Agents and editors- myth versus reality

We’ve all seen the films where an author is majorly catered to and pampered by their publisher, and their manuscript is treated like a holy relic. They go to packed-out signings, are recognized by everyone on the street, and live like celebrities.

Writer Beware Blogs! gives the example in the recent movie, The Martian Child.

The writer, “David Gordon,” has a close personal relationship with his literary agent. The agent comes over to his house frequently, they play golf together, they go out to dinner every few weeks, etc. And, of course, this high-powered agent lives in the same town where David the writer lives. The agent continually begs David the writer to let him read a bit of what he’s working on, giving the impression that if David handed him manuscript, he’d plop down on the curb without moving another step and read it then and there.

Why can this kind of presentation of a relationship between agents and writers be a bad thing? Because it sets the writer up with false expectations that can be preyed upon by scam artists. If a writer is expecting to be praised on every aspect of their story, then, after roughing it through a bunch of soul-crushing rejections, if they receive a praise-riddled letter offering representation (for a fee, of course) then they may not think twice about signing up with this agent, despite the agent’s history of bad business practices and other dubious affairs. It’s affirming for the writer and keeps a flow of profits feeding into the crummy agency.

However, I do recall in the movie, 1408, that we get a glimpse of one of the few realistic peeks into a writer’s life, where John Cusack’s character holds a book signing, and only three or four people show up. Maybe if someone did a documentary of a writer, or a reality television show that exposed the not-so-glamorous sides of the craft (like printing and signing dozens of SASE’s, or staring at a blank page with our fingers poised, waiting for inspiration) people might have more reasonable expectations and not fall into this kind of trap so easily.

By the way, if anyone out there has questions about various author/publishing scams, I’m more than willing to do a few posts about that topic, because it is one of the big writing issues that I can get really steamed about. The more educated one is about scam-artists and other cons, the earlier you’ll spot the warning signs and the less likely you’ll find yourself to be out thousands of dollars and a marred writing career.

I see that smile.

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