Yesterday I blogged about the highs and lows of the NEC
conference on Friday night. Today I’m going to discuss the good, bad and ugly
aka, my agent appointment.
I was super excited about the appointment because the agent
received the query and first 10 pages prior to the meeting. This way she had
time to decide if she wanted more. The appointments last 8 minutes, after the
brief introductions here’s how mine went:
Good:
I love your writing
Your dialogue zips along nicely
The flow from one pov to the next is fantastic
I LOVE your heroine’s unique name.
Bad:
BUT, the concept of a woman vigilante has been done before
and I don’t feel I can sell this.
What else do you have?
I explained another book that is complete, but needs
revision.
Her interest piques.
I’m thinking score one for me.
I say, “Maybe I could send you a partial?”
“Sure, you can go through the normal submission process
online,” she says.
Ugly:
“Do you have any questions for me?”
I hate this question because I’ve read a lot about what not
to ask. I bumbled through some question and realized the more we talked we
weren’t a match. She was super professional and nice, but of course as a writer
I want someone who is passionate about my work like me.
She asked if I had any more questions and I said no. I stood,
thanked her for her time and left.
Time spent with agent? 4 mins.
As a first timer, it was an awesome experience and I learned
a lot about what to do and not do. I’m thinking of self-publishing these
contemporaries anyway, but it’s always nice to see what an agent thinks. Overall
I had a lot of positives coming out of the meeting. She only made 3 minor
comments on my 10 pages, so I was happy.
Tomorrow I’ll talk about the guest speaker and give away a
book. :o)
