A reader sent this rejection in from Andrea Somberg at Harvey Klinger Agency, saying she found it kind of amusing: "Dear Writer: Thanks for sending along the opening pages of [title of novel]. Truth be told, though, I'm afraid they didn't draw me in as much as I had hoped. I'm pressed for time these days and, what with my reservations about the project, I suspect I wouldn't be the best fit. Thanks so much for contacting me, though, and for giving me this opportunity. It's much appreciated, and I'm sorry to be passing. I wish you the very best of luck in your search for representation. Best, Andrea"I thought it seemed pretty standard, so I asked why the writer thought it was funny. Here's what she said: I thought it was funny because of how the novel didn't grab her in the way she had hoped it would. She didn't get a ton of pages, so it was like meeting someone on-line: "Oh I thought you were going to be different. Sorry my mistake." The writer goes on to tell this related story: I once had a guy I was interviewing tell me he expected me to be a knock-out because of my voice on the phone. When he met me in person he told me that I wasn't as attractive as he expected me to be. I think the rejection amused me in the same way.
8 comments:
Did she say best only three times? Was that really her best? Couldn't she do better than that?
I believe that is three bests! I guess she did her bestest.
She's sorry to be passing. Kidney stones? Away? Heh. Lingo.
I'll do you one better. I got the same response on February 27, 2010. Any and all correspondence I received from her has been on the weekends. She's not even a full time agent, and hasn't been able to establish a stable of viable authors large enough to quit her day job after trying to do so for years.
For what it's worth, I just received a request from her on a Wednesday, so clearly she does correspond during the week (and even if she didn't, a lot of agents save slush for the weekend). And from her Publishers Marketplace dealmakers page she seems to be doing just fine. The form rejection letter posted above is pretty polite as far as these things go.
I believe that is three bests! I guess she did her bestest.
She's clearly not a writer herself. She told me the same thing about my query, "What with my reservations..." (ugh). And then she said she'll have to "bow out." This is from someone who apparently likes to think of herself as already "in."
I just had another request for my full MS from a top agent, so to other writers I say: be patient. Be open to making your work the best it can be: revise, revise. Don't write YA junk like "Me and Earl and the Dying Girl," even if that awful stuff has done well. And don't let agents like this get you down. Good luck!
I also received a form rejection from her of this nature. 10 years later and she's still going strong!
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