A kind and patient reader sent in this strange ex-agent story a couple of times for posting. I found it somewhat difficult to follow at first, and so resisted, but the kind and patient reader amusingly explains it this way:*
"It's out of Oz, so seems to have escaped attention. Core story - author wins Big Oz Literary Award (is that an oxymoron?) after multiple rejections from the Big Houses in Oz (possibly another oxymoron). Nothing unusual. But the blog post is by an ex-agent, who gave the agenting game away and went bush. From reading this post, it would appear that she did so in disgust. Carpentaria comes across as some sort of final straw.
There's an interesting comments section, including this gem from the ex-agent: "Why do you reckon I got out of the industry. The stuff we tried to sell was literature. There used to be a living in it, albeit a modest one, but when the majors swallowed up the smaller houses, there were less places to 'place' literary works........"
Might stimulate some interesting discussion.
*It works best if you read his note out loud with an Australian accent.
3 comments:
Thanks W,R. Not often I get called kind and patient.
Peter
And here was I thinking the story raised some interesting issues. Shifting baselines. Survivorship bias. Silly me.
Or maybe it's just that all seps really are as parochial as everyone else thinks. Even the lit types.
Guess my last sentence - the one that didn't get quoted - was correct.
Peter
Well, you just never know which story is going to strike a nerve, and which be silently appreciated.
The last line from the email was: "Might stimulate some interesting discussion. Then again, might not." I didn't include it because I didn't want to sway the audience.
Besides, it still might!
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