Of authors and agents.

Nicely done.

Catherine

Yes, indeed.

(And I suspect I still would have agreed with this post before I had an agent!)

The things people assume they are owed, and the things they say/do in the name of that being-owed-ness, astound me.

And I say that as a special snowflake of specialness, who (although not a writer) wishes the world really did revolve around her, as it would be so much easier.

It would be. But trying to live that way when, in fact, it does not? Yeah, kinda a bad idea.

I <3 you.

Very true. I don't have an agent yet. I'd love to have one. But, I am publishing on a regular basis now - contributor in RPGs, contributor in anthologies and an editor of anthologies of my own design. I'm enjoying life and enjoying my success. Doesn't mean I don't want the agent. I do but in the meantime, I'm just going to keep on writing.

It can be difficult to tell the genuine small houses from the predators playing "print on demand,"

Are you familiar with Yog's Law?

I read the essay comparing agents to the spawn of Satan and was rolling my eyes before I was halfway through it. Someone clearly has their undies in a twist over a) agents turning her down, b) a friend being turned down, or c) both a and b. Her argument that agents only want to make as much money as fast as possible would mean agents would be *more* picky about what they take and try to sell, so what hits an editor's desk would be high quality, not the tripe she describes in her expression of sour grapes (unless she had Stephenie Meyer's agent in mind, in which case I can see where she'd conclude agents traffic in tripe).

I love how she whines about how agents actually have the gall to tell writers how they want queries and manuscripts submitted to them. The gall of agents, wanting things done a certain way! Writers should be able to do things however they want and the agents should accept that because they should be glad writers are contacting them at all! xp Oh, and how dare an agent tell a writer querying them they can't take another client at the moment! How rude! Imagine, not wanting to overextend yourself. Beyond selfish. *rolls eyes* Querying an agent is, in my mind, like submitting your resume to a prospective employer in that you want to make a good impression and pique their interest. There are Rules for cover letters, resumes, and interviews. Snit and snort all you want about those Rules but it doesn't change the fact that if you want a job you follow the Rules because the dozens or hundreds of others also applying for the same job are.

At the bottom, she links to a story that's been rejected by at least sixty agents, most of whom have never actually read the story. I'm reading what's supposed to be stirring sympathy for the poor, rejected authoress, and all I'm feeling is a vague sense of annoyance and a certainty that it's a lousy query letter, not heartless agents who exist solely to crush aspiring writers while laughing an evil laugh, to blame. As for the agents who did read some of the manuscript, it's definitely the manuscript.

I should leave a comment for Ms. Sour Grapes telling her to grow up and pull the Staff of Self-Righteousness out of her rear end, and say to her an extended version of the same things I said here about querying being like applying for a job. *twitch* Speshul!Snowflakes make my butt twitch.

Out of curiosity I clicked on the link to her story.

Looking at it her description, I can see why no agent is particularly interested in seeing the novel. It's pedestrian, unclear, just generally meh.

The story itself starts with a NOTE TO READER which (along with screaming amateur) explains that every section of her book will open with a visual of the protagonist's diet. So not only would the publisher have to shell out for the normal stuff, they'd have to pay to use said material. Another strike against it.

The book is written in present tense, which seems like an odd choice for the type of story. The author never uses one adjective when four will do, and nothing about her protagonist makes me want to spend a whole novel in her company.

I don't know about you, but I think all the agents who rejected her were on to something.

(Wow, that got snarky.)

I'm so happy for you that your writing has gotten to a publishable state. :)

What's more, when I was that green new writer, I wasn't ready to hear a lot of the things that needed to be said.

Exactly this. Until I could get myself into the mindset where I could deal with the idea that my stories were not perfect (aka grow up) anyone giving me advice would be wasting both our time.

I agree on all points. And I am, as it happens, one of those still-agentless writers. They aren't my enemy, however! (My enemy? Procrastination!)

Just out of professional curiosity, why did you decide not to get an agent when you received the offer from DAW? (Not that I am criticizing that decision, but I wonder what goes into it because of course I'm always looking at things from the other side!)

My thoughts when I read it were that it's ok if the writer needed to vent, but this type of venting should be done privately, not posted to the web where it can do serious damage. Especially to her writing: she putting a link to her latest story at the bottom! After insulting the whole industry she expected to have someone look at it and publish it? (eye roll)

I looked at that 'article' (rant) when one of the Deadline Dames mentioned it (refusing to link!) & I could barely get through most of it. Finally I gave up and read through some of the comments and was surprised to see a number of people agreed! (Though most didn't.)

I don't have an agent yet. I'm getting my manuscript in a form where I think it will have the best chance I can possibly give it before asking an agent to take a chance on me. This- "when I was that green new writer, I wasn't ready to hear a lot of the things that needed to be said"- totally resonates with where I am now. I think I'm just getting to that "I can take it" place- if I'd tried to query a year or two ago? Not so much...

I just don't understand- how is an agent "the enemy" when you-the-author are the one asking them for help? And if they were against authors, wouldn't that mean they didn't make any money either? *confused*

I just left her this:

Get off your cross. We need the wood. The fic you link at the bottom is mediocre at best and is deserving of each of the sixty rejections it received. If that's what you consider "mid-list fiction", then the reason mid-list fiction never gets anywhere is because it's not good. Poor characterization, adjective abuse, telling instead of showing...it needs work. Lots of it.

So sorry you have butthurt because you and/or your friends have been rejected by agents. Welcome to life. I've tried--and failed--to make it in the screamingly competitive zookeeping field and I've had being a veterinary technician end up totally FUBAR. I've put literal blood, sweat, and tears into trying to make it on two occasions and, both times, had to accept that as bad as I wanted it and despite the fact I had the right letters after my name and multiple college degrees what I'd worked to achieve wasn't going to become a reality for me. I've had dreams and aspirations I put literal blood, sweat, and tears into for years crushed and fall apart and come to naught, so I know what it's like to keep trying to get ahead and only hitting a wall and I have a few pieces of advice for you:

1) Stop pissing and moaning.
2) Put on your big girl pants and stop acting like a preschooler who didn't get her way.
3) Stop your paranoid rantings about agents purposely blowing off you and others like you.
4) Accept that there's something you're doing and/or something you're weak in that's holding you back, and start working on correcting the problem(s).
5) The only thing your very public pissing and moaning has done is to make sure agents talk to one another, to editors, and other publishing house employees about your immature snit fit. Congratulations on burning bridges en masse.

It's not the agents' fault if query letters suck, it's the person who wrote it. If you're not good at writing query letters, either get help and work on it until you can write good query letters or have someone who is good write them for you. I totally fail to see what your problem is with agents having submission guidelines and making them public. So what if they want things in a certain format or submitted via a certain medium? Employers have the same kinds of guidelines for those applying for jobs.

Hi. Thank you for this. It's good to hear a dose of reality when it comes to publishing and agents instead of something at either extreme of the spectrum.

And I hope you don't mind, but I'd like to friend to keep up with your thoughts on writing.

Hmm, I suppose I'm going to have to read all of these and respond. I'll have to do so later tonight when the brain hits it's peak. But the short take is that the people killing publishing are the book store buyers.