It's not Sigmund Freud's famous question, but if he were a wannabe novelist, he would have asked exactly that. What is it that a literary agent is looking for? Why can't I find one who'll represent my manuscript?
You can't ring up an agency and ask, so Publishers Weekly has done the asking for you.
Jofie Ferrari-Adler spoke to four major players in the literary agent business, and you can find the complete article here.
Jim Rutman, Anna Stein, Maria Massie and Peter Steinberg gave freely of their knowledge of the business, and share what it is that they look for when your opening pages cross their desks.
The bottom line? It's a crap shoot.
MFA graduates stand a better chance because it's presumed that they've learned the craft, and whatever they write must be good because they've had all that training.
The chance that your manuscript might make it out of the slush pile is slim.
But if you love to write, if you have a compulsion to put words on paper, why let poor odds determine your passion? Write, submit, and be rejected, but if you keep writing and keep reading, you might manage to put together something that an agent believes the public would buy.
4 comments:
Reading about these guys sitting around and spewing off all this horse manure, nauseated me.
I wonder with how many ms. are these guys going to get hit after this interview? May be I should make a nuissance of myself and send some kind of smarty pants query. Like--remind then that Goebels was a rejected writer.
Interesting about what they say regarding synposes.
BTW, I did not make the 100 cut in the ABNA (Amazon) contest. I guess it didn't blow them away, or something equally vague and fuzzy. I am happy to announce that this time I didn't feel like I just dove into a sack full of despondent crap.
Sorry, I think, about the ABNA. I'm not a firm believer in such popularity contests, especially since last year's winner failed to sell many copies.
No matter how maddening the agents' interview might be, it's still an accurate picture of where the business is at.
And it explains, to me, why I rarely find anything worth reading at the book shops. Any wonder, then, that so few people buy or read what's being published?
The business model isn't working, but the bean counters are running the asylum and they won't take risks on new authors who might have something worth publishing.
Frustrating hobby, this writing nonsense.
It's only now I'm catching up with my favorite blogs, so I'm kind of behind here. But...
I do agree with you about ABNA. I am surprised I even made the 500; and what they picked last year was, well... pedestrian. I have to confess I have no idea why I entered this year. It was past midnight and I guess was feeling punchy, or something.
I agree--this writing hobby is a strange sickness, isn't it. I never hang on very long with any hobby, so I suppose that might explain why I feel in the post-writing period. I cannot move myself to deal with agents or publishers any longer. I've given up on their business model.
Now the review I got from the so called Publisher Weekly expert for my ABNA submittal--all I'll say is that it was gross. Fortunately, I am too conceited and uninterested--and incurious--to take it seriously. Though I did agree with the 'boring' part. I was bored writing it, so...
I do admire you for your stamina.
It's pure stubbornness, I think, more than stamina.
Whether an agent likes what I've done or not, I still enjoy writing so I keep at it.
Let the review sit a while and then go back to it. There could be a few nuggets of worthwhile advice contained in there, among the other bits that won't help at all.
Post a Comment