Agent 007 Responds
One of the blogging literary agents, Agent 007, has posted a witty reply to remarks offered here and elsewhere about the value of insider information. She chooses Jerry Maguire’s famous mission statement to refute the notion that her blog isn’t offering writers valuable information. It’s a good post, one worth reading and considering.
Ric Marion, a blogger at Publishers Marketplace, dropped me a note to say that he started the conversation by asking Miss Snark a question about agents. Miss Snark tossed it to 007, who wrote a column that revealed all agents are not equal in the eyes of NYC editors. Indeed, the opposite is true, something Ric and Vera Nazarian find “extremely depressing.”
The mail is running against your correspondent. Added to that, the many comments posted at 007’s site reveal that most readers enjoy 007’s input. A couple of commenters referred to my attitude as ‘cynical’ for suggesting that this kind of insider reporting offers nothing of value to the great body of writers out there struggling to make a go of things.
The context for this discussion is the explosion of helpful hints for writers categorized in my post as ‘crap.’ Another post of mine referred to this same genre of revelation as ‘toxic horseshit.’ That is to say that I think the cottage industry springing up around the walking wounded of the publishing wars exists to exploit writers. It wasn’t fair on my part to lump 007 in with the opportunists. She’s not blogging for commercial gain and seems genuine about wanting to put her experiences out there for the rest of us. I owe her an apology, so here it is. I apologize for assuming to know your intent, 007.
Like every other poor slob in this racket 007 had me at hello in the sense that, having lost at Jeopardy, the last thing we want to know is that the game is rigged, that the winner didn’t know that Nixon was a Quaker, or that Mussolini dug Mozart. Last year my agent marketed my novel to the big guys in NYC. I was puzzled by his analysis of a rejection letter, as he focused as much on who responded as what they said. He was delighted by the responses. I was thinking, come on, man, they’re saying no, but looking back, I think he was working out in his own mind whether the submissions were being read by the right people.
Does it help writers to know all this? I guess that’s in the eye of the beholder. My parting thought for writers is this: be careful. It’s easy to lose heart, so put all this into perspective, and keep working.
August 26th, 2005 at 2:38 pm
No apologies necessary. Honestly, I was glad to see your earlier post. I like to be challenged. But consider what it means when I say that my blog is directed at agents and editors. If you do, you’ll read my posts in a different light.
–Agent 007
August 27th, 2005 at 5:04 am
For what it’s worth, I bookmarked your blog after surfing over here from 007’s link.
August 30th, 2005 at 10:08 am
There does seem to be a type of cult development around insiders who blog. I hope those that disagreed with you were not abusive.