One of the many mystifying zen koans in show business is, “you have to have an agent to get an agent.” It may not be literally true, but the principle behind the cliche is that you have to be actively engaged in your craft and knocking down doors to get noticed. With so many options available to artists today for self-promoting their work, most agents only want to represent clients who are showing up for their own careers by doing as much footwork as possible on their own. This is especially true in the literary world.
