literary agent
Complimentary words from a literary agent
Many of you know I’ve been trolling for an agent since mid-February. Each rejection I receive is a form rejection so said e-mail doesn’t say anything about my writing per se, or the subject matter. The common thread of these rejections is as follows, from a recent rejection I received:
Thanks for sending me REQUIEM FOR THE STATUS QUO. I wish I could represent every book I enjoy. Because my resources are limited, I can only devote my energy to projects that I feel passionate about, and I’m sorry to say that your book isn’t right for me. I greatly appreciate having had the opportunity to read your work, and I wish you all the best in finding the right agent and getting published.
I follow many agents on Twitter; one such agent is Janet Reid who also runs her infamous Query Shark site where writers’ query letters are critiqued, criticized, and cut to pieces. Janet runs a flash fiction contest every once in awhile, providing 5 words that must be used within a 100 words or less story. The 5 words can be used in whichever form we choose, but they must be used, and there’s a short window of time in which to submit the piece. These were the words for the most recent contest posted over the weekend:
FANGLE, BANGLE, DONGLE, TEN, TEAR
Here was my submission:
Gloria never dressed to draw attention; her style was more Quaker Gray than Newfangled Bright, so it was a stretch parading around in a matching orange blouse and pants. A this point, however, she was ready to tear herself away from them.
She looked forward to replacing the wrist bangle she currently sported so beautifully, with a Star Wars-type ankle dongle. Gloria didn’t know how her old man would take to the addition, but he always was kinda kinky; ten to one odds he’d get turned on by her new look.
“Inmate 563214, you’re free to go.”
Okay, now the exciting part. Read the rest of this entry »
I write because I have to
On my Facebook page a couple weeks ago, I said it didn’t bother me that I had sent out a handful of queries in my effort to secure an agent and had received one or two not interesteds.
As of today, I’ve queried 50 agents, received 11 not interesteds, which leaves 39 agents unaccounted for, from whom I may not receive a response because although agencies usually indicate their expected response time, oftentimes they only respond when they’re interested. That leaves this Land of Limbo for agents on my spreadsheet who may have exceeded their indicated response time. Do I delete them from my spreadsheet? Do I give them another week/month before writing them off?
You see, searching for an agent is like looking for a job. The writer’s query letter is like the cover letter to ones resume. The resume is the writer’s manuscript. If the agent likes what they read in the query/if the employer likes what they read in the cover letter, they want to look further. Read the rest of this entry »
Living: the ultimate team sport 