Unofficial Agent Appreciation Day!

I was kind of “off the grid” Friday (planning a party – see next post blog entry), which explains why I didn’t post this earlier. Friday was named “Unofficial Agent…

I was kind of "off the grid" Friday (planning a party - see next post blog entry), which explains why I didn't post this earlier. Friday was named "Unofficial Agent Appreciation Day," so I wanted to post a quick something recognizing my agent, Sorche Fairbank.

That's Sorche in the middle. I was surprised to learn I have taken so few pics of her. I took this one in NYC.

Why is Sorche cool? Three reasons immediately pop to mind.

1. She guides my projects and makes them better. She's always throwing out ideas on how to make funny ideas funnier, and make good ideas great. In fact, knowing that she was full of ideas was the reason I was impressed with her when we first met in 2006. She doesn't just bark orders - she provides suggestions, and offers helpful advice.

2. She doesn't immediately forget about a project and move on. She stays with something - giving marketing ideas, or ideas on follow-up books. She's a fan of finding a good idea and milking it for all we can.

3. She's whipsmart at contracts. Negotiating contracts is one of an agent's most key responsibilities, and Sorche is a whiz kid in making a contract better. I'm not a big fan of poring over minutiae, so thankfully, she is very good at it.

So what about you? Have you thanked your agent today?

Chuck Sambuchino is a former editor with the Writer's Digest writing community and author of several books, including How to Survive a Garden Gnome Attack and Create Your Writer Platform.