New Ways to Annoy Agents
- By: Jessica Faust | Date: May 27 2015
Maybe I was just in a bad mood, but I recently received a request that set my teeth on edge. I mean this really irritated me.
Not too long ago I received an email from a writer I’ve never heard of with a request that, frankly, I was astonished by. While I’m not quoting her email verbatim to protect her identity it was basically this:
Dear Ms Faust, I hope you don’t mind me writing to you like this. My debut novel is a romantic comedy with a strong ‘career girl’ angle. It was released as an e-book by [redacted] Publishing recently. It would be a huge boost, were you to do me the kindness of a tweet of the link below. [title of book and description redacted]. Very sincerely, [author name redacted].#TitleRedacted [links redacted] via @[AuthorTwitterAccount Redacted]
I’ve never heard of this author, to the best of my knowledge we’ve never met, she never queried me and I definitely do not represent her.
This is one of those instances where someone has lost sight of how best to publicize and promote a book. Requesting that people you don’t know Tweet about your book is offensive and ridiculous. It’s equally annoying to receive email (I receive a lot) announcing your book when, again, I don’t know you. This is all called spam people. Don’t be a spammer.
–jhf
So what's the book?
And I thought only authors received requests like that from writers they don't know and have never even spoken to.
This is something I get on a regular basis–and I rarely use Twitter, so I'm not sure why authors I don't know think I'll tweet for them. I love to do it for my friends, feel guilty asking anyone to do it for me, though at least it's easy to ignore requests from people I don't know. What's worse, though? Lately I'm getting slammed for requests from authors I either don't know or who have friended me on Facebook (and I still don't really know them) to donate to "GoFundMe" accounts so they can afford to write THE BOOK. Sorry, folks–no. Just. No.
OMG. Thank you for the chuckle. I am having such a good day, today! The sun is shining–after weeks of rain! My kids have no cavities–after months of random brushing! My infant is sleeping! I'm in my office, working! And now I read this…
Perfection. 😀 😀 Sheesh. We have to laugh…otherwise, we cry. Or just start throwing things, which can be fun as well. 😉
Do some people have no boundaries at all???
Wow. Just wow…
My Goodness. The mind is officially boggled.
I don't think one has to be in a bad mood to be irritated by this effrontery. In fact, such spam might well cloud a previously sunny disposition.
I confess, however, that reading about such a faux pas makes me feel a little better about myself. There's one mistake I'll never have to worry about making. I have enough worries to make up for it though.
Hardly anyone knows I've started writing because I'm worried I'll nag(beg?) author friends, for help with things, I know I can learn myself, however steep the learning curve. What's the point in alienating the very people who could be the greatest help to you in an industry like this?
Hardly anyone knows I've started writing because I'm worried I'll nag(beg?) author friends, for help with things, I know I can learn myself, however steep the learning curve. What's the point in alienating the very people who could be the greatest help to you in an industry like this?
Pardon me but that takes balls.
I'm almost wondering if this person planned to show this tweet (had you complied) to network in some way, to tell the right people: look 'my agent' tweeted my book.
Nothing left to add except hopefully she's learned a lesson.
Wowee! I didn't realise authors did this until I read your post and the comments. I hope writing your blog post was therapeutic!
By my deepest persuasion, you'll get a great mark for your term paper
I think the main issue is that people do not want to spend their time to build a relationship by networking and adding value to the community. They just want to send you e-mails. Well, ok.