AgentFail

>Thanks Rachelle, I had a friend send me to her last post but I hadn’t looked at the others. Because of this post I will read all of last week’s posts.

>I appreciated Wendy’s posts when I read them last week. I loved how she asked if we get philosophical about the wait. Having children has taught me more about waiting than I thought I knew. Long car trips. The doctor’s office. Standing in line. So much of life is a wait. Learning to wait well and knowing what to expect in the publishing business makes the pill easier to swallow. Life is too short. Laughter helps me. And pouring myself into a new project. It also helps to remember that everyone in this business is human with busy lives and a chaotic to-do list just like mine.~ Wendy

>I loved Wendy’s posts last week. Its good for us to remember that agents wear many many hats, just like everyone else. I’m guessing that frustration leads to projection on our parts (though, of course, never me LOL) but the series was a great reminder. We all need to be patient and know that life ebbs and flows. Thanks for the great column as always!

>In dealing with the frustrations of the publishing industry, I try to put myself in the place of agents and editors. If we were all in a room together (writers and editors and agents) and someone asked people to stand if they have experienced disappointment within the last year of working in this business, I think everyone would be on their feet. Because it’s a business, editors have to reject projects they love. Because it’s a business, agents are forced to reject writers who seem to have both passion and potential. Because it’s a business, authors can’t always write the stories of their hearts. Instead, they need to stick to a brand and deliver what their audience wants. That’s the reality of the world. I’m not sure how to deal with it, other than to offer each other grace and support, and also to develop an ability to let it go. Write because you love it and forget about the results. Otherwise it’s too easy to lose heart and give up.

>Great wrap up of the posts. Do we need more agents out there?

>Thanks for sharing! Will definitely click over:-)

>I saw you tweet a link to her blog last week, and I thought she was very insightful and honest. I’m heading over to read some of the posts I might have missed. I think the bigger picture for writers is remembering agents are human and not machines.

>Rachelle–I understand but for requested mss. please agents, let us know ASAP if it's a yes or no so we can move on. Thanks for caring!

>I read those posts last week, and found Wendy's thoughts to be so honest, revealing, and able to bring the need for grace into view.

Thank you for directing all of us to these posts.

>Wendy's so awesome. I got the opportunity to meet her at James Scott Bell's class in Jan:)

>Very eye-opening. People don't always think about the other side of the story (and writers tend to be "me" focused)! I appreciate this post & will go check out the other ones now – (wandered over here via retweet by Pamela Hutchins).

>This is all briliant stuff, and of course true. But one of the problems with agent-searching is in fact a problem with Being Human and Trying to Survive This Wretched Thing we Call Life… and it’s all about shades of grey.I had an agent who ticked most of the Good Agent tick boxes. They had a good background and track record in the industry. They were building up a new list, and therefore had room for new clients – and some time to spend reading submissions. They were (I believe) genuinely passionate about my book. They were prepared to play the long game and didn’t insist that every client had to be an instant success. They were prepared to have editorial discussions and give input and advice. They were neither dictatorial nor sycophantic.But they turned out to be fundamentally flawed in a key area. Professionalism prevents me from going into it in any detail in a public forum, but my point is this:People rarely fit into neat categories and boxes. As the best character-writers know, villains always have redeeming features – and vice versa. What if you are desperate to have an agent (well, duh), and find someone who ticks so many boxes? Someone you like, gel with, and desperately want to trust? You have to decide whether niggling doubts are due to over-caution, or your own self-destructive tendencies, or are worth acting on. If the choice is between not-quite-sure-about agent and no agent at all, it’s incredibly hard to know how to play it.Sadly another thing I discovered is that nobody in the industry is going to confirm any doubts you have unless the agent in question is an out-and-out charlatan. I tried checking with various professionals and professional bodies, but (quite rightly, from a professional and legal standpoint) none of them were in a position to back up what I was half-vaguely worried about. Later (too late) these turned out to be well grounded fears.This isn’t a criticism of this blog post, just a reminder that life is a horribly complicated thing, and hindsight is no use without a time machine. Dagnabbit.