Blog Archive

  • Sigh

    May 05, 2009

    I try, I really do. I try to be a good agent and fair to all authors who submit material my way. I respond to every query I get and even give advice or feedback when I can. Sometimes I can give an explanation as to why a query didn’t work for me and other […]

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  • Replying to Rejections

    May 04, 2009

    I’ve only recently started querying for my first manuscript. I’m wondering: Should I ever respond to a form rejection with a quick “Thank you for your time,” or is that just needless clutter? I like to think I’m offsetting those angry authors who send nasty replies, but I also don’t want to be a nuisance. […]

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  • Please Stop

    May 01, 2009

    I wish I had kept track, I really do, but it must be at least 20 times by now that I have received the exact same query, for the exact same book from the exact same author, but interestingly, all from different email addresses. The email arrives at least a couple of times a week […]

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  • (Accidental) Networking for Writers

    Apr 30, 2009

    Bella AndreWild HeatPublisher: DellPub date: April 2009Agent: Jessica Faust (Click to Buy) Bella’s Web site: www.BellaAndre.com As an econ major in college and then a dot-com marketing director years later, I knew all about professional networking. The whole concept reeked of slimy, smarmy, sucking up. How on earth, I often wondered, could anybody go out […]

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  • Teenage or Child Writers

    Apr 29, 2009

    I’ve talked before about how unimportant age should be when querying agents and how I feel there’s no need ever to tell an agent how old you are because, whether young or old, ageism does exist and I see no need to make things harder than they already are. However, I recently received a question […]

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  • Sally MacKenzie: Some Thoughts on Choosing an Agent

    Apr 28, 2009

    Sally MacKenzie The Naked Baron Publisher: Kensington Zebra Pub date: April 2009 Agent: Jessica Faust (Click to Buy) The recent agentfail discussion got me thinking about agents in general and my relationship with Jessica in particular. In a perfect world, I suppose I’d have had an agent when I made my first sale, but things […]

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  • Grammar in Books

    Apr 27, 2009

    This was such a great question and so different from what I usually get that, obviously, I was excited . . . About the post on typos and errors after publication: you say the author is responsible for handing in a MS that is polished and ready to publish, and the editors are responsible for […]

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  • How Long to Query

    Apr 24, 2009

    I know I’ve answered this before, but it’s a question that comes up again and again and it’s something I frequently think about. At one of my recent conferences a discussion came up about how authors should query and for how long. When should they quit? I made the suggestion that authors should never even […]

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  • Query Letters

    Apr 23, 2009

    I’ve been thinking a lot about query letters lately. I’ve been talking about them in my class at NYU, at conferences and of course on the blog, and you know what I’ve decided? I’ve decided that if you can’t get at least one request (because you’ve researched the agents you’re submitting to) out of every […]

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  • Complaints or Excuses?

    Apr 22, 2009

    I frequently hear authors complain about the reasons their work is getting rejected and how strict agent guidelines are, making it so much more difficult to get published. But are these really valid complaints or just excuses? I hate when people use the wrong name on a query. I actually don’t mind misspellings so much […]

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  • An Agent’s Passion

    Apr 21, 2009

    Earlier this month I attended the Northern Colorado Writers Conference in Fort Collins, Colorado (and followed it up with some much-needed vacation). The conference immediately followed my post on Agentfail, so I was feeling a little bruised, battered and unsure if I had done the right thing. Obviously this post sticks with me since I […]

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  • Don’t Fail Yourself

    Apr 20, 2009

    I’ve been thinking a lot about my AgentFail post of a few weeks ago and the anger and frustration that went along with it. I’m glad I did the post. It was good to hear from authors about what really frustrates you. What I’m worried about, though, is that the frustration overshadowed the real stories […]

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