Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Love/Hate Wednesday

LOVE

Patience.

Trust me, I wish things moved faster, too, but most of the time…this industry moves at a snail’s pace. Between waiting for reads, responses, edits, contract, royalties, etc etc…it’s a lot of waiting! But we’re all in this together, and I appreciate immensely when authors are patient. I do everything in my power to expedite all processes, including my own, and an understanding author makes me all that much more motivated!


HATE

Cleary copy-and-pasted query letters.

I’m not under the delusion that all query letters are perfectly crafted and tailored just for me. But we get SO many queries that have clearly copy-and-pasted a template and then written in our name because the fonts and sizes don’t match!

My tip: “paste as plain text” before you send out, or change to HTML and back to regular, to get rid of any lingering formatting inconsistencies that’ll make your query stick out as a copy-and-paste send.

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Love/Hate Wednesday – Begins!

I’ve become quite horrid at updating my blog, and to try and add some fresh content more often than…once a month, I’m going to start a new bi-weekly column in which I’ll pick one thing I love, and one thing I hate, as an agent, and say why. Should be simple enough. Right?

I’ll also take email or comment requests for love/hate updates – i.e., prologues – love or hate?! So feel free to ask!

Let Love/Hate Wednesday…begin!


LOVE

This post by Victoria Marini. I think breaking down what we deserve vs. what is coming out of entitlement is important for everyone – writers, agents, and editors included!



HATE

The question: How many clients do you have?

This is most often asked during “the call,” as it’s on all sorts of “things to ask a potential agent” lists. But I hate it, because I honestly never know what to say to this question, because I don’t think the answer to the question directly relates to anything you really want to know.

If I say a few, does that mean I have lots of time for you? Or if I say lots, does it prove I’m legit? How many is a lot? If I say 20, is that a few or a lot? If you interpret that as a few, does it mean I’m new, or that I’m selective, or is it a lot, meaning I’m not selective, or – or – why not just ask what you want to know rather than this question?!

I’m very open about my clients; You can view my full client roster here. And I can assure you, if I am offering representation, I’m very excited about your work, and I would not offer if I was not at a place that I have time to dedicate to you and all of my clients.