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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/28238
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/28238
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Agents represent people, not manuscripts. The author/agent relationship is a long term business relationship on which the author's career and livelihood largely depends. If you don't like and trust your agent, you are not going to be happy. If an agent does not like or trust their client, they are not going to be happy. This is why it is so advantageous to meet an agent in person at a conference. It is why agents spend so much of their time and money to attend conferences. They are looking to form long term business relationships with writers they believe in both as professionals and as storytellers. And while such relationships can certainly be formed without meeting in person, the chances of forming them are much better if you do meet in person. There is a reason business people travel so much, and why to put such an emphasis on meeting in person. You can communicate any information anyone could need via email. But it is much harder to form a personal trust relationship that way.

Look at it this way. If you were applying for a job, would you want to have an in person interview? Do you think you would have a better chance if you me the hiring manager in person? Same think with an agent. You are forming a long term business relationship and it helps enormously to do that in person.

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