Well,
most of the conferences are rolling to a close, and many of us have offered to
have a look at projects for possible representation. AND…we’ve seen some very
good proposals. So why are we complaining? For the very same reason. While
there are some wonderful ideas and good proposals, there are just too many good
writers and too little time!
We
have to say no. If we didn’t say no to
some amazing writers, we wouldn’t have the time to represent our current
authors. And we want to be able to give them the time they deserve. So, we say
no far more often than we would like.
The
sad part is, we will no doubt be saying good-bye to hundreds of folks who could
be the next best writers. And they will go elsewhere, and they will be
discovered. And know what? We’re actually happy when that happens, because we
know in our hearts that they deserve the chance. Are we disappointed we didn’t
sign them? Of course, we are. But we understood that there just wasn’t enough
time or room on our plates. So we’re thrilled when we see their names
associated with some other agent. Because if we’d signed them we might not have
found the same success for them.
Each
of us has his or her own specialty. Not genre, necessarily, but rather how we
view a work. For me, I have to feel this awesome “connection” to the work beyond
whether or not it is a good and incredible piece of writing. I want to feel
that I can get wholly behind it. So much so that I can’t wait to help the
author get it ready to go out. I’m like a kid on Christmas morning, so anxious
to see this wonderful work unwrapped by an editor. Anxious to see his or her
face light up the same way mine did. So, alas, I will turn down some absolutely
amazing projects this year, and next year, and the year after, because I have
to be completely sold on a work to represent it.
Should
writers give up trying to get an agent? No, no, and no again. You see, just the
right agent is sitting behind his or her computer today, or taking appointments
at a conference just waiting to discover…YOU!
2 comments:
Linda, you have nailed our dilemma. Too little time, too many good writers. But we always make good friends in the process.
We do. I have a few folks I've stayed in touch with through the years, two actually became clients once their writing changed significantly and they wrote a couple diff stories that really resonated with me. That's always fun!
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