I’m reluctant to comment on Wednesday’s #agentfail–twitterspeak for those unaware–but, hey, what is the internet for if not sharing perspectives, right?
Background: On April 1, the Bookends Blog (see my sidebar), hosted an #AgentFail in response to the recent twitter phenomenon called #queryfail. During #queryfail, agents voiced live the blunders they came across while reading their slushpiles. There were different views on the appropriateness of #queryfail. Some thought it mean-spirited and others thought it was helpful. I’m just thankful to be beyond querying! So, I won’t comment.
Anyway, AgentFail gave writers the opportunity to soundoff on what bugs them about agents. I know some agents were hurt by the apparent bitterness behind many of the posts while others thought it instructive.
I can understands both sides, I guess, but yanno…I think the whole AgentFail thing? Not that productive.
Call me a control freak if you want, but I am a big fan of feeling like I drive my own outcomes.
Many writers claimed annoyance at agents twittering excessively or doing twitter races to the bottom of their slushpiles. Fine. But, I think that’s a challenge. Write a premise or a query so compelling that the agent can’t help but sit up and listen..or, er…read! Because after all, we can only control what’s goin’ on along our side of the railroad. Does it matter whether the agent is interrupted by twittering or by answering phone calls from their clients? From the writer’s perspective, it really shouldn’t. Either way, assume an agent is likely to be distracted while reading slush. Querying writers aren’t clients yet.
Also, let’s remember, that social networking, even when not used to just talk about writing, has been a valuable tool for up-and-coming agents. Look at Kristin Nelson. I am almost certain her popular blog has enabled her to attract and snag clients to which she might not have had access in years before. And Nathan Bransford? I’m almost certain his internet notoreity has enhanced his client list.
But maybe blogging isn’t every agent’s chosen form of communication. I know a lot of writers know and respect who Colleen Lindsay is because of her twitter presence. While, she can’t twitter about writing and publishing every second, I think the direct exposure twitter has offerered her might have something to do with the fact that a relatively new agent has quickly become a relatively common name in writers’ circles.
But here is what I really want to stress:
The writing community is possibly one of the coolest communities I’ve ever been a part of. It is one of the rare places where folks can all be part of the same industry and, in fact, be competitors yet genuinely be supportive of one another.
I know most people deeply involved in this crazy publishing game deeply cherish the comraderie that helps us all stay sane. The second we allow bitterness and bad attitudes to start seeping into our little niche of the world is the second that it permeates the rest of our collective communication.
So, in keeping in mind that we can only, only, only control the writer side of the fence, I hope that we can agree to defend our little fortress of positivity and mutual companionship that we know and love. It might feel cathartic to let off some steam and no doubt it is. I don’t mean to imply that the concerns and complaints are ungrounded or even aren’t useful, but I, personally, worry that more is at stake when we engage in exercises such as #agentfail.
2 Comments
April 3, 2009 at 10:47 pm
I don’t know, sounds like an interesting concept. It seems to me that agents, more often than not, are put on a high pedastal.
While it’s refreshing to hear agents critique bad query letters, it’s also equally refreshing to hear writers take those very same agents down a couple of notches.
No one, repeat no one, should be able to dish it out without taking it the same way. If some agents are that thinskinned to let writers upset them like that, then maybe they should find another avenue of work to pursue.
One that doesn’t give them a superiority complex. Maybe if they became writers and approach the business from the other side of the coin, they may become a little more…say human.
April 6, 2009 at 7:47 pm
i agree. tired of the negativity – the query fail was funny, this was just negative and bitchy.