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.<\/p>\n
This is a true valentine.<\/p>\n
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).<\/p>\n
Some of the “shoulda known better” things I’ve done:<\/p>\n
* Submitted work that wasn’t, ahem, “polished.”
\n* Subset of above — submitted work from the wrong file. So the agent got the version that wasn’t polished. Sob.
\n* Sent sample pages from the middle of my book, instead of the beginning.
\n* Queried for a WIP — when I have zippo fiction publishing credentials.
\n* Assumed a request for a full was automatically a request for exclusivity.<\/p>\n
Yup, pretty clueless.<\/p>\n
And how have agents responded?<\/p>\n
With grace and kindness and tact.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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).<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
(Somewhat related — Maureen McGowan blogs here about misconceptions of a newbie novelist<\/a>, via Diana Peterfreund<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 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. … Continue reading