"I don't feel it's right for our list" is a common kiss-off line from agents. It's actually perfectly fair and plausible - they feel the authors they represent have a certain "house style". Which, especially in a smaller agency, is almost certainly true, since their authors are all hand-picked after all. But when you look at a literary agency's client list and find it is full of people you haven't heard of, who have written books with really unattractive covers, it becomes difficult to know whether you fit into that particular bunch of "middle list writers" you haven't heard of, or another bunch, represented by another agency. What you could do of course, is check out some of those authors' works on Amazon. This would take a few hours, days, if you were really assiduous, but at least you'd know not to submit to that agency.
The trouble is, all the writers I really like are represented by uber grand agents - who don't even allow writers to submit to them - you could burn incense and rare meats under their noses for 40 days and still be turned away. Short of being personally introduced to them by William Boyd or Seb Faulks you have no chance with these guys. Being rejected by them would be a privilege, being rejected by a small agency run by two young women who were made redundant from publishing jobs and couldn't think of anything else to do, feels a bit humiliating. I know, I am sounding all Ed Reardon now... (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006r5ck) but, like the Murphy's, I'm not bitter. And I would, of course, be very happy to be taken on by any agency run by two young women recently made redundant from publishing jobs. Or indeed, run by men, coyotes, or mutants from outer space.
The trouble is, all the writers I really like are represented by uber grand agents - who don't even allow writers to submit to them - you could burn incense and rare meats under their noses for 40 days and still be turned away. Short of being personally introduced to them by William Boyd or Seb Faulks you have no chance with these guys. Being rejected by them would be a privilege, being rejected by a small agency run by two young women who were made redundant from publishing jobs and couldn't think of anything else to do, feels a bit humiliating. I know, I am sounding all Ed Reardon now... (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006r5ck) but, like the Murphy's, I'm not bitter. And I would, of course, be very happy to be taken on by any agency run by two young women recently made redundant from publishing jobs. Or indeed, run by men, coyotes, or mutants from outer space.
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