No worries about the caps or the drive by commenting. I don't mind when folks poke their head in to say "hey" or express an opinion. I hope your hand feels better soon. I know surgery can really suck. So well wishes and good vibes to you there.
I think that while it might be impossible to always quantify what makes an agent give a query/manuscript a pass, I'm sure there are times when an agent could point to something and say, "You had me up until here" or "this just didn't wow me". Agents certainly can point out places where writers did something very, very wrong or very, very right.
And even if agents just focused on showing queries that did do well and did get accepted and maybe highlighting what nabbed their attention, even if they can't fully explain why, that's still more helpful than reminding me, for the 39378203th time that I should remember to spell an agent's name right.
I don't know if the advice, however, really does make mid-level authors feel that much better, because there are a lot of times when I wonder if agents bother to differentiate between us and those very silly amateurs who send the mind bogglingly bad queries.
I think it might be nice if sometimes agents would, at least, add the boilerplate that they KNOW most of us are trying our best and that they're just calling out a few knuckleheads who are making their lives more difficult than they have to be.
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Date: 2009-07-23 02:57 am (UTC)I think that while it might be impossible to always quantify what makes an agent give a query/manuscript a pass, I'm sure there are times when an agent could point to something and say, "You had me up until here" or "this just didn't wow me". Agents certainly can point out places where writers did something very, very wrong or very, very right.
And even if agents just focused on showing queries that did do well and did get accepted and maybe highlighting what nabbed their attention, even if they can't fully explain why, that's still more helpful than reminding me, for the 39378203th time that I should remember to spell an agent's name right.
I don't know if the advice, however, really does make mid-level authors feel that much better, because there are a lot of times when I wonder if agents bother to differentiate between us and those very silly amateurs who send the mind bogglingly bad queries.
I think it might be nice if sometimes agents would, at least, add the boilerplate that they KNOW most of us are trying our best and that they're just calling out a few knuckleheads who are making their lives more difficult than they have to be.