Professional Advice

I'm keeping my fingers crossed on this one. An old friend of mine is a respected literary agent in London, England, and while I won't ask her for help, she offered it yesterday (I phoned to wish her belated happy b'day) and told me to send her the entire Bailey Sullivan ms to read and crit and decide if she knows any agents this side of the water she might want to refer it to. Alternately, she'll tell me if it's utter crap, too, because we've known each other just that long. And I know she'd help me polish my query letter, too. It's funny how you don't think of using resources that are there, but I'll happily take her help. I hope she likes it and can use her influence to get it read--whether it gets accepted or not is up to the book itself, but having the full ms read is a big help along that road. AND, if she gives me some suggestions for revisions (she did that back in '99 when I wrote Angels), I'll happily give them serious consideration. Wish me luck, y'all.

Bufty said:

What a great opportunity to come out of the blue, Torin. Good luck.

I've often been tempted to go back and see her reaction to my having re-written it, tightened it and pruned it by 30% but I've always been hesitant to do so.

And I don't know her Birthday! Maybe our paths will cross again someday, but meantime I have my fingers crossed for you.

Click to expand...

Maybe you should contact her with your new and improved product!

In my instance, Meg and I have been friends for 36 years and I trust her judgement. I told her what I was up to and she said since it was only 50K to send her the whole thing and she'll give it the old once-over. It would be so great if she could give me an intro to an agent in North America, even if it leads to rejection. Nice to be able to say, "I was referred by This Person from That Big Agency." I can dream.

Thanks for the support, everyone!

Thanks, Vanessa.

Well, the agent now has my doc file downloaded to her Palm Pilot or whatever mobile reading device she uses, having gotten tired of carrying her weight in paper. We'll see what she has to say.