The "One Thing" business principle...applied to agenting

...and how that's helped me prioritize tasks in my first 15 months of agenting

One my of agent buds recently shared this video, created by Deya, one of her clients. Deya doubled her income from one year to the next, and breaks down how she did that using principles from a book called “The One Thing.”

I found it incredibly applicable to agenting. We agents are most often independent contractors, trying to build our reputations, list, and income in a way that very much feels like we’re starting our own small business—even if we’re joining a preexisting agency (as most of us do).

What I took away, in very broad strokes, is this:

All the things, all the time

There’s a lie we tend to believe that goes something like this: to succeed, we have to do as many things as possible as quickly as possible… forever. Like a hamster on a wheel, we’ll succeed if we just keep running as fast as we can while juggling All The Things.

Deya’s big point—and a point made in The One Thing (which I have not read yet but probably need to) is that this is not only not sustainable, but not desirable; it’s not a smart way of working. Why? Because not all the things we’re doing have the same value, or the same potential return on investment.

The One Thing

The “one thing” principle is that you need to identify one thing to focus on, and throw most of your time and energy into that. It’s the thing of most value to growing your business.

Deya makes the point that the “one thing” can change—it’s not necessarily a fixed thing. Maybe your “one thing” your first week of agenting is to make sure you’re on the agency website, the MSWL website, that you’ve set up your QueryManager, and made people aware via social media of when you’re opening to queries—in other words, make sure your online presence is built. Of course, once it’s built, that would no longer be your “one thing.”

One way to help identify the “one thing” is to find the thing that would make all the other tasks that you could potentially busy yourself with unnecessary or redundant.

Let me give an example: building a beautiful website as an agent. Does it sound nice to have a gorgeous website? Yes. I could have, for instance, invested hours upon hours into creating one. But let’s think of it like this: what are the potential good outcomes from doing X task? What return would a gorgeous website give me? First, pleasure. I like pretty things. And hey, maybe if it’s beautiful, people will take me more seriously? See that I’m a ‘real professional’? It could also give potential clients an avenue to research me and my sales history that perhaps could give me an edge when offering rep? Oooh, and if I link to my clients’ books, maybe it could bring them in a few more sales…

But are any of these reasons “good enough” to spend my limited hours?

Spoiler: I do not currently have a beautiful website. And one day, I may want one *just because* I want one (seriously, it could be soooo pretty!!!). However, selling my clients’ books has not been hindered by the absence of said gorgeous website. I have enough of a track record that I don’t need a website to prove I’m a “real agent.” So, to put it simply, selling books and creating that sales track record has made having a website unnecessary. (To clarify—it is still desirable—and I truly do eventually want to invest in one—but it’s not needed, if that makes sense). In other words, selling books has made a task I could have potentially busied myself with (building a website to prove I’m legit) unnecessary/redundant.

The “One Thing” principle is a very useful tool to think about how I prioritize tasks in agenting, and where I throw my energy.

It also explains why I don’t do as much of some things that other agents do. I’ll explain.

My One Thing

For me, the One Thing is getting manuscripts out the door. In other words, sending books out on submission.

Maybe that sounds obvious. But until a book is out, it cannot be sold. I see getting books out as a bundle of tasks all flowing towards this moment of going out on sub:

• Signing clients with great books

• Editing the book to make sure it’s in its best possible form

• Creating a great submission list (i.e. what editors you’re going to send it to)

• Writing a killer pitch

There are so many other tasks within agenting that, of course, cannot be ignored. Negotiating contracts (we need to get our authors paid—and to get paid ourselves). Supporting existing clients and their creative process and/or book deals (there’s always drama, and the agent needs to advocate!). Reading queries (which of course is a part of signing clients). Networking with editors, leaning into relationships with publishing people, educating yourself on the industry and staying up to date with book news, investing in relationships with other agents (lovely as well as useful!), reading published books in the genres you rep to stay on top of the market. And let’s not forget the paid or unpaid opportunities that agents often tap into to build their name/presence and/or buffer their income and/or simply pay it forward—taking pitches, attending conferences, doing speaking engagements, appearing on podcasts (or creating them! Yay Flublishing!), etc.

As I look at all the things I could be doing on any given day, my priority is and will always be working towards getting another manuscript on submission. Is there a manuscript in my inbox that needs a line edit? Let’s go. Is there an edited manuscript that I’ve just sent back to a client? Time to build the submission list while they're working on edits. The idea, in my mind, is that as soon as there is a polished manuscript in my inbox, we are taking it out with no delays.

You cannot sell what you don’t submit.

And if you don’t sell, no new money comes in the door.

Being an agent is a whole bundle of roles—editor, mentor, writing coach, advocate, negotiator, brainstorming partner, etc.—but right at the top is sales person. This may sound very ‘duh’—or perhaps even very ‘cold’ given that this is the arts. (And trust me—I love books! This career is not a cash cow, heh heh—for proof, read here.) But trust me—it can be so easy to get caught up in all the other tasks, that I think it’s important, as I’m pulled in dozens of different directions, to constantly reorient myself to that biggie.

The things I don’t do as much of

I’ll say it up front, and y’all can judge me later. I don’t do a fraction of the networking that I’ve seen some other agents do.

Disclaimer: I’m not setting myself up as a role model here, or saying this is “the right way to do it”—only that this is how I’ve approached it.

Nearly every editor (if not every editor) I’ve sold to in my 13 deals so far (11 announced, 2 unannounced) has been from a cold email. That’s right. I’m not selling (yet) to people I Zoomed with. Or met at a conference. Or had brunch with in NYC (difficult since I live in Chicago ;). I’m simply working with my authors to present the best possible book, and zapping it out to editors who I think would be a good fit based on my research.

And… it seems to be working just fine.

I’m not saying I never set up these kinds of calls. I do! All the time! I have two of them next week, and I actually just came home from a conference where I met a ton of editors and it was won-der-ful (gaahhh they are the best people!!!). So please hear me—I’m not saying I don’t want to talk to editors. I do, and will always respond to requests for meeting with a ‘yes’! What I am saying is that I have not pursued networking in a balls-to-the-walls way. These calls, while fun (so fun), can be incredibly time consuming. Often, I don’t have a manuscript that fits what they want anyway. And though it’s possible I could find one later in the year, editor wish lists are also in flux due to trends—not to mention editors are constantly moving to different publishers and imprints. It is an extremely volatile industry.

So again, these calls are great. And, though I will continue to have them, if given a choice between networking with 8 new editors OR line-editing an MS that’s nearly ready for sub—I will line edit that MS. Every time.

Repeating for the sake of any editors who may or may not be reading this: I have not been on a single editor call that I haven’t enjoyed. I absolutely think they have value. It’s just not something I’ve gone after hard.

Other things I haven’t done or haven’t done as much of: as you gathered above, I haven’t spent time making a beautiful website. I have yet to accept an invitation to do a virtual pitching event. I don’t go to out-of-town conferences unless they pay well, and even then, I’ll think twice about it. Basically, I’m very conscious of my limited time and how I apportion it—and more and more, that means saying ‘no’ to good things—even fun things!—that don’t serve the One Thing.

Time is limited. We can’t do it all. So we shouldn’t try to do it all.

My approach, of course, is not a one-size-fits-all. (And if you’ve been around here for a while, you’ll know I have a thing against dogmatic advice, heh heh.) For example, an agent friend of mine has done about a million conferences in the past year (like, around 3 per month!!!) and not only has made a good deal of money that way, but is also seeing an increased quality of submissions in her query inbox as she becomes more well-known throughout the industry. I admire her hugely, and she’s definitely onto something! Better submissions will naturally increase the odds of quicker (and bigger) sales down the road. So, again, this is less about “here’s the One Thing that every agent should orient their work around” and much more about it being helpful to find your One Thing. Is it reputation? Improving submission quality? Networking and building relationships and becoming known in the industry? There’s no wrong answer here.

For the writers

I know a lot of you reading this are writers, and I think this is 100% applicable to any and all careers, including writing. On the author side, my One Thing is definitely the act of actually (erm) writing. No doubt this sounds obvious. But there are lots of things as a writer that you can also focus on—promotion, booking events, doing cool graphics, making reels, etc etc (all valid things, and things I’ve also done!). However, I often find it useful, when the noise of All The Things starts getting loud, to reorient myself. To sell another book, I must write another book. So my priority will always be putting words on the page.

Looking at the trajectories of people you want to emulate

More great advice from Deya is to look at people who are big successes in your field (and she makes the point—that also live the lifestyle you want, because it’s not just about $$ if you’re sacrificing your happiness), and study their journey.

Does this mean I have creeped on Big Agents, studied the kind of books they got their start with, how quickly they sold, the genres they represent, the publishers they’re submitting to, the kinds of authors they’re signing, etc? Absolutely. (cough cough Bethany Weaver, Emily Forney, Lauren Spieller, etc)

Studying other successful agents helped orient my goals for year #2 of agenting. Very specifically, I told myself in year #2 that I wanted to sign at least one (but ideally more) self-published romantasy authors. (Hiiii Wendy Heiss!!!! ;), and at least one (but ideally more) non fiction authors (hiiii Jade Marrey!!!!). I’ve done that, and hope to sign more in both these categories, because in addition to adoring the work of these two ladies (yes, love is a cornerstone of this), I’ve seen via other agents’ sales records how lucrative non-fiction and rights for successful self-published work can be—and I want to jump on that wagon.

In conclusion

Eeep. I’m reading this back, and I want to acknowledge again that this may feel very ‘turn off’ for some. Like, are you just in this for the money???

To which, once again, I direct you to this post—if I was just trying to make a lot of money, there are faster and easier ways to do it than agenting, I promise you!!! I am in this for the love and passion, and because no other work in my 41 years of life has brought me so much joy. AND (not but), in order to keep doing this long term in a healthy and balanced way, YES, I want to make money doing it as well—and not just a little. Enough to feed and sustain my family of five. (See here for my crazy goals geared toward achieving that! And yes, you have my 100% permission to laugh. I know I do 😂)

The point is, agenting—like publishing—sits at that intersection of art and business. And I am not about to neglect the business side, and the best practice of focusing on the task that provides the highest ROI—which for me right now is submitting great books to editors.

Thanks Deya for the awesome video, and Mara for sharing it. I’d love to hear from you all—do you have a One Thing? Does the idea of having that appeal to you, or turn you off? Tell me everything!