From agent Wendy Lawton:
We talk a lot about the kinds of writers we love to work with but when we agents get together the talk often turns to the writers we hate representing.
And there is always one standout– one writer we all cite as the writer we’d most hate to represent. The entitled writer.
This is a tough business and it takes a team to make a project work these days. It takes a hardworking writer who has a “servant attitude.” That’s a hard term to define. It doesn’t mean the writer is low man on the totem pole. Some of our greatest leaders of all time had a servant attitude. It means that you will selflessly serve others.
My own job requires a servant attitude. My place in this industry is to serve my clients and to serve the publishers. I can think of no better work.
. . . .
It’s the writer who refuses to edit, claiming his first draft was good enough. After all, what’s an editor for?
It’s the author who won’t do his share of marketing. He doesn’t have time and besides, the publisher has a whole department to do this.
It’s the wannabe writer who can’t be bothered to read publishing blogs, work on the craft, or attend conferences. He just calls an agent on the phone and says he plans to get his book published and wants to know how.
It’s the person with a story who comes up to an author at a signing and tells her that he has a great idea for a book. Can she write it? They can split the profits.
Link to the rest at Books & Such Literary Management
PG wants to nominate “a hardworking writer who has a ‘servant attitude’” for some award somewhere.
Maybe “The Best Reason Not to Call this Agent” award or the “If the Author is the Servant, Who is the Master?” award.
Or visitors to TPV can decide if a different award is more appropriate.
wendy lawton, a seeming middle aged+ woman who wrote this article, used to run a ‘doll’ company. Then published a series of books… on amazon, they are in the 400,000s in ‘religion’ ranking and some a bit higher, but essentially imo not ‘seeable’ in the massive ocean of popular christian books selling well in the last 1, 5, 10, 20 years –eclipsed by far more well written, far more fiery and shining, strong voices that sound like no one else’s.
I looked at only the first pages in one book, and writer is aiming to know preslavery african tribal people, but writes like compendium out of wikipedia on africa. Authentic detailed voice? Compelling story fresh? No. Throwing a few words in looked up in an african /english dictionary wont cut it to establish place and time, but most esp missing is depth.
Not sure, but dont think being a vague writer makes one qualified to be a stupendous agent.
Wendy says in article she doesnt want to as a rule work with older authors because… the inference as Deb noted is strongly ageist, discriminating and biased against an entire class of persons.
Funnily at the site, two commenters to this article say they are in their 70s and are doing well self publishing and that they’ll ‘pass’ on her ageist ‘requirement.’
Her argument on age is that agents work really really really hard to estab an author. And that that takes more than ten years. And this particular agent is worried about whether an old person will live long enough –strong inference is ….for Wendy to make her own nut on the author.
Truth to grotesque exaggeration: Agents dont have to work really really really hard for any talented author. The content of the book, the marketing plan of the pub will do that. Agent negotiates contract, smooths cover consult, collects money ever after, tries to often unsuccessfully sell christian books to foreign markets some of which have no market for christian books for the nations are Shinto or Confucian, or Muslim or Hindu in the majority. Movie deals, unlikely. A few, but rare as hen’s teeth. There’s no working really really really hard as an agent who brokers contracts.
Worrying about how long an older author will live, I’d say agents who are morbidly obese, for instance, the author ought think twice about signing on with such an agent’s whose bodily health systems are far more likely to be at risk.
Also noted on the webpage attached to this agency and this agent, the inattentive way they list pubs they work with, not updated in any even remotely timely way…. many such as random and penguin, and others which have been eliminated or merged, are still listed as they stood more than three and five and ten years ago . If they cant get those easy details right, question is, what else falls through the cracks cause they’re ‘too busy’ to correct erroneous face-out info that is one of their potentially top selling points.
The principal of the agency has actually worked in publishing for a time, seems to be the only one who actually might know at least in christian pub, some of the ins and outs, depending on how long ago they worked there, as insider publishing has changed dramatically… in christian markets esp as the big pubs can publish anything religious they feel like, whereas the smaller Christian publishers are often highly constrained from publishing general works across massive number of topics… which is where the real money is.
I’ve been at many of the religious book expos. And some few agents and smallish publishers claim the meme: we do it all for G-d. Trust. They do it for money. The authors who write often are the only one’s doing it in near pure faith. The publishers are more on the end of Render unto Ceasar, the authors being on the other end of the saying.
Ha, I thought that name was familiar, but I’m sure there are many people with the same name so I didn’t connect them. Her company had some pretty dolls, nothing to my collector’s taste, but still nicely done.
I’ve found if someone has to push their religion in your face, you should step back and take a good, long look at them and their ethics. They supposedly serve God first, and others second, but everyone I’ve seen are out for themselves no matter what it takes.
When a man (or woman) speaks of their honor, make them pay cash (in advance). (L.L)
It means that you will selflessly serve others.
Please withdraw my name from consideration.
Beat me, master. I have been a bad servant again. I have failed you.
I’m looking for someone to give me 15% of their lifetime income just for my sending a few emails.
But I won’t accept just anybody; they have to fold my laundry and walk my dog and kiss my a** so I feel important, too.
Any takers?
😀
In the interest of fairness, when I went to post my rebuttal on her blog, it posted instantly, without moderation. On many, if not most, of these C-fic sites, I expect to be moderated because these folks have seen me before. To her credit, that I wasn’t put in unrepentant author jail.
Reminds me of a few years ago when I attended the NYU graduation of my stepson at Yankee Stadium. After spending nearly $90k a year to get a degree, the commencement speaker (multi millionaire) Janet Yellen told the graduating class: ‘lose yourself in service to others.’
My boy could have done that for a lot less than 90 a year, toots.
Hmmm…the first thing that crossed my mind is where did I see this kind of entitlement before. Answer, labor unions (specifically public sector) and their lackeys the Democratic party.
In all seriousness though, having that kind of representation with that kind of attitude just means that your idol is Walter Mitty and you emulate him to perfection.
In the recent Walter Mitty movie (remake? reboot? re-something, anyway), the title character was a nebbish working deep in the bowels of LIFE magazine, and got the sack when they published their last print issue. May the persons of whom you speak have an equally good ending to their perfect emulation.
No, this was more from the original with Danny Kaye who was bullied/henpecked by his wife.
Ah, the immortal Kaye. That was the only adaptation of ‘The Secret Life of Walter Mitty’, and Kaye was probably the only actor who could do the character justice. The recent film took the name of the character egregiously in vain. Still, it is fun to think how these Mitty imitators will like it when their benighted employer goes out of business.
Another victim mentality
The most bewildering thing about this post is not that Wendy has that opinion. It’s that she willingly put it in writing.
I was just about to say the same thing when I saw your comment. It’s really mind boggling isn’t it? I mean, not matter what field you are working in, saying something that tone deaf, that blind to the changing reality of your profession (not to mention blind to absurdity of the old reality), it would be an automatic disqualifier for just about anyone. Who is she trying to appeal to? A proofreader who’s tired of writers?
This would, at the most, result in my just shaking the head and moving on.
Unfortunately, whenever I emerge from the tiny little corner of the world that is writing and publishing, I see more and more people just like this. Many of them are running multi-billion dollar corporations – and at least one runs a European nation with nuclear weapons.
Not amusing. Not in the least.