More updated advice for newbies--from the archives of INkwell NewswatchRecently I cautioned against scam agents, but also noted that the ratio of legit agents to newbie novelists is approximately one to twenty-five gazillion.So what do we do—throw mass queries at big-name agents, perhaps employing the services of a Mafia henchperson or Voodoo practitioner?That would be a no.One of the reasons the process is so gruesome is that beginners clog the query pipeline with clueless mass-mailings, making agents harder to reach (and way crankier.)A little...
Friday, 24 July 2009
Wednesday, 15 July 2009
Agent Janet Reid adds a caveat
Posted on 09:27 by Unknown
Re: young and hungry non-AAR agents. Veteran agent Janet Reid of Fineprint added this to the comments section:"Young and hungry agents who are looking for clients may indeed not be members of AAR, but what you can ask them (BEFORE SIGNING!) is what literary agency they have worked in. Interned in or worked in. I'm always rather taken aback by people who decide they can be literary agents without actually having been inside an agent's office."Oh, and she said my post was "nicely written." I can float around on that all day. Thanks Ms. Re...
Saturday, 11 July 2009
Beware Bogus Literary Agents
Posted on 10:02 by Unknown
Six Tips to Avoid Getting ScammedI belong to the generation of women who were told we were more likely be shot by terrorists than find husbands. Several decades later, we’re all writing books about our fabulous single lives—as desperate now for literary representation as we once were for the white dress/gold ring thing.I haven’t seen statistics about the comparative likelihood of being shot by a terrorist vs. finding a literary agent, but given the global political climate, I’d say odds heavily favor the terrorists.But I guess I can fantasize that...
Saturday, 4 July 2009
Everybody's a Critic: dealing with unsolicited criticism
Posted on 10:40 by Unknown
Early into our journeys in wordsmithing, most writers discover our chosen art form has a major drawback: everybody’s a frakking critic. For some reason, folks who happily offer praise to fledgling musicians, quilters, sculptors, or Star Trek action-figurine painters, feel compelled to launch into scathing critiques of the efforts of the creative writer. I remember showing an early story to a boyfriend. He returned the manuscript covered with red-penciled “corrections”—changing characters’ names, dialogue, and much of the plot. He’d barely finished...
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