imkittymyers at hotmail dot com
Thursday, March 09, 2006
NITWIT UPDATE:
IT'S NOT POLITICAL, IT'S STRICTLY BUSINESS
Here's an update on the nitwit who told Miss Snark that he profiles prospective agents according to their politics. Apparently, after reading the less-than-supportive comments,
Nitwit was compelled to respond:
I wrote the original post and apologize for the impression that I’m concerned about Democrat vs. Republican or left vs. right. Those labels have nothing to do with what’s happening in this country today. (I included Reaganomics and Grover Norquist because the current administration endorses those policies that starve social programs designed to aid society’s poor and most vulnerable). The people in charge are radicals much farther out of the mainstream than you’ve painted my perspective in your comments.
While I won’t be going out dancing with my agent, I want a relationship that must be built on mutual trust and respect because she will represent me and my work whereas the gas station attendant will never play that role. I can’t respect someone who condones torture, etc. I just can’t. And for those of you who ridicule me for my values and refer to my well-documented concerns as tin foil hat conspiracy theories and suggest that I should tap phones and emails in my attempt to find compatible representation, well, you’re clearly not paying attention (or you’re very subtle political satirists).
I would never have fired my insurance agent if Bush hadn’t invaded and occupied another country under a series of provably false and exploitative pretexts designed to mislead the U.S. public and the world. I fired him because he wasn’t someone I could respect; anyone who continues to support this administration is living a life of denial and is a partisan of the highest order (FYI, I’ve voted for Dems, Reps, and Greens). I won’t apologize for paying attention when 34% of the eligible voting public isn’t.
So maybe it was crazy to ask Miss Snark the question but I wondered if it was a question that could be asked of other agents. And, according to her, it is
8 Speaking of the business of writing, here's an excellent post to study if you're thinking of writing a book.
E-Publishing or Print Publishing?: If you want to be published and you're not a patient person (like me), start learning. This is NOT a quick or easy business. An average purchase to the print publication timeframe is 18-24 months. But the bigger (and more tedious) hill to climb is the one that leads to "the call," as we call it in print publishing. (i.e., selling the book to a publisher.)
To sell in print, the average author writes for about 7 years and writes an average of 4-5 full manuscripts (of 100K words each) before selling. Some people don't have that sort of stamina. They give up after 1 or 2 manuscripts. I tell you this now not to discourage you, but to give you an idea of a reasonable expectation.
"Lad" lit? Who knew?
Jennifer “In Her Shoes” Weiner compares lad lit to chick lit: They're basically the same as the Bridgets and the Emmas and the Kates and the Janes, except they tend to binge drink more frequently...and they're way more superficial. For instance: the passage in Love Monkey where the hero, a fellow named Tom, takes a break from his seduction of the lovely, lissome, ten-year-his-junior Julia to slip into the bathroom for a chat with his penis. He wants his private parts to behave themselves and, as incitement, he names a string of unattractive women. "Hillary Clinton...Camryn Manheim....Rosie O'Donnell...Oprah."
OUCH! (tee hee hee)
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