Jenna dahling, Loved the letter from the editor this week. Now can you...

I you.

I was nervous sending off that letter this week. Wasn't sure how people would take it. Whenever I write anything that's even minimally controversial or just not sunshine and lollypops, I know I'll get some nastiness back. And I care too much what strangers think. I don't know why.

But I've had unprecedented support on this week's letter. About 25 letters saying, "AMEN, SISTA!" (including one from a well-known editor)... and one telling me to get off my high horse and stop thinking I'm more important than other people. (Huh?) Of course... which letter did I think about all day?

Sigh. Back to sunshine and lollypops. My intestines just can't handle the backlash!

It made me laugh. I thought about sending you an e-mail, but figured you probably get enough already.

Do you have some automatic responses for those kind of e-mails, so you can just cut and paste?

On the other hand, it would only encourage them.

Talking about the newsletter - I tried to subscribe a few times but it's not accepting me,. Every time I click "subscribe" I return to the same page.

and one telling me to get off my high horse and stop thinking I'm more important than other people.

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Jenna, you do realise that the person sending that was on a very high-horse indeed? Well incase it is only a suspicion with you I wanted to add my suspicion to yours. It is laughable that someone so clearly self-important is mailing anyone with the suggestion they ought not to feel self-important.

And your letter wasn't at all self-important anyway, it came across to me as very human and very distressed about not having time to do more and realising that even if you could there are people out there that would never be satisfied - and you are quite right (I think) that sometimes the most helpful piece of advice to give is 'go do it yourself - and learn from it'.

Now, I wonder if you would do a cartwheel for me? I really know it would make me much healthier if I was able to do cartwheels but I can't, so could you would you do one, maybe even one every day, for me? because it isn't fair that I should be unhealthy just because I can't do cartwheels - or if you want to make a training video for me that would be good too - but not as good as if you could just do them for me. I know someone must have done something for you to make you healthier and you'll be just thrilled at the opportunity to pay it back now. I'm only asking you because you are my favouritest author and I thought who would I most want to have do this for me and it turned up to be you.. aren't you pleased about that?

unbelievable.

Now you see why I hate people as a rule.

scfirenice said:

Can I just say that people have brass ones. I couldn't believe that people Jenna doesn't even know send Jenna emails almost demanding this that and the other thing. That said....Who is your agent Dahling? Or for Baltimorons 'Dahlink.'

I would never dream of doing that to LKH or JD Robb. What are these folks thinking?????

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Sc,
can you post the letter? I don't get the newsletter--although I should.
Thanks if you can,
Lauri

Jenna,

I enjoyed your letter this week and I don’t doubt your in-box is loaded with these type of amateur requests.

Before sifting through more e-mails add a “click here” link for those who send such ridiculous requests. Have the link go to a page with these words in big red letters:



NO! I CANNOT AND WILL NOT BE PART OF YOUR CIRCUS.

I HAD TO LEARN TO JUMP THROUGH HOOPS TO GET WHERE I AM NOW.

FIND YOUR OWN LOOPS AND START JUMPING!

I am also amzed at the selfishness of people. I took you at your word, Jenna, that is why I come here instead. I love the newsletter, I feel as though I know you. It is the only writing news letter I look forward to. Honestly.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh. My intestines are much better today. Thank you so much for the support, friends! The person who was upset with me yesterday wrote again to apologize for taking it personally, so that was nice, too.

Here's what my letter said (and Lauri, I can't believe you admitted you're not a subscriber. Bad! Bad favorite editor! Now I'm never telling you all the nice things I've said about you in it.)

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~
1. From the Editor
~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~

Hiya writers!


Again I’m amazed by my e-mail this week. To get to my e-mail address, you need to go through my FAQ page, which is here: http://www.jennaglatzer.com/faq.htm . I don’t really encourage people to write to me, as you can see, because I get swamped with e-mails as it is and can’t answer all of them, no matter how I try. I like hearing from readers; I just feel guilty when I can’t respond to all of them. But what really ticks me off is when people specifically ignore numbers 3, 4, and 12 on that list, which seems to happen daily.

Number 4 is probably the most popular. People write to me consistently to ask me to recommend agents and publishers for them, or to sell their work for them. It really throws me sometimes. A writer will send me an e-mail marked “urgent,” then write something like:

“I have written a novel. Here is a synopsis. Please send me a list of contact information of agents who would be appropriate for this book, but only if they’ve represented bestselling authors.”


Sometimes it’s even worse and they tell me that they’re too busy to read agents’ guide books, or that they want me to recommend them to my agent, or they want me to tell them which publishers in Canada publish abuse memoirs and accept e-mail submissions. I don’t know why these new writers expect me to do their homework for them. I don’t know if it’s that they think I’m a public servant because I run a site for writers, or if they think I owe them something because they were kind enough to click on my website, or what. Many of them aren’t even subscribers here. Some try to guilt-trip me with lines like, “I see you’re a successful writer, so I hope you will take the time to help an up-and-comer. Surely someone helped you.”

Actually, no. Not like that. I never really had a “mentor” and I certainly never approached a stranger to ask for referrals and contact information. And I spend an awful lot of time helping up-and-comers, but I don’t do their research for them... I sure don’t mind if people ask me for reputable sources to learn about agents and editors so they can do their own homework, but I’m amazed that some people think they’re too busy to bother, so I should do it for them.

Maybe the most irritating is when someone asks me how to start a successful career as a freelance writer. Ah, yes, I’ve written an entire book on the subject, but they want me to distill it into one e-mail for them. As if I’d written 240 pages of fluff and I could really have just condensed it all into three paragraphs.


We already lived in a world that was slanting more and more toward expectations of instant gratification, but I think e-mail made it even worse. Now, not only do people expect instant rewards, but they expect the rewards to be spoon-fed to them.

Twice, I’ve also seen people on other message boards complain that I didn’t “have the decency to respond” to an e-mail they sent. In both cases, I don’t even remember receiving the e-mails; they likely got caught in my spam traps, or were asking questions like the ones above. I sat for a bit and wondered if those people would have complained had my name been Danielle Steel or John Grisham. It seems to be okay for celebrity authors not to respond to every little question, but because I run a writers’ site, I’m supposed to kowtow to every stranger who graces me with an inappropriate request. Like I’m the Internet’s maid.


Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe there are posts somewhere saying that Danielle Steel is a jerk because she didn’t send a writer a detailed report about her experiences with her first agent and a personal referral to her editor.

I’m probably just cranky today, and hopped up on too much caffeine and Sudafed. I’ve been working hard on the Katrina anthology, enlisting editors to help polish submissions, finding a cover artist, learning about the printer’s formatting. It’s consumed me for the last week or so, to the detriment of my “real” work, and in the midst of it came another two “help me sell my articles now” e-mails. I decided not to answer them, and foresaw more complaints about what a lousy person I am.


Thing is, it’s really not hard to learn about the publishing world. If they have any real desire to be in it, the resources are there: in bookstores, libraries, writers’ sites, critique groups, and even magazine racks. I don’t hold out a lot of hope for those writers who think they’re too busy to bother learning about how publishing works. It makes me wonder if they were also too busy to learn how to write. It makes me bet that they’re the same new writers who will tell editors that they expect a 25-city book tour and an appearance on Oprah.

Publishing doesn’t have many shortcuts. It’s not a business for the impatient or the lazy. Most of the writers who e-mail me know that, and most of my e-mail is lovely and kind. I keep folders of fan mail and nice letters to get me through those days when I want to pound my head against my keyboard. You’re the people who keep me sane.

Enjoy the issue!

Write on,
Jenna Glatzer
Editor-in-Chief
http://www.absolutewrite.com



Read about Jenna’s books at http://www.jennaglatzer.com




P.S. Aruna: I'll write to you...

I so identified with that when I got the newsletter this week, Jenna. I think it (unfortunately) comes with the territory when you start becoming known to strangers.

I have a story of similar ilk. For those who don't know, I am a teeny little fish in a teeny little pond; I write a movie review column for two local papers with a total circulation of maybe 12,000. Well, one day I'm sitting in a food court at a local plaza and this woman comes up to me and starts going on about how she got drunk last night (she still smelled of booze) and now she's stranded and needs to make a phone call to get a ride but she doesn't have a cell phone and gosh then she saw me and thought because she knows me she'd drop by and ask to use my cell phone....

She knows me? I'd never set eyes on her before in my life. As soon as I said I didn't have a phone, she started getting annoyed. Then I said that I was sorry, but I couldn't help her, and she started crying and calling me names and that she should have known I'd be that way thinking I was better than everyone else....

I packed up and left the court with my lunch half eaten.

Some people are completely nuts. That was just one incident, I can't imagine having to deal with the number of e-mails you get, Jenna.

Oh, Jenna! That reminds me!

I've got this short story I just shat out and I was wondering if you'd mind passing it around your little circle of people and stuff.

(I'll give you a dollar.)

I LOVED IT!!

Well, I do have a hankering for a KitKat bar... PayPal me the dollar and we'll talk!



Charlie: How dare you not help a drunken raving lunatic with your nonexistent cell phone? You egomaniac!

Dude, I'm so up for that. I'd even mail you one of those HUGE Kit-Kat bars if you made me ohmygod famous!

I can't promise it wouldn't melt, though.

trumancoyote said:

Oh, Jenna! That reminds me!

I've got this short story I just shat out and I was wondering if you'd mind passing it around your little circle of people and stuff.

(I'll give you a dollar.)

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All I got for helping you become famous was a stinkin' tribute in your domain name . . . janetismeantome.com

Hey, that was a tribute of love! And besides, the domain, though not purchased, would cost more than one dollar, so, uh... for some reason that makes me right and you wrong.

Nyeah.

I loved the tone of that letter, Jenna. It's so frank, but not mean. Like we're really all in this together. Inclusive, that's the word I'm looking for.

trumancoyote said:

Hey, that was a tribute of love! And besides, the domain, though not purchased, would cost more than one dollar, so, uh... for some reason that makes me right and you wrong.

Nyeah.

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Well ya, when you put it that way, and considering you did write me a haiku about your penis too--then well . . . then I guess you are right. Your payment was priceless

Haha! Yay! <3

Hehe. Janet said penis.

JAlpha said:

a haiku about your penis too .... priceless

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Ah, Janet? Link?

paprikapink said:

Ah, Janet? Link?

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#284
http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9734&page=12&pp=25

Touching, isn't it Makes me all weepy

That never happened!

Words found in recent posts in this thread:

Truman

penis

touching