Falling in Love...

Most agents, when giving a lecture or when blogging, will receive this oft-asked question: "What 'thing' are you looking for in a book that makes you want to represent it?" Their answer usually involves some version of this: "When I fall in love with it (the story, the characters)."

And it got me thinking -- sure, the publishing industry is just that: an industry. It's about business and money and sales figures and hand shakes and contracts. But, thankfully, it's also about the love of books. And when/if I'm blessed enough to get an agent, as much as I want her to be business-savvy and keep the realities of money in mind -- I also want her to LOVE my book. I want the "reader" part of her to fall for the characters, the story. I want to know that, if she saw my book on a shelf somewhere, the "reader" part of her would pick it up and buy it and stay up that night reading it. Because that, and not dollar signs, is ultimately what will drive her, will keep her confident in my book, will keep her optimistic in the face of rejection.

So, every time I read that answer from an agent, my hope lifts a little. Hope that the heart of writing still beats strongly in the publishing world - that it's not ALL about money. That it's also, somewhere along the way, about a genuine love of reading and writing...