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Wednesday, July 23, 2008

So Much Wanted To Represent You


Agents used to work with you when they felt you had promise and maybe one more revision to get it right. Now, they just don't have that vision, even when they really, really want to represent you. In an unusual move, I'm removing the name of this agent because it is a very recent rejection and maybe in the end I'll fix the novel's pacing and win this agent back. But probably not. 

Nonetheless, it's a pretty good, honest, personable rejection.  For those who say I am only bitter, I actually appreciated pretty much everything about this rejection.  I give it an A- ("minus" only because it's not an acceptance). At least I'm getting closer, save for the pacing, which I am fixing as we speak:

Dear Writer Rejected:

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to consider [title of revised novel]. I so much wanted to be able to represent you, and I’ve been mulling over the material hoping I might be able to come up with a solution to overcome my reservations. The writing is strong in the first sections. I like the close third person voice to tell [the main character's] story, and the story is compelling. Unfortunately, I felt that the pacing was off in the second section and the writing lost a lot of the dark quirky strength of the earlier section making it much more difficult to get into.

Considering the fact that I’m not as enthusiastic as I need to be to sell this into the current fiction market, I’m going to pass—with regret. I expect that you’ll probably have found a home for this by then, however, if you decide to work on something else, I’d love to have the chance to consider.

As you know, this is one opinion. I would encourage you to query other agents since such judgments are quite subjective. The fiction market is incredibly tough these days which makes it critical to have an agent who is passionate about your work. You certainly deserve one whose efforts will equal your own.

Best of luck,
[Agent Name Withheld]

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why is it that there is such a chronic deficit in enthusiasm amongst agents? They always talk about how they're not enthusiastic enough.

Well, then, drink some damned espresso and get some adrenalin rolling, or hold a freakin' pep rally or something!

I know I don't have the luxury of turning down work because I'm not enthusiastic enough. That one wouldn't go over well with my editors. "Sorry I couldn't turn in my columns this week. I lacked sufficient enthusiasm."

End of rant.

Anonymous said...

Well, that's not too bad. All I ever look for is evidence that they read it. Commercial paper publishing is becoming an absolute chaotic farce. They have reached the lowest common denominator factor. If its not a cookbook or a selfhelp scam it had better be a genre novel with movie rights possibilities. The internet offers a vast array of writing of all types much of it very very well written, explorative, passionate, well-crafted and its free. Why give 20% to the author and the rest to a bunch of suits and business people? It's only a matter of time before independents takeover just like they have in the music business. Next time someone who doesn't put their writing on the internet cos they are a 'professional' says anything to me about writing, haha, I will say,

Anonymous said...

Are the initials of this agent A.M. @ L.C.? He/she is nice...