At What Point do Agents want a Book?

Vrooman: If that paragraph you quoted --

"Sure enough, all watched as they observed Ihid sit behind a pillar and open a back pack and remove something. After fiddling with the object Ihid had removed, they saw him lay it down and start to run. They could see Ihid’s face clearly now on the other monitor, a look of fear showed as he ran toward an exit door. But all eyes were fixed on the monitor showing what they now believed to be a bomb exploding and spraying small fragments of contaminated glass on everyone close by. Since these security cameras also picked up sound, not only was the sound of the blast deafening but the screams of those in the food court was frightening."

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-- is from the book in question, I can give you a clear and unequivocal answer:

No. They would not be interested.

The issue isn't the timeliness of your plot; it's the poor quality of your writing. If that quote is a representative sample, there isn't an editor I know of who would buy your book.

Stop focusing on topicality. Work on improving your sentences.

In this AW thread, our members discuss the wisdom of writers attempting to promote their books on the back of the Boston Marathon bombing.

And in this AW thread, greenpower tried to connect the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster with his first book, Green Power, in an attempt to promote it.

greenpower,

1. write another book. A better book. writers write, and they improve. Write another book.

2. That one, this one, or any other books, please stop posting what is essentially spam drive-bys to promote. It was irritating to me before, as an unwanted intrusion, and now it has morphed into crass and exploitative. Do any of those attributes strike you as ones likely to entice a buyer?

Well, let's get real here. Every event is, and should be, written about. When writers start worrying about trivializing an event, or offending tis group or that group, they need to stop writing and take up knitting.

The Boston bombing did happen. It's sad, but it's hardly the end of the world, and far, far, far from the biggest tragedy we've had in the last couple of decades. People were killed, and people were maimed, and this is precisely why we should write about it, about the causes, about who and what and why, and use it to make novels more realistic.

This is what writers are supposed to do. Sitting around acting offended helps no one, does not show you are more humane, have a bigger heart, are more caring, or anything else. It just shows you have one more reason not to write about something, or not to use an oh so sad event to promote a book that may have some answers.

The world is a Boston bombing, and on a much grander scale. Two tiny bombs, three killed, a couple of dozen critically injured? Go tell the citizens of Iraq, Afghanistan, or any one of twenty other countries how devastated we all are.

Can Recent Events help Novel's Timeliness?

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No.

Next question?

greenpower seems to be more interested in spamming than engaging.

He can do that somewhere else.