Careful when blog bashing...

I'm not seeing the issue with this particular example...but that's why all of my past complaints have always been of the anonymous variety.

I need to bring the Author-Ese Translator out of retirement...

Lawdy. When I grumble I leave out names.

Wow, the guy got a partial request for publically voicing his complaint? Isn't that encouraging the bad behavior?

Honestly, I think that if you don't hear back on a query in a month or two, the polite thing do is double check the agent's response times and double check to see if the agent has stopped accepting queries or is particularly backed up. If not, the you resend it with a 'just checking that you got this.' Email and snail mail are both unreliable.

But the bottom line is to keep issues personal. You don't air your dirty laundry in public. That's just classless and I'm surprised the agent would even want to work with the writer after that sort of behavior.

But then again, I was raised in a household where I was told not to discuss income, political affiliation, etc, etc. So I respect that I was probably raised with different values than others.

Either way, I think it's interesting the sense of entitlement that some writers of queries feel. Honestly, every agent I'm considering receives upwards of 100 queries a day. I personally understand that when I start the query process, I'm lucky to get a five minute piece of the agent's day and I APPRECIATE that time. It's just the nature of the business. The demand is much larger than the supply in this case. (If you count the 'supply' as number of agents willing to represent your work, and the demand as authors wanting to be published)

But again, my background is probably very different from some so I can't say I'm an objective judge in this case.

Actually, what I got from it was that the agent wanted to "be more polite" and just reject it again in a polite and sarcastic manner.

That's what I think, anyway. And if I were an agent, I'd totally do that!

It never ceases to amaze me that people who want to work in publishing publicly bad mouth the very people they're asking to help them succeed. I actually blogged about this a week or so ago after reading several hard to believe posts from agents and editors.

Writing is personal and it's hard not to take rejection personally. But publishing is a business and anyone who wants to publish a novel needs to understand that. Attacking the people who can make your dreams happen is so not a good idea.

Danthia said:

It never ceases to amaze me that people who want to work in publishing publicly bad mouth the very people they're asking to help them succeed. I actually blogged about this a week or so ago after reading several hard to believe posts from agents and editors.

Writing is personal and it's hard not to take rejection personally. But publishing is a business and anyone who wants to publish a novel needs to understand that. Attacking the people who can make your dreams happen is so not a good idea.

Click to expand...

Quoted for truthiness. I just shake my head and get puzzled at the Writer-Publisher-World drama that is a peculiar creature of the internet. And then I stumble away thinking couldn't they just put their time and energy into writing something? Is this high school?

Which shows I am clearly out of touch and need to go start some drama with an agent or someone right now.

*ahem*

Jenna Rappaport...makes...bread!

(oh snap!)

Same thing happens in all industries, though. People have actually gotten fired for posting about their employers.

The only time I've ever mentioned an agent by name (other than linking to agent blog posts) is when an agent I was really interested in listed a list of her favourite authors on her submissions guidelines. I rearranged my bookshelf to reflect her list, snapped a picture, and posted it with the caption "Let's be friends". It should be noted that a: the agent was geeky and b: the agent was very blog savvy. I have no idea if she ever saw it. I did, however, get a detailed personalize rejection when I did query her.

The Internet is a great record-keeping source for all of our lapses in judgment. You never know when your path will cross with someone you slammed a few years before.

PeeDee said:

Jenna Rappaport...makes...bread!

Click to expand...

Woah-ho-ho! Those be fightin' words!

Wait. Her blog says she's a baker. Carry on.

colealpaugh said:

Lapses in judgment are easier to find than most people think:

http://web.archive.org/web/19991127074028/http://absolutewrite.com/

The "waybackmachine" is pretty cool...

http://www.archive.org/web/web.php

Click to expand...

I love the waybackmachine. Makes you wonder what's floating around about you on the internet.

That's why I only bash myself on my blog.

Straka said:

That's why I only bash myself on my blog.

Click to expand...

Ha!

I do the same thing. (Bash myself, of course. I don't even know you. )

You can go blind doing that.

Google alerts are there to alert one to their name being posted.

Something about biting the hand that feeds you comes to mind.

I'm fairly sure an agent's blog I read not long ago mentioned how they (agents) lurk on this site too.

JJ

Renee Collins said:

Ha!

I do the same thing. (Bash myself, of course. I don't even know you. )

Click to expand...

Well I give you permission to bash, but I will return in kind!

To be fair, my "bashing" was more self-deprecation than anything...but translations of query responses (and other items) may not be funny to all.

Just a reminder of the "if you can't say anything nice about someone" rule.

But, yes. You DO need to exercise discretion over what you post on your blog. And the Internet as a whole.

I've gotten emails from people over blog posts. Some who I had actually named and some who knew the person I was talking about. Some even related to the subject and sent on an email. All of these emails catch me off guard. But, really, it shouldn't be a surprise that they find this out.

I am careful about what I say on my blogs IF and WHEN I use a name. If I can post WITHOUT using a name, I'll do so. I think it's better practice not to use someone's real name, though.