An Agent No More

In response to a query sent recently to Nina Graybill, I received this e-mail:

Dear Author:

I am sorry to tell you that I am not accepting any new literary clients at this time, and will be limiting my practice to publishing and entertainment law. If in the future you need an attorney to help you with a publishing or agency agreement or any other literary legal matter, please feel free to contact me.

In other words, she's getting out of the agenting business. Surely the world of entertainment law must be more lucrative and far easier than trying to sell the manuscript of some unknown writer. So send your queries to someone else, perhaps Elaine English or Jeff Kleinman in lieu of Ms. Graybill.

But if you need an attorney, you probably couldn't do much better than someone who was a literary agent for so many years. Knows all the pitfalls and the skullduggery of the publishing industry. There's probably quite a few Washington insiders with Nina Graybill's business card tucked away in a wallet or a suit coat pocket.

I hope it wasn't something I said in my query that caused all this.