Do you consider this a backhanded slap?

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Patrick L

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I don't want to use the author or agents' names, because it may not be backhanded at all. I'm just curious what others think.

A pretty well-known author with eight or nine books glowingly referred to his agent at the time in his first four novels. In the acknowledgment section of his fifth novel, he thanks his new agent, saying (very close paraphrase), You have definitely taken me to the next level.

I queried his first agent last year--a very nice lady who gave me a very nice rejection. Still, does it seem that his choice of words are somewhat telling as to what he thinks of his former agent?

Just curious.
 

Kate Thornton

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No, I don't think so - sometimes the agents you have work great for your first few novels, but then as you grow and change as a writer, and as you either do or do not acquire a following of hard-core fans who eagerly await your next book, or perhaps as you change characters, even genres, a new agent can take you in directions you never thought possible.

This is not a slap to your former agent - just an acknowledgment that the new agent is working out very well.

PS - I had 3 consecutive agents early on - the first 2 died suddenly, always a bad sign...
 

Patrick L

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No, I don't think so - sometimes the agents you have work great for your first few novels, but then as you grow and change as a writer, and as you either do or do not acquire a following of hard-core fans who eagerly await your next book, or perhaps as you change characters, even genres, a new agent can take you in directions you never thought possible.

This is not a slap to your former agent - just an acknowledgment that the new agent is working out very well.

PS - I had 3 consecutive agents early on - the first 2 died suddenly, always a bad sign...

Good point!

And your last line is tragic, but your delivery cracked me up. :D
 

bluntforcetrauma

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It may have been intended as a poke at the former agent, but I doubt it hurt her reputation one bit.
 

Mike F.

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Sounds like the author is really happy with the new agent; not upset with the old one. The author was probably just looking for a change and happy it worked out. Of course, I don't have an agent so I could be completely wrong. :)
 

TrainofThought

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Doesn’t sound like a backhand to me, but what do I know. The kinds of rejections I get are straightforward. :D It sounds like the author has grown, and in doing so, grew away from his first agent. Maybe he has a different type of relationship with the second agent. :Shrug: Either way, it’s nice to read any acknowledgment.
 

KTC

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To borrow from Oscar Wilde: to have lost one agent is tragic, to have lost two smacks of carelessness. ;)


I thought I was laughing at Kate's comment...but this took my cake. (-;
 
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