I made Julie a literary agent so I could complain about them. She and Will are talking on p. 15. Julie is complaining that she gets too many query letters. I remember back during one of two periods in which I was trying to recruit a literary agent (Each time I was successful, but they never showed me any production.) often I would get just a post card saying, "So sorry I have to respond in this impersonal way but I they get just soooo many manuscripts."
Isn't that what they want? So it's our fault because we're seeking representation.
Well, that ends my rant against literary agents. I think good, caring, helpful literary agents are a social good, don't get me wrong. Not many of them are good in this way, however.
What do you think about the setting? I'd like to know. Post a comment.
Writing is, to me, an entrepreneurial activity. Entrepreneurial ideas are the life's blood of my writing. For my entrepreneurial course, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com. For entrepreneurial real estate, go to and click on www.yourstopforrealestate.com/blog
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Rant against literary agents
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Agents? Who Needs Literary Agents?
A literary agent, whose blog I subscribe to, and whose name I shall not mention, asked how much responsibility should be placed on an agent when a book doesn't sell. People had various opinions, and of course this agent had what they call today a "highly nuanced" response. The fact of the matter is if writers would take their own future in their own hands, you wouldn't need the agent in the first place, and the question would be moot.
What do you think? Post a comment. And Christmas is coming. You can order a copy right off my blog here or go to Amazon.com.
Writing for me is an entrepreneurial activity. For my entrepreneurship blog, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com and for entrepreneurial real estate is to www.yourstopforrealestate.con/blog.
Saturday, September 6, 2008
A Curious Literary Agent's Response to this Mystery
I still don't understand this one. Back when I was still trying to find a mainstream publisher to publish this book, one of the agents who had requested a copy of the whole manuscript returned it to me with the reason that it was "too Agathe." Too Agathe? What's that about? Agathe Christie's mysteries have sold more copies than just about any other mystery writer, movies made from her books, like Murder on the Oriental Express continue to be shown and remade. It struck me as a curious, yet painful reason for rejection. At least she did pick up the strong influence of that mystery in my writing.
Writing for me is entrepreneurial. Check out my entrepreneurship course,www.hatman2.blogspot.com and my real estate blog, www.yourstopforrealestate.com/blog. Better yet, download a copy of my book from this blog and order a copy through Amazon.com. After all, Christmas is coming.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Agatha Christie
By now, mystery readers, unless they've been hibernating or had there heads buried in the hollow of a tree somewhere, know at least the name Agatha Christie. While I was working on this book, I read Murder on the Orient Express and watched the movie with Albert Finney playing Hercule Poirot. Anyway, I really liked it, though I couldn't figure out the ending. I built some of that into this book, though I tried to give it a twist. I also saw the old Neil Simon comedy, Murder by Death, which was kind of inane except for the bit about Alec Guiness as the blind butler and Nancy Walker as the deaf maid. He was always telling her to do things, which she couldn't hear, and she was always writing him notes he couldn't read. That was very funny. Also the bit where it had the address of the mansion where the group gathered as 22-twain, an obvious reference to the Christie book.
Here's an excerpt of the Wikipedia entry on her: Agatha Mary Clarissa, Lady Mallowan, DBE (15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976), commonly known as Agatha Christie, was an English crime writer of novels, short stories and plays. She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but is best remembered for her 80 detective novels and her successful West End theatre plays. Her works, particularly featuring detectives Hercule Poirot or Miss Jane Marple, have given her the title the 'Queen of Crime' and made her one of the most important and innovative writers in the development of the genre.
Christie has been called — by the Guinness Book of World Records, among others — the best-selling writer of books of all time and the best-selling writer of any kind, along with William Shakespeare. Only the Bible is known to have outsold her collected sales of roughly four billion copies of novels.[1] UNESCO states that she is currently the most translated individual author in the world with only the collective corporate works of Walt Disney Productions surpassing her.[2]
Her stage play, The Mousetrap, holds the record for the longest initial run in the world, opening at the Ambassadors Theatre in London on 25 November 1952, and as of 2008 is still running after more than 23,000 performances. In 1955, Christie was the first recipient of the Mystery Writers of America's highest honor, the Grand Master Award, and in the same year, Witness for the Prosecution was given an Edgar Award by the MWA, for Best Play. Most of her books and short stories have been filmed, some many times over (Murder on the Orient Express, Death on the Nile and 4.50 From Paddington for instance), and many have been adapted for television, radio, video games and comics.
In 1998, the control of the rights to most of the literary works of Agatha Christie passed to the company Chorion, when it purchased a majority 64% share in Agatha Christie Limited.
Back when I was still trying to get a regular agent, one of them rejected the manuscript because it was "too Agatha." Isn't that a stitch? As far as I know her books are still in print and they just remade Murder on the Orient Express.
Synopsis:
Ian Kearney, the director of the Kearney Music School, an elite musical training school in Philadelphia, dies after a fall from a balcony during a recital. World-famous cellist, Henry Harrier, recently forced from the faculty, returns to investigate Ian's death when his prized former student is arrested. Henry shows through his brilliant and single-minded pursuit of the truth that, as usual, they have it all wrong. This Sherlock Holmes-type mystery leads the reader through the world of classical music and lays bare the conflicts which dominate the lives of talented adolescents when placed under the pressure of studying for a demanding, stressful, and often elusive career as a classical music performer. Henry Harrier is part John Le Carre's George Smiley, part Arthur Conan Doyle's Holmes, and part Orlando Cole the beloved teacher, renowned chamber musician, and until his own retirement, the premier cellist of the Curtis Institute.Author Profile:
Tim was born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, on January 30, 1946. In 1951 he moved with his family to Schenectady, New York, where he lived through high school. He attended Baldwin-Wallace College, Berea, Ohio, from 1964 to 1968. He graduated in 1968 with a B.A. in history and philosophy. He received his Ph. D. in history in U.S. history in 1980 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison after spending 2.5 years in the U. S. Army. Most of his army service was completed in Wuerzburg, Germany, from 1969-1971. In 1972 he returned to Madison to complete his doctoral study. His dissertation, Those Who Moved; Internal Migrants in American 1607-1840, combined the statistical analysis of genealogical and biographical data with the study of traditional literary diaries, letters, and journals.Tim was a market and survey research consultant from 1983 to 2000 and a smoking cessation researcher from 2000 to 2003. His consulting practice focused primarily on conducting community health needs assessment. He authored hundreds of market research reports and published a number of his assessments in Community Health Needs Assessment published by McGraw Hill in 1996 and in a revised volume published in 1999. In 2000 he joined the staff of the Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention of the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he conducted smoking cessation research. He published several articles in peer-reviewed journals and spoke at national smoking cessation conferences.
In 2003 he moved to Philadelphia and earned his real estate license. He now practices real estate, works on publishing his novels, and studies and teaches entrepreneurship.Tim has written a dozen novel-length stories, a volume of short stories, and about a 3-foot stack of pages poetry. He is currently working on earning his 4th million in real estate sales, publishing his novels, and working on an entrepreneurish handbook as a support for his students.
Tim is a trained violist and an experienced string quartet player. He is an avid listener to classical music and regularly attends classical music concerts. He has two grown children by his first wife and a stepdaughter with his second wife. He likes to cook, read, write, entertain, develop relationships, and help other people. Formerly Tim used to travel frequently. He doesn't so much anymore. Now he regards the combination of real estate practice, writing and publishing, and the teaching and studying of entrepreneurship as enough of a trip.
