I've been reading this blog for awhile now and wanted to pass it along. It's written (cleverly) by an anonymous NY assistant agent. Because she's anonymous, she gets to tell it like it is - and gives VERY blunt and VERY practical advice to struggling-to-get-published writers. I love it. I love the tone of her entries. I think sometimes the best thing writers can hear is HONEST advice.
Here's the link: The Rejecter
And here's the description: I am an assistant at a literary agency. I am the first line of defense for my boss. On average, I reject 95% of the letters immediately and put the other 5% in the "maybe" pile. Here, I'll talk about my work.
Really interesting, even for someone who's not an aspiring fiction writer. I wonder if she answers my main question vis a vis publishing: why so many really poorly-written books DO get published...I mean, I always imagine that there are brilliant things out there getting rejected for some unknown reason, while books by (insert names here) are clogging up the grocery store racks.
ReplyDeleteGayle - great question (about the bad books being published). I don't know that we'll ever find a real answer to that, lol. You're so right, though. It doesn't seem fair!
ReplyDeleteAnd actually, I think that Rejector blog has addressed that issue, once upon a time. She covers lots of topics - fiction and non-fiction, alike!
Definitely....honest advice from someone who knows the art of writing, who knows the 'business' end of publishing, etc. Even though honesty can sometimes hurt, I think writers need to be flexible to change their work if needed, to take another slant if 'that' would work better, etc.
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