Recently, I went to a writer's conference and paid an extra $140 to see an agent. Her advice contradicted other advice from a previous agent whose advice contradicted a previous agent, whose advice contradicted a previous agent, and so on.
The whole experience left me feeling a little like this (best with sound OFF)
My history of contradictions
2008: I write first draft of a travel memoir
- Agent A:
- "No market for travel memoir, add more personal stuff make it memoir."
- "Also, remove analogy in query letter saying book 'combines person journey of Eat, Pray, Love (EPL) with sexual frustration of Portnoy's Complaint.' Publishers are tired of hearing about EPL, and Portnoy is too old."
(for sample of query letter, see Query Letter Circa 2008)
2009: I rewrite as a memoir
- Agent B:
- "No market for memoirs unless you're a Kennedy.
- Also, I like your query letter." (Still had EPL and Portnoy in query letter.)
2010: I rewrite as a novel (add fictitious characters, places, change plot.)
- Agent C (after reading first 20 pages and query letter)
- "How much of this story is true?
- Me: "Maybe 10 - 25 percent. I have visited all the countries in the book."
- Agent: "Have you ever thought of making this a travel memoir? Also, kill reference to Portnoy; all people think about is the masturbation scene."
2012: Rewriting novel again, now none of it is true, but I'm having a blast writing it. I remove reference to EPL and Portnoy in query letter.
- Agent D:
- "Not really sure of genre or positioning of this book."
- Me: "Well, it's kind of like the personal journey of Eat, Pray, Love with the sexual frustration of Portnoy's Complaint."
- Agent 4: "I like that, put that up high in query letter."
(for a sample of query letter, see Query Letter Circa 2012)
Upshot: All agents' comments conflicted and made sense. In the end, I'm going to pick and choose and cross my fingers that someone likes it. For example, instead of Portnoy and EPL, I'm going to follow one suggestion and mention current authors with books with similar themes: "The Ask," by Sam Lipsyte and most stuff by Jonathan Tropper.
For Publishing Tips and Tribulations, see:
- Easy, Sleazy Book Marketing Tips
Change you traffic measuring tool, join a Facebook Like-fest, and if anyone asks: "But officer, everyone else is doing it."
- Book Marketing for Nitwits: Keyword Phrases
What's my brand? Who's my audience? Who cares? I don't have all day for this; just help me boost my traffic enough to impress an agent.
The whole experience left me feeling a little like this (best with sound OFF)
My history of contradictions
2008: I write first draft of a travel memoir
- Agent A:
- "No market for travel memoir, add more personal stuff make it memoir."
- "Also, remove analogy in query letter saying book 'combines person journey of Eat, Pray, Love (EPL) with sexual frustration of Portnoy's Complaint.' Publishers are tired of hearing about EPL, and Portnoy is too old."
(for sample of query letter, see Query Letter Circa 2008)
2009: I rewrite as a memoir
- Agent B:
- "No market for memoirs unless you're a Kennedy.
- Also, I like your query letter." (Still had EPL and Portnoy in query letter.)
2010: I rewrite as a novel (add fictitious characters, places, change plot.)
- Agent C (after reading first 20 pages and query letter)
- "How much of this story is true?
- Me: "Maybe 10 - 25 percent. I have visited all the countries in the book."
- Agent: "Have you ever thought of making this a travel memoir? Also, kill reference to Portnoy; all people think about is the masturbation scene."
2012: Rewriting novel again, now none of it is true, but I'm having a blast writing it. I remove reference to EPL and Portnoy in query letter.
- Agent D:
- "Not really sure of genre or positioning of this book."
- Me: "Well, it's kind of like the personal journey of Eat, Pray, Love with the sexual frustration of Portnoy's Complaint."
- Agent 4: "I like that, put that up high in query letter."
(for a sample of query letter, see Query Letter Circa 2012)
Upshot: All agents' comments conflicted and made sense. In the end, I'm going to pick and choose and cross my fingers that someone likes it. For example, instead of Portnoy and EPL, I'm going to follow one suggestion and mention current authors with books with similar themes: "The Ask," by Sam Lipsyte and most stuff by Jonathan Tropper.
For Publishing Tips and Tribulations, see:
- Easy, Sleazy Book Marketing Tips
Change you traffic measuring tool, join a Facebook Like-fest, and if anyone asks: "But officer, everyone else is doing it."
- Book Marketing for Nitwits: Keyword Phrases
What's my brand? Who's my audience? Who cares? I don't have all day for this; just help me boost my traffic enough to impress an agent.
8 comments:
Well, you know what they say about opinions. Agents are human and they have their different tastes, mixed with personal knowledge. I like the Portnoy reference and think it adds something, but I'm not an agent.
oops, I meant to say professional knowledge.
I learned a long time ago to write my book my way and find an agent who loves it the way it is. I, too, received contradictory opinions and wasted a whole lot of time doing rewrites.
Caren and Charlene: Thanks for thoughtful comments!
When you are published you will get a review saying they loved every word and it will be right next to a review saying they couldn't make head nor tails out of it.
Thanks, Virginia: I need to thicken my skin, this is going to be a long haul.
That confirms my suspicion that all "creative writing" teaching is pointless.Will you go on asking for advice? I am myself a former professor of comparative literature and therefore,skeptical about advice concerning my novel insofar as the literary aspect is concerned. But I am open to all marketing suggestions.
What is your conclusion?
Happily my German Shepherd is tilting her head. That's a help in this frustrating situation.
Best of luck,
Christine de Lailhacar
The issue: Most of the comments were intelligent and made sense. I'm still too new at this to be able to say, "oh, yeah, that's good idea and that's a bad idea." I need to think about it for a while -- it's very frustrating.
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