being of service to agents

An email exchange in three parts, perhaps with a closing forth to come.

1
hello
peter

i quit my job last year
and have been writing up ideas that i have been collecting for years
in fact
i have produced something in the order of 19 books/booklets
none of which have been sent to publishers or agents
ranging from the link between buddhism and maths
to educational experience
to science fiction stories

rather than overwhelm myself with the arduous task for submitting them all
may i ask a favour of considering a meeting?

thanks for taking the time to read this

be well
david

2
Thank you for your message, but I'm afraid we can't help you as we're not taking on new clients at present. Good luck anyway.

Peter Buckman
The Ampersand Agency Ltd

3
thank you
peter

for getting back to me

i guess the system is designed in such a way
that my approach assumes an agent-client relationship

with the deepest of respect
may i question this assumption

this is what i do with kids
and i am attempting to do with adults
though i am finding that the adult world is more brittle

i realise you are a busy person...
what can i do that might make it worth your while...?

here is my solution
which is new to me now as i write this
and thus depends on how new this is to you and your fresh attention:

the point of a meeting
is not so that you have an idea of my abilities
so that when you are looking for clients
you consider me

my intention shall be
that should i meet other people who i believe are worthwhile
i shall recommend them on to you

because of the way i work
i doubt that i might redirect one person in a whole year towards you
however
i would hope that this would be useful to you

in order to perform this service for you
i need to meet with you
and from our engagement
i shall pick up aspects of your manner and intention and perhaps what you are looking for

that is
the meeting is for me to serve you

thank you again for taking the time to read this

be well
david

ps
even if you do not take me up on this
if i am right about what i am doing
you might be offered this kind of service by others
on a more regular basis
perhaps more substantially in a year or two...

Edit: sure enough:
4
Basically we're not into Buddhism or maths and we don't handle science fiction (as our website makes clear) so I'm afraid there's little point in our meeting. Which may sound harsh but is an attempt to explain that we have to be business-like.

to which i responded with:
5
thanks
peter

i do not take it harshly
for what we are about to experience economically
will indeed be harsh for many of us

i apologise for drawing your attention to the wrong thing

i wish i were better at ascertaining who i should approach and with what

i thank you for your time
and wish you the best

be well
david


So, that's the end of that then. What is interesting to me, from this encounter, is the idea of offering a service to them. Think about it. They are an agency. They are meant to be offering a service to us, and also to the publishers. They are acting like brokers. The economic condition will mean less middle-men. Brokers of all kinds are going to feel the pinch. A way around this is for us to help them. That is, by fractionalising our efforts. If I ever do meet with an agent, I hope I get enough of an idea of who they are and what they want, so that even if they don't want to represent my stuff, I might be able to point a future author in their direction. A similar thing happened with Graham Fink at Saatchi, where I promoted the sparkly character of Sonya to him.

It is interesting to note that a fresh idea is responded to, even if it is clamped down immediately. Peter probably thinks I do this all over the place. I will probably not write that kind of offer again. It was very much a thing of the moment. This gives you an idea of the quality of experience I am attempting. To be genuine and to respond presently to conditions. If other people are not awake enough to receive them, then I am not going to automate myself in order to fit some kind of mechanical, processural system. And so, most probably, I shall meet with failure.

Funnily enough, that's one of the booklets I have produced. Failure. The wisdom in failure. I hope I continue to learn things through this way of approaching things. We shall see.