It was a great article, by the way, and you can see it here. I scratched my head and thought, “Oh, this is something I should know!” So I quickly googled “Public Editor of NYT” (yes, I’m from California and a little west-coast centric) and discovered what she was talking about. As we emailed back and forth, she casually mentioned a bit of news in the publishing world- Did you see the Public Editor of NYT take the Questions For Reporter to task on Sunday? She's sharp, witty, and on top of her game. There are many reasons to decline a manuscript, etc.Eet Janet Reid, an agent on the scene. Cue the tubas: We are sorry we are unable to use your material. Call it sour grapes, but I think I’m lucky those two said no. Given that I paid all that postage back and forth, you’d think I might rate a piece of the agent’s stationery. The worst were handwritten scrawls right on my original query letter, sent back after requesting my full manuscript. To keep going, I amused myself by jotting into my chart outrageous or damning bits from agents. And I sent out a new query the day after any rejection arrived. I rewrote my manuscript again, whenever I got a comment that seemed apt. I did it in waves: first wave, second wave, New Wave. The process, which took three years, was equal parts encouraging and exasperating. I got a bunch of nibbles and a few bites, followed by sudden, prolonged silences. I made a lengthy chart of possible agents, sent out queries and sample pages by the bale, fielded a lot of phone calls from agents, saw my postage and Xerox bill go up, up, up. Who’s looking for literary fiction? The agents who are, say so in their listings and/or interviews. I began with researching sources such as Guide to Literary Agents and Jeff Herman’s Guide. So my beggar-as-chooser approach was absolutely secret. However, landing any agent would be difficult. I was looking for courtesy, candor, clarity, energy and trustworthiness-someone I could freely ask questions, someone I wouldn’t be tempted to second-guess. I’d already learned the hard way that I wanted not just any agent, but someone with whom I’d have rapport. Then I began the search for a literary agent. Not everybody needs ten years to write a polished draft of a first novel, but I did. I mean, ten-years-and-twenty-drafts ready. I didn’t even think about seeking an agent ‘til I had a manuscript ready. By this, she meant many were presented to the public too soon, and that is true both of plays and novels. No play, she said, was ever produced too late. My first theatrical agent, impossible though she was, did make a telling comment that I’ve never forgotten. When I switched my writing focus to fiction, some fifteen years ago, I pondered the writer-agent bond.
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