What can be accomplished in five year’s time? For majority of my adult life, I have operated out of five year periods – first year to plan and begin, third year to assess and elevate, fifth year to decide whether to stay a course or pivot.
For me, 2025 is my new “ground zero,” or what I am dubbing the foundational year. As a precursor, I do have to note that I have been working as a part-time Associate Literary Agent for the last two years, so while this isn’t necessarily a fresh, “new” start, it is the shift from a part-time to full-time load and a sizable increase in literary projects I have and continue to take on.
In hindsight, I sometimes wish that I had expedited this process and began full-time work earlier in order to obtain more experience that, arguably, could have expedited my career growth amidst a mid-career transfer. But alas, I have to recognize my hesitancies. For a long while, I was unwilling to let go of my career in academia, afraid to fully take my foot away from the ground that has sustained me for the last decade – I was still riddled with the insecurities inherent in dealing with lots of unknown questions and unknown answers while navigating unknown territories, whilst trying to control the pace, loss, and gain between two fields.
Then, in 2024, I truly realized (like, deep in my bone, realized!) that having my attention spread between two fields that demanded full-time attention was truly unsustainable. Now, I recognize how silly and foolish that looks like. But, with grace and a bit of light-hearted humor, I suppose I blame my resistance on my migrant background and the overwork I inherited from my parents (and am working very hard to eliminate in my life now).
Coming to this realization, I made quick work of figuring out how to leave academia and commit to publishing full time, which also coincided with a huge life event that ultimately ended up making the decision for me – I became pregnant. In fact, as of this writing, I am on maternity leave. Rather than functioning as a disruption, this life event and the changing needs and responsibilities of my life called on me to reframe time, which had suddenly become so expensive. But at the same time, as soon as I committed to the decision – the way in which the tension in my shoulders released and the deep breaths came. I am happy to, and fully committed to, my beautiful literary career.
Though the year is only a handful of months old, it has been incredibly good to me, having taken on stunning clients last year, having a roster of powerful projects going out this year, having some of my early clients with their book publications on the horizon, and having a steady stream of work coming in and out.
This may be ground zero, but in many ways, the work I was already performing as an associate in the “pre” years, really set myself up for a smooth transition. They say the first year is the hardest for upcoming literary agents; mostly, because there’s very little for you to do when you have no clients, no connections, and no sales to navigate. They also say that things, while slow growing, could maintain being difficult up to your third year – maybe you made a sale or two in year one, another two in year two, and you’re trying to compound that in year three, but four deals could still be quite minimal. So you can see how that early climb could be really difficult, especially if you don’t have extra financial support (hence my unwillingness to leave teaching fully). But for me, since those first two years were accomplished prior to my full-time transition, some of the pressure has been relieved for me.
I’ve heard that year five to seven is when things begin to smooth out, fruits of your labor begin to compound, and you’re now “in” enough to have built a healthy network. For myself, coming into year one of full-time agenting work, my goals really are to double my gains every year, the idea being that five years from now (which I suppose would align to seven years agenting?), I’ll be solidly and comfortably situated, and the best part about it all, is the ability to work from home and having created an atmosphere for more work life balance with an attention availability to give my young child.
