Terrible. Especially the unprofessional disingenuous overhype of what he could do compared to what is expected from a competent professional literary agent. Probably a great reason authors choose self-publishing.
My guess would be that there is a two-tier process in the agency in which the front-line agents must, at some point, sell a project to management. It is certainly so in publishing, where an agent wishing to acquire a manuscript must sell it to the marketing department. In other words, there is an artistic tier and a commercial tier of decision-making. You begin with the artistic tier, and they then try to get the project into a state where they can sell it to the commercial tier (including getting you to do the necessary market studies!). If the commercial tier won't buy in (which would be required to offer you a contract), then they cut you loose. And they do that with silence, because the person at the artistic tier does not want to admit their failure or throw their bosses under the bus.
Of course, securing an agent isn't the key to fame and glory either. I have been contracted with agents twice and with a publisher once, and still did not get to the bookstore stage of the process.
Agreed. The agent pitched the book and it got shot down. He didn’t want to own up to it so he started slowly distancing himself until she took the clue.
People accuse me of being jaded but in my experience you’ll need five or six consequential players to either absolutely love your manuscript, or you have dirt on their pasts, to get your book through the system.
Liza’s account is a horror story by hardly the worst. There are people who got past the first line edits, got signed to the agency (which doesn’t even mean anything tbh), got the book deal (which doesn’t even mean anything tbh), went through the edits, and then their project is cancelled when the book sellers torpedo it. Whoops!! Five years of your life you can’t get back. And it’s the same treatment. You’re not necessarily ghosted but you’re dealing with absurd politeness signaling that the relationship is over.
The marketing tier is why we have such huge and long-lasting trends in publishing. It's the same principle that explains why obese people queue in the cars to have the aromatic greasy gastronomical offal passed through their windows to be consumed ravenously.
Yes, but we have the publishers we deserve. If readers put principle before appetite, we would have publishers who put principle before appetite. But we don't.
I'm surprised that out of the billions of women literary agents in the biz, a male lit agent hit on you. We give the literary world so much power over us, just like the Hollywood hopefuls do the movie moguls. And they use that power, many of them, to... Well, people will have to figure that out themselves after their own romantic affairs.
"The vast majority of writers don’t speak up for fear of burning bridges." The vast majority of writers don't speak up about anything of importance, (society in general, pandemics, government edicts, law and order, war and peace, the weather) without holding their wetted finger in the air.
After a lifetime of wading in and out of the literary asylum, I've grown a very thick skin and an appreciation of eternity, which wins out in the end.
Such a raw and poignant article full of truth about the publishing industry, Liza! This was both a sad and uplifting article to read. You had your heart callously broken at 18 by a guy who was just “playing the field” and had no intention of having a serious relationship with you. Why he didn’t just say that I don’t know. But in any case, he left you devastated. Then a literary agent did the same thing to you in your professional life. He told you how much he loved your book, that it was amazing, that you were the next Henry Miller, that you and him would make literary history together. Just like the jerk who you hated in high school showered you with sweet talk about how much he “loved you” and how “you were the only one for him.” But just like your old paramour from high school, he jilted you and left you heartbroken. He claimed he loved the Lilac Room and then abandoned you completely. If he didn’t like the book or changed his mind, he should’ve just said so, not strung you along and then disappeared without a trace.
The traditional publishing industry is really screwed up right now and I fear it could be years before you find an agent, Liza. But by the same token, I took years but you found your soon to be husband and will soon be living your dream of getting married in a ballgown in a royal type setting. So in due time, you will find a literary agent. Just be patient and keep working at it! In the meantime, you have Invictus Prep. I know that’s not want you want to do with the rest of your life and that you want to do writing full time. But it maybe some time before that’s possible. But that doesn’t mean it will never happen. I’m sorry that jerk of an agent jilted you like that. He should be ashamed of his behavior. But if he was that big of a horse’s taint, you didn’t need him anyway. You’ve got better things to do like running a successful business you built with your own two hands, writing more poetry, celebrating the release of Girl Soldier, and querying your other novel. Also, I wanted to take a moment to say that I’m sorry Girl Soldier hadn’t sold as much as you would’ve liked it to and that it’s been really hard getting people to actually read your work. But that doesn’t mean it sucks or anything like that. You just need more time. To the Pens and Poison audience: Stop telling Liza to go Indie and then turn around and not purchase her book. Liza worked really hard on Girl Soldier and I’m sure it is very good. You’ve read her other work and you know how talented she is, give her chance! Enough with the hypocrisy and being fair weather friends!
Great post! A friend of mine had the same experience with a famous agent in his 70s. The same pattern—revisions and revisions and then nothing. The gatekeeper (agent, publisher, department head) probably thinks of this as being helpful. But no; it’s just a power trip.
I had an agent—contracted, ran his own agency, legit—who offered me suggestions (maybe a frame narrative? nah, maybe not?) for a year and a half before retiring from the biz with the book entirely unpitched. Sad thing was, I had two agents offer to represent me. I chose…unwisely. (In retrospect—at the time, seemed the right call.) By the time all this played out, certain real-world events made the book a much harder sell. So it’s still in a drawer. C’est la guerre.
Terrible. Especially the unprofessional disingenuous overhype of what he could do compared to what is expected from a competent professional literary agent. Probably a great reason authors choose self-publishing.
My guess would be that there is a two-tier process in the agency in which the front-line agents must, at some point, sell a project to management. It is certainly so in publishing, where an agent wishing to acquire a manuscript must sell it to the marketing department. In other words, there is an artistic tier and a commercial tier of decision-making. You begin with the artistic tier, and they then try to get the project into a state where they can sell it to the commercial tier (including getting you to do the necessary market studies!). If the commercial tier won't buy in (which would be required to offer you a contract), then they cut you loose. And they do that with silence, because the person at the artistic tier does not want to admit their failure or throw their bosses under the bus.
Of course, securing an agent isn't the key to fame and glory either. I have been contracted with agents twice and with a publisher once, and still did not get to the bookstore stage of the process.
Agreed. The agent pitched the book and it got shot down. He didn’t want to own up to it so he started slowly distancing himself until she took the clue.
People accuse me of being jaded but in my experience you’ll need five or six consequential players to either absolutely love your manuscript, or you have dirt on their pasts, to get your book through the system.
Liza’s account is a horror story by hardly the worst. There are people who got past the first line edits, got signed to the agency (which doesn’t even mean anything tbh), got the book deal (which doesn’t even mean anything tbh), went through the edits, and then their project is cancelled when the book sellers torpedo it. Whoops!! Five years of your life you can’t get back. And it’s the same treatment. You’re not necessarily ghosted but you’re dealing with absurd politeness signaling that the relationship is over.
The marketing tier is why we have such huge and long-lasting trends in publishing. It's the same principle that explains why obese people queue in the cars to have the aromatic greasy gastronomical offal passed through their windows to be consumed ravenously.
Yes, but we have the publishers we deserve. If readers put principle before appetite, we would have publishers who put principle before appetite. But we don't.
I'm surprised that out of the billions of women literary agents in the biz, a male lit agent hit on you. We give the literary world so much power over us, just like the Hollywood hopefuls do the movie moguls. And they use that power, many of them, to... Well, people will have to figure that out themselves after their own romantic affairs.
"The vast majority of writers don’t speak up for fear of burning bridges." The vast majority of writers don't speak up about anything of importance, (society in general, pandemics, government edicts, law and order, war and peace, the weather) without holding their wetted finger in the air.
After a lifetime of wading in and out of the literary asylum, I've grown a very thick skin and an appreciation of eternity, which wins out in the end.
Best!
Feelin' the pain, Liza. Feelin' the pain. I wrote this truly wicked send-up of the agent marketplace for Heresy Press a few months ago. Hopefully it brings you joy. https://heresypress.substack.com/i/160465661/the-literary-agent-will-see-you-now
Such a raw and poignant article full of truth about the publishing industry, Liza! This was both a sad and uplifting article to read. You had your heart callously broken at 18 by a guy who was just “playing the field” and had no intention of having a serious relationship with you. Why he didn’t just say that I don’t know. But in any case, he left you devastated. Then a literary agent did the same thing to you in your professional life. He told you how much he loved your book, that it was amazing, that you were the next Henry Miller, that you and him would make literary history together. Just like the jerk who you hated in high school showered you with sweet talk about how much he “loved you” and how “you were the only one for him.” But just like your old paramour from high school, he jilted you and left you heartbroken. He claimed he loved the Lilac Room and then abandoned you completely. If he didn’t like the book or changed his mind, he should’ve just said so, not strung you along and then disappeared without a trace.
The traditional publishing industry is really screwed up right now and I fear it could be years before you find an agent, Liza. But by the same token, I took years but you found your soon to be husband and will soon be living your dream of getting married in a ballgown in a royal type setting. So in due time, you will find a literary agent. Just be patient and keep working at it! In the meantime, you have Invictus Prep. I know that’s not want you want to do with the rest of your life and that you want to do writing full time. But it maybe some time before that’s possible. But that doesn’t mean it will never happen. I’m sorry that jerk of an agent jilted you like that. He should be ashamed of his behavior. But if he was that big of a horse’s taint, you didn’t need him anyway. You’ve got better things to do like running a successful business you built with your own two hands, writing more poetry, celebrating the release of Girl Soldier, and querying your other novel. Also, I wanted to take a moment to say that I’m sorry Girl Soldier hadn’t sold as much as you would’ve liked it to and that it’s been really hard getting people to actually read your work. But that doesn’t mean it sucks or anything like that. You just need more time. To the Pens and Poison audience: Stop telling Liza to go Indie and then turn around and not purchase her book. Liza worked really hard on Girl Soldier and I’m sure it is very good. You’ve read her other work and you know how talented she is, give her chance! Enough with the hypocrisy and being fair weather friends!
Great post! A friend of mine had the same experience with a famous agent in his 70s. The same pattern—revisions and revisions and then nothing. The gatekeeper (agent, publisher, department head) probably thinks of this as being helpful. But no; it’s just a power trip.
I had an agent—contracted, ran his own agency, legit—who offered me suggestions (maybe a frame narrative? nah, maybe not?) for a year and a half before retiring from the biz with the book entirely unpitched. Sad thing was, I had two agents offer to represent me. I chose…unwisely. (In retrospect—at the time, seemed the right call.) By the time all this played out, certain real-world events made the book a much harder sell. So it’s still in a drawer. C’est la guerre.