Why it’s​ Okay to Not Get Excited Over Buzz Books

  • By: Jessica Faust | Date: Jul 17 2019

Last month I got my hands on one of this summer’s hottest buzz books. I was super excited to dig in. Based on cover copy, this is a book I would love to represent. Except I wouldn’t. About 50 pages in I was bored. By page 100 I quit reading. I just couldn’t get excited about this book.

I tried. I gave it my best effort, but the book wasn’t what I wanted it to be. It felt predictable and slow. If that book came through my Query Manager (I don’t think it did) I would have passed.

Agents are readers first and all agents have those books and authors we passed on who later went on to success. I don’t believe this is a failure in an agent. It’s a business decision and one that, despite an author’s success, might still be the right one for the agent.

When you decide to judge agents for passing on great books remember all the so-called great books you pass on as a reader. Like the book your best friend raved about and you hated? or that great piece of literature you couldn’t stand?

So much about this business is subjective and finding the right agent is truly just as much about finding the person with the same vision you have as it is about finding the agent who can sell your book.

4 responses to “Why it’s​ Okay to Not Get Excited Over Buzz Books”

  1. Avatar Tim Reynolds says:

    Well said, Jessica! And very much why I am so excited to now be represented by BookEnds’ very own Naomi Davis!

  2. So much about the business, the world of, the writing of, the enjoyment of is subjective and personal. What the reader brings to the book is so much of its success.

  3. Avatar Kate Douglas says:

    I always think there’s got to be something wrong with me, that I rarely fall in love with books that are best sellers, the ones everyone is talking about. (Well, except for the Harry Potter series, but, really? Who doesn’t love those books!)

    Good to know that even agents occasionally DNF a popular book.

  4. Avatar AJ Blythe says:

    I definitely want an agent you loves my book as much as I do, but when you are querying it can be really easy to second guess why you are being rejected. I think a writer’s brain automatically goes down the negative path (it’s my writing, my book isn’t good enough etc).