First, I recommend une biere blanche grande. Blue Moon served in an icy mug with a slice of lemon in mine, thanks.
Then, I recommend coming to terms with the concept of the Long Tail curve: [en.wikipedia.org] -- this is what you really need to understand based on the intellectual property you're creating. Traditional publishers and agents focus on the 20% under the curve, leaving 80% out. But there's gold in that 80%, as Amazon and Netflix both understand quite well.
There's still a place for gatekeepers and filters even under the 80% of the long tail, but these are not the same models we've seen in traditional publishing. Our challenge in niche intellectual property is understanding who those gatekeepers/filters are, and playing to the right ones to ensure a better result under the long tail.
Once you've fully understood this emergent business model, you'll understand why an agent might focus on their impression of current trends versus the 200-year long tail following Austen's first publication.
I think often about Bronte's Jane Eyre, and Jean Rhys' Wide Sargasso Sea published in 1966 as an example. WSS was really a prequel fan fiction based on Jane Eyre. There were four adaptations of the fan fic for the screen between 1993-2011. People still wanted a slice of Jane Eyre even at a remove, and a really good Jane Eyre-based story based on another perspective would still do well with a key demographic today, both as a book and as an adaptation.
The keys were and are quality, and uniqueness of perspective and voice in which it is conveyed. Pull these together, figure out how to manage publication within the long tail, and you'll do just fine.
Then, I recommend coming to terms with the concept of the Long Tail curve: [en.wikipedia.org] -- this is what you really need to understand based on the intellectual property you're creating. Traditional publishers and agents focus on the 20% under the curve, leaving 80% out. But there's gold in that 80%, as Amazon and Netflix both understand quite well.
There's still a place for gatekeepers and filters even under the 80% of the long tail, but these are not the same models we've seen in traditional publishing. Our challenge in niche intellectual property is understanding who those gatekeepers/filters are, and playing to the right ones to ensure a better result under the long tail.
Once you've fully understood this emergent business model, you'll understand why an agent might focus on their impression of current trends versus the 200-year long tail following Austen's first publication.
I think often about Bronte's Jane Eyre, and Jean Rhys' Wide Sargasso Sea published in 1966 as an example. WSS was really a prequel fan fiction based on Jane Eyre. There were four adaptations of the fan fic for the screen between 1993-2011. People still wanted a slice of Jane Eyre even at a remove, and a really good Jane Eyre-based story based on another perspective would still do well with a key demographic today, both as a book and as an adaptation.
The keys were and are quality, and uniqueness of perspective and voice in which it is conveyed. Pull these together, figure out how to manage publication within the long tail, and you'll do just fine.