No, I’m not writing this post on the off-hand chance that one of the agents I query will happen to find my blog. Although I don’t mind any agent knowing how grateful I am for what they do for writers.
This is a true valentine.
I started composing these thoughts a couple of weeks ago as I reflected on all the squirrely faux pas (I am so tempted to edit that to faux pases — better yet, faux pawses — squirrely faux pawses, get it???) that I’ve committed since completing my first novel some years ago (genre romance, MS hidden away now for all time).
Some of the “shoulda known better” things I’ve done:
* Submitted work that wasn’t, ahem, “polished.”
* Subset of above — submitted work from the wrong file. So the agent got the version that wasn’t polished. Sob.
* Sent sample pages from the middle of my book, instead of the beginning.
* Queried for a WIP — when I have zippo fiction publishing credentials.
* Assumed a request for a full was automatically a request for exclusivity.
Yup, pretty clueless.
And how have agents responded?
With grace and kindness and tact.
And that’s not all. More than just overlooking my newbie foolishness, agents have given me feedback that’s been immeasurably valuable to me as a writer. Their comments have helped me with everything from voice to plotting.
So, if I ever do get published, it will be thanks, in part, to the encouragement and advice I’ve gotten from agents — and keep in mind, these are people who will never make a dime off my writing (although I sure hope some agent will, one of these days).
It’s easy to grouse about the publishing industry, about the difficulty of navigating the querying process — about how formal or bloodless or even curt agents’ rejections can seem, sometimes.
But the fact is, agents want us writers to do well. And most of the time, that’s what shows through — in my experience, anyway.
(Somewhat related — Maureen McGowan blogs here about misconceptions of a newbie novelist, via Diana Peterfreund.
Maybe I need to kiss up a few agents too, to try to woo one.
(Just kidding. Really. I share your experience that most of my agent contacts have been favorable. They tend to be patient , understanding of newbie “fox passes” (as we used to say as kids) and helpful.
But then, we ARE their prospective clients and the potential source of revenue for them, so perhaps it’s not TOTAL altruism.)
Nice post.
John
You know, most of the people who rejected me were really sweet about it too, and then, years later, when I did at last sell my book, they were very sweet congratulating me. They really really really love books. It’s toos cary a business to be in if they don’t.
I think the biggest problem for us writers is that we focus on all the negative experiences, the rejections, the people who don’t respond and therefore we realise ages later that we’ve been rejected. Instead of focussing on the good experiences and the good moments that occur. It probably has more to do with our expectations of what’s supposed to happen with our writing, as opposed to focussing on the creating and crafting and letting everything else develop as it will.