Good Morning Monday! Query advice, #agentfail, and more!

Hello all you awesome writers. I wanted to check in with the status of the podcast, the blog, and publishing in general.

STATUS OF THE BLOG:

• More publishing news. There are a lot of things going on, and I want to be the one to deliver it to you.

STATUS OF THE PODCAST:

• One podcast to be edited and released ASAP.
• One interview with China Mieville to be edited and released in a couple of weeks.
• One video podcast idea brewing in my mind. Lots going on.

PUBLISHING:

• I’ve said frequently that there are many places to find out how to write a good query letter. One of the rules says that you should NOT assume that your book is destined for #1 NYT Bestsellerdom, the Nobel, the Pulitzer, or any other grand plan. It’s egotistical and it turns agents/publishers off. But if you don’t believe me, Rachelle Gardener’s blog has an excellent post about exactly WHY it turns them off.

• I talk about this in the upcoming ISBW, but as a response to #queryfail, the Bookends LLC Literary Agency blog just hosted #agentfail, where they invited writers to come and complain about agents. And the blog post has quite a few responses. Some are important – better communication is needed – but many were just railing against submission guidelines (no response = “no”).

  What amazes me is the sense of entitlement people have. That their having finished a book means that people will come begging at their door – never mind that every agent is dealing with 500 or so people a week with the exact same expectation. Manage expectations. Don’t be egotistical or self-defeating. Just understand what you’re going up against and know that if you follow the rules, you’ll have a good shot at getting attention. But think outside your own point of view. There are other authors. There are agents who are dealing with deluges of slush – and don’t forget their real job- actually representing clients. If you whine about the slush pile as a wanna-be-agented-writer, I bet you’re the kind who will whine when your agent pays attention to his/her slush instead of selling your book 24/7.

  Another thing that baffles me is when people complain that agents are saying they have too much work, but they Twitter and blog. That’s like the people complaining that George RR Martin is posting a blog when he should be releasing his next book. Do YOU ever tweet at work? Do you blog? Do you go get a cup of coffee? Pee? Smoke a cigarette? None of these are sanctioned work actions. Give these guys a break. We’re all people, we all need a breather, downtime, and agents have the same right to dedicate 140 characters to “holy crap I have a lot of work to do” or a blog post to “my pets are so damn cute” as you do.

  And this just in from Ginger Clark, agent from Curtis Brown on her client, Gretchen McNeil’s blog. Response from a non-failing agent

• So if you were incensed over #queryfail and think you can handle this agent stuff, Nathan Bransford has a challenge for you: Be An Agent For A Day.

I could post more links, but this is enough for now, and besides, I should be writing.