Be Kind to Literary Agents (It's Nothing Personal)

Day number three of lying in my bed with the flu! I started this blog right on time; I’ve had so much time with my thoughts! I decided to take a break from my 30 Rock marathon and use my allotted “sit up minute” to share a thought I had with you.

I came across this forum the other day where people were talking about different literary agencies and their experiences with them. Naturally, as it's a part of the process, a lot them of them were a little perturbed that they had been receiving rejections, even after partial requests. I can understand the frustration, you just want SOMEONE to give you a break and have a little faith in you, but I really don't find a need to be angry at the agent.

In the beginning, I would picture literary agents like Ralphie from A Christmas Story would picture his teacher grading papers in school. She was dressed as a witch cackling and shouting, "F...F...F! Ahahahaha!" whereas I would picture literary agents going, “Rejected…rejected…rejected! Ahahahaha!”

Truth of the matter is, not everyone is going to have the same taste as you, including literary agents. I admit, when I first started querying, I'd get the 'R' and I'd cry. My first three rejections, I was inconsolable. I knew coming into this career would stretch me, as I have a hard time with rejection, but then I started thinking, it's nothing personal.

I don't like alien stories (with the exception of Avatar, of course. A MUST SEE!). I personally can't stand it when there's an incredible story I'm reading, I can't wait to see how all these twists and turns are going to be explained… and I find out it was because of aliens. It drives me crazy! Now maybe for you, you love the ideas of aliens and that's fine, it just doesn't appeal to me. It could be an incredible story, an incredible query, it could have been really well written and could go on to be a best seller and a box office hit, but if I had taken it on, it wouldn't have been. Though at first the author would be happy to have landed agent, with my lack of interest in extraterrestrials, they wouldn't be happy for long.

So take it as courtesy, the agent isn’t saying you’re not good enough, or you have no talent, they’re saying that they simply won’t be able to do all that could be done for your book. This doesn’t mean it’s time to get cocky, mind you. Don’t get a rejection letter, snap your fingers in a “Z for-m-a-tion” (did I just date myself?) and say, “Whatever, my book isn’t good enough for those agents,” because if every agent is saying this, there could very well be a problem on your side. Be open-minded, but don’t take things too personal.

My friend, Nyquil, is kicking in. Goodnight-er-day, all.