Comments on: Keeping Your Cool

By: Nephele Tempest

Nephele Tempest — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 02:44:43 +0000

Ah, Candice. That is always the danger, isn’t it? That a writer ticks off an agent enough that they share the story with their friends? After all, if you’re happy to have dodged the bullet of a writer who seems a little unbalanced or unreasonable, wouldn’t you want to save your friends from the potential headache as well? Agents have friends who are agents, and editors too. We do talk, and we do occasionally trade horror stories, though to be fair, we try to keep them generic and anonymous. But there are certainly exceptions.

~Nephele

By: Liane Spicer

Liane Spicer — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 02:32:34 +0000

This is some of the most down to earth advice I’ve yet come across about this business. I’m going to bookmark and read it every now and then.

By: Candice Gilmer

Candice Gilmer — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 02:16:23 +0000

Nephele, it shocks me to think that people would behave that way. I know that they do, but man oh man…

So, I’m curious, do you file away the really good ‘rejection rebuttles” for future laugh fests with other agents?

By: Susan Kelley

Susan Kelley — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 00:09:25 +0000

Lots of great advice today. I’m glad I took a break to visit. I make it a habit to never respond to an email that aggravates me without taking a day to think of exactly how I want to answer. I have received rejections where I wondered if the editor or agent had even read my work as their comments were off base, but I accepted it was still their decision. Whatever their reasons for rejection, the fact was they didn’t want it. I can’t decide if spewing angry responses to rejection is supreme arrogance or the opposite. A lack of confidence so extreme, one is devastated by rejection.

By: Nephele Tempest

Nephele Tempest — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 15:50:04 +0000

KeVin,

That’s an excellent way to handle stalling an offer in the future. Editors actually prefer dealing with agents when it comes to negotiations because they know what to request and what parts of the contract are most malleable. A writer can learn this too, but the question becomes whether you want to take the time to handle that aspect of your career as well. Asking an editor to hold off a few days until you can sign with an agent is perfectly reasonable, and they will understand your refusal to commit to them until then.

~Nephele

By: Mark

Mark — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 15:14:01 +0000

I regularly watch the TV show “Ramseys Kitchen Nightmares” where chef Ramsey tries to turn a failing restaurant around in one week. The message I get from the show is that the restaurant owners treat their business as a hobby or extension of their family, Ramsey comes in and demonstrates that the way to be successful is to treat it as a “business”

I think the same thing happens in writing. People start writing, are told by their own head or their friends-group that they are wonderful, that they can do no wrong, that they are so talented they don’t need to worry about the rules. They submit and finally meet the crushing reality of the business, and for many this may be the first time they have ever had an honest appraisal of their work, and it hurts.

By: KeVin

KeVin — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 13:19:14 +0000

My sales have all been work-for-hire media tie-in writing. In this market I don’t write until I have a contract in hand, and then I receive a fee to write a novel of x-length on y-deadline. The first time an editor called to say she liked my proposal and would pay a certain amount for delivery of a 90k ms in 120 days, I stalled while I did the math in my head and then told her I couldn’t afford to take the time I would need off from work at that price. She immediately offered me 10% more. I figured I could afford that, so I said yes (and delivered a 93k ms they accepted in 91 days). The second time around she just sent me the same contract I’d agreed to the first time. I’d locked myself in — and I have no doubt for quite a bit less than I could have gotten with a little savvy negotiation.

At the time I was under the impression that agent never represented work-for-hire novels. The rights do not belong to the writer, so there’s no potential for future income. It’s a straight words=money writing gig. However, when I since attended a workshop for professional writers (conducted by Gardner Dozois, Dean Wesley Smith, and Kris Rusch) and told this story, it was explained to me that I had been an idiot. Agents invest in writers not individual projects. Though I have not sold an original novel yet, and I do write original and have no intention of writing media-tie-in exclusively. If an agent believes in a writer’s career potential (arrived at through some arcane calculation of talent, work ethic, and stamina) and if write-for-hire is part of that writer’s overall body of work — a body that includes original fiction — an agent will negotiate for money or other perks the writer might not think are available.

Their advice was to develop a short list of agents who represent work similar to the original fiction I write. That way, when an editor calls with an offer to buy — whether original or work for hire — I’ll be in a position to say: “Wow. Great. Thanks. I’m afraid I don’t have an agent at the moment, but I will be signing with one soon. Is there a number where they can reach you to discuss the particulars of the contract?”
Then I’ll work my way through the short list until I find a good match, turn the business negotiations over to the pro, and get back to work writing my next novel.

By: Kimber Chin

Kimber Chin — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 12:36:45 +0000

That is SO funny.
I was just talking about this last night,
how writing may be an art
but publishing is a business.
What a great and timely post!

By: Kerry Allen

Kerry Allen — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 11:25:14 +0000

Hate form rejections? Try the agently equivalent of the “I love you, but I’m not IN love with you” phone call. You’ll be begging for that form letter, baby.

I have never understood the goal of responding viciously to a rejection. Is the agent supposed to say, “Hm, I hated your writing and don’t represent that genre, but your charming personality has won me over!”? I just cannot wrap my head around the reasoning there.