can often reach millions of dollars. The advance payment of millions of dollars in royalties in the publishing industry is by no means the level that traditional royalty payment can reach. Publishing brokers play an important role in increasing the author's royalty income. In the year of 197 1, the deposit for selling 1 1 10,000 copies of The Exorcist was only $26,000. After T Harris sold The Silence of the Lambs to St Martin's Press for $750,000, with the help of agent M Jerok, he sold two other novels with neither an outline nor a title for $5.25 million, which are still under consideration. Since 1980s, with the help of publishing agents, books with royalties in advance exceeding $6,543,800+are common in western publishing circles, and some even reach $8 million. For example, 1995, the publishing guarantee paid by Random House to General Powell's memoirs is $6.5 million; The royalty price of Memoirs of the President of General Electric Company published only in North America is $7.28 million; Simon and Schuster paid $8 million in advance for Hillary's memoirs.