In late May, shocking news was reported about the respected literary agency of Donadio & Olson, known for representing established authors (such as Chuck Palahniuk) and sizable literary estates (such as the estate of Mario Puzo). The agency’s accountant—on the job since 2001—was charged with embezzlement to the tune of $3.4 million. The theft was uncovered by an author-client who was expecting a very specific and large payment from their publisher, but never received it. Since only the accountant has been charged with wrongdoing thus far, one assumes the agency’s principals weren’t aware funds were being siphoned off. (They are cooperating fully with the federal investigation.)
In the aftermath, Chuck Palahniuk wrote on his website that he’s close to broke. Up until the embezzlement news, he’d blamed his dwindling income on piracy and slow-paying publishers. Attorneys for Donadio & Olson have said the agency “is ensuring that all of its impacted clients are made whole to the greatest extent possible.” Exactly who is affected and how much of that $3.4 million is owed to authors is unknown.
One always hopes such cases are rare and dramatic outliers, but some authors argue they’re not. Author Kristine Rusch—who has both traditionally published and indie published books on the market—wrote a lengthy post about the various problems she encountered while represented by a literary agent. Her solution? Don’t work with agents. Hire literary lawyers if needed to negotiate your contracts; personally and actively monitor all financial reporting. Her advice may be sound, but it’s natural for authors, especially inexperienced ones, to want and prefer a business partner with knowledge of the industry and its financials—assuming they can trust them.
Unfortunately, more disappointing revelations have surfaced. Agent Danielle Smith was sending forged offer letters from publishers to her clients, but then counseling them not to accept the deals. (To what end is anyone’s guess.) Again, it was an author who broke the news, first in a private Facebook group and then on Twitter. Once publishers became aware of what was going on, they sent Smith cease-and-desist letters.
Publishers Weekly talked to some of Smith’s former clients, whose experiences highlight behavior that can serve as red flags in an author-agent relationship: lack of transparency (or lack of any communication at all) and not sharing submissions lists. That said, editors and agents in traditional publishing have a long-time reputation for not being the best communicators and not responding in a timely fashion. Most authors are counseled to be patient and wait things out—so it’s hard to judge when the line has been crossed from usual publishing delays and mercurial personalities to agent malfeasance.
These days, on social media, it’s not hard to find warnings and allegations about “schmagents”—or agents who may be legitimate but bad for your career. Agent Holly Root expressed this well in her Twitter thread on the matter: “A bad agent is more concerned with their own standing (on Twitter, in their company, etc.) & appearances than actually getting the client’s career where it needs to go. A bad agent doesn’t know the difference between a book deal & a good book deal.” Schmagents may submit work to many editors at a time (a batch-and-blast approach), offer limited or no feedback on your materials, and fail to update you on submissions to editors. They lack genuine concern for an author’s career or work.
Bottom line: Fortunately, some bad behavior is difficult to get away with in the digital age, given the ability of authors to connect on social media and compare experiences. However, given how prized the agent-author relationship tends to be (especially as a matter of status and ego), and how ardently authors believe in the business edge provided by an agent, authors can easily excuse or overlook warning signs—resulting in damage being done over an extended time. The latest unfortunate agent news only reinforces the need for authors to treat the agent relationship as any other business relationship: adjust course when it’s not working and avoid becoming overly dependent on someone else to know your business.
Jane Friedman has spent her entire career working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. Established in 2015, her newsletter The Bottom Line provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals; in 2023, she was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World.
Jane’s expertise regularly features in major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, The Today Show, Wired, The Guardian, Fox News, and BBC. Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press), is used as a classroom text by many writing and publishing degree programs. She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute, Frankfurt Book Fair, and numerous MFA programs.
