10 Things NOT To Say to an Agent or Editor # 7
“I need a six-figure deal if I’m to keep on writing and I’m available for radio and TV.”
Agents and editors like ambition; they fear arrogance. The arrogant writer lacks self-awareness and therefore, almost by definition, is unlikely to write well.
Publication is a privilege, in most cases earned by those who have worked long and hard. If you think you are the next Dan Brown or Margaret Atwood, you just might be right. Or you might be suffering delusions of grandeur.
How to know? Are you able to take constructive criticism, willing to learn, anxious to improve? “Writers who think they’re undiscovered John Grishams generally resist professional advice,” says Elizabeth Pomada, of Larson-Pomada Agency in San Francisco. “They think they can get their work right (and right for the market) without help.”
Professional authors know otherwise.
4 Responses to “10 Things NOT To Say to an Agent or Editor # 7”
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April 13th, 2008 at 2:44 am
Arrogance is a serious mental block, especially for a writer. He/she has to come down from this hill and patiently hear criticisims to hone his skills. I was so initially, but my dad helped me out. Hi dad (up there)!
April 14th, 2008 at 7:40 am
Although it’s careful to distinguish between being arrogant and being true to yourself and your work. Your agent might say “The book you truly want to write won’t get published, why don’t you write something more commercial, such as ‘1,000 best tasting beers’” That might help. Or it might be a creative and publishing dead end.
April 15th, 2008 at 10:24 am
Hi Bob & Ciaran,
You’re both right, of course. Arrogance is deadly, self-belief is essential.
Many wonderful writers would never have been read if they’d listened to the naysayers. Many other writers would make better progress if they took advice from professionals. That’s the crazy territory writers inhabit.
The key is: are you truly listening? If you’re rejecting advice out of hand, without consideration, are you clear about why — and the implications of the decision?
Only the proper combination of humility and self-belief sees writers through.
April 24th, 2008 at 6:20 pm
Although I am not a writer in that sense, but some good advices - I must say!
Good post, really!