The LA Times reports today that a letter written by William Faulkner in 1943 recently sold at auction for $15,000. In that correspondence, Faulkner complained to a potential new agent about the current “dope” who’d sold him out in a very bad deal:
“My hope is to write a good screen play. Geller has promised me three or four times that, when I do so, this present contract will be abolished and a new one made. So as soon as that happens, I will be morally free of Herndon, whom I think was doing the best he could, but that he is a sheep in a flock of wolves in his business, is a dope in a word.”
Significantly, this letter was written after Faulkner had already written The Sound and the Fury, As I Lay Dying, and Go Down, Moses, but was “still struggling to make a living as a writer.”
Faulkner apparently learned an expensive lesson, one that’s been handed down to us cost-free: that our writing success lies in the coupling of our talents with the enthusiasm and experience of a talented agent (shout-out to my agent, Nadia Cornier of Firebrand Literary, inserted here). Equally important, we can take away this reminder that we and our agents must be savvy, able, and willing to negotiate the best deal – for ourselves and each other.
And an overdose of self-promotion, Melodye. Any writer who doesn’t study marketing and self-prom, is turning his head away from land even as his raft drifts ALONE on a stormy sea.
Good point, worth thinking about before, during, and after a sale!
Ah… Interesting! The image of the sheep with the wolves sounds apt – there are so many in this business. And an artist should get paid what he/she is worth!
Agreed, and that means having a good sense of what we are worth. =:)
Thank you, Faulkner. And you too Melodye :).
p.s. Do you know how long the letter was?
I don’t have the exact word count, but from the photo image that accompanied the article, I would estimate the letter was around 400-500 words in length.