10 Things NOT to Say to an Agent or Editor # 10
# 10. “I’m so angry / disheartened / fed up with the publishing industry.”
Publishing is a tough business for everyone involved, not just writers. It’s hard but there’s nothing for it but to keep a professional attitude and keep your spirits up so you can keep on writing.
Know what you are getting into. Don’t speak or act inappropriately. Do whatever it takes to develop the resilience you’ll need to thrive in this always competitive environment. Keep your emotional reactions for family and friends.
But most of all, keep writing. It will take you where you need to go.
Writing is not publishing, being published is not what makes you a writer. But if being published is what you want, then there’s nothing for it but to work on. Despite how it appears, agents and editors are desperate for good ideas and stories, elegantly expressed.
Keep on improving and sooner or later, you will find somebody who wants to put you into print.
10 Things NOT to Say to an Agent or Editor # 9
# 9. “You turned this down some time ago but I’ve done a lot of work on it since. Would you look at it again?”
If your work has been considered and rejected, then that decision is final — even if you significantly improve the work subsequently. This is why it is so important not to submit too soon.
Most writers do. It’s understandable. The amount of work it takes to complete even a passable first draft is herculean and at that point, we think we’re finished. We’re not.
Hold off submitting until you have had chance to leave the work aside for a while, and get an evaluation of it elsewhere. Then be prepared to go back in and edit.
Repeat as necessary.
And again.
Only submit when you are sure you cannot do another THING to it.
Then, if you receive a no, repeat as above when you get it back — especially if you get any feedback. Once you’re happy, try it out there again — but not with anyone who has seen its earlier incarnations.
10 Things NOT to Say to an Agent or Editor #8
# 8. “Dear Agent or Dear Editor…”
If you’re asking somebody to represent or publish your work, you’ve done your research. You know they have an interest in books in your genre/category.
And so you know their name and you wouldn’t send them something that feels like a form letter, right?
Right.
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.
10 Things NOT To Say to an Agent or Editor # 6
# 6: “Hi, me again! Did you not get my other five messages?”
We know how tough it is to write and write and wonder if anybody cares. We’d love to be able to be more available to new writers and regret that we can only meet at conferences and events. But we also know we’d be useless to you, and everyone else, if we weren’t careful with our time.
So… we have a system. A submissions procedure and a follow-up procedure. It’s clearly laid out on our website.
The same is true of all other agents and publishing houses — who also make their preferences known, on their websites, or in listings, or directories. It really does make it easier for everyone if writers understand why this is necessary and cooperate.
Repeated “checking” communications can quickly feel like badgering and don’t help your manuscript along. They may even - human nature being what it is - cause it to be set aside. Like everyone else, agents and editors prefer to work with those who are easy to work with.
So check the guidelines before you submit. And then, try to be patient — even if it all takes what feels like an unfeasibly long time.
Thanks!
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