Inventions are a labor of love for their creators. But more often than not they attach a greater value to their inventions than they really deserve. This is only the first handicap when it comes to finding prospects for their inventions. Inventors are basically…inventors, what else? They are not salesmen, just the way salesmen are not inventors. So when it comes to selling it isn’t a wonder that most inventors lose their way and give up or end up with a bad deal. This is where an Invention Marketing Agent (IMA) comes in; they bring together the right combination of inventor and licensee together and work out a deal which is fair to both parties and legally applicable.

Inventors would do a better job of finding the right IMA if they understand how they go about their work. IMAs charge what appears to be a shockingly high 20% to 50% of the royalties that inventors get; the reason behind this is that they have to work very hard for the inventors. Their work includes traveling and meeting people which is expensive and time consuming. Inventions are sold on the basis of their perceived potential and they may succeed as well as fail, so licensees usually do not offer any advance on royalties. If the product is successful then the money may take as long as two or more years to flow in on the other hand so many inventions fail due to various reasons. All this puts an IMA in a position very similar to the inventor where he is investing huge amount of time and effort for profits which may or may not come, so he makes sure that whatever invention yields profits makes up for his investment as well as losses from other ventures.

Most IMAs turn down majority of inventions because they may have their own preferences or they believe that the invention may not have enough potential in the market. Some IMAs may charge an upfront amount to handle the invention but unless there is a way of knowing the credentials of such people its better to avoid them.

There are firms that advertise in various magazines and make glorious promises to make you rich; but the best way to deal with them is to avoid them! Because they just lure in inventors with their fake promises, and keeping draining money from them on one pretext or another.

A good way of measuring up the potential of an IMA is to know that what percentage of the inventors they are approached by they actually take in as clients. The more fussy ones are generally the ones to go for, they would take in the cases they are confident about and not make empty promises. If you can get references of satisfied clients from IMAs that would be a very good indicator and the good IMAs should not have any problems giving that out.

Inventors’ Digest magazine and the Professional Members listings on the United Inventors Association web site at www.uiausa.org are the best places for finding and checking out IMAs.