I won't claim to be anywhere near an expert in trying to publish one's written work. However, I am pleased to say I am no longer grossly ignorant on the subject. While I admittedly did a half-assed job at research for homework assignments through high school, college, and - yes - graduate school, it seems that if a subject is personally important (or involves chocolate) I go at it with relish. Which is a good thing, because the one piece of advice that consistently gets thrown in my face is that if I ever want to publish a story, I need to do my research on the matter!
With the help of my fabulous beta-readers (you guys are the BEST, if I had six kidneys, you would each get one as needed) and a bit of luck, I hope to be ready to submit my latest project to agents by the end of the summer. Cross your fingers for me.* So that means I am once again full-flung into researching who out there in the business of literary representation would be interested in my unpublished, unknown work. It's an interesting process--sort of like online dating, truth to be told.** And I realized today as I reviewed my 32nd agent website (I'm just getting started) that for me, anyway, the two have one strong item in common: I will not have anything to do with someone with grammar and spelling errors on his/her page.
When I was single and looking for a life-mate, my reasoning for ruling out dates per this criteria was based on what I believed it said about character. One or two small errors in a large profile meant somebody was human (and I'm not into non-humans). But a lot of them? Online dating profiles are all about putting one's best foot forward, right? So if that best effort didn't include spell-check, that said "slacker" to me. Besides, I like to read, and I like to write--and nothing turned me off more than feeling "smarter" than my date.
I've been happily married for some years, so the dating scene is behind me. But now I'm discovering some of these same principles apply in seeking a potential literary agent. I just ruled out a long-time agent (who shall remain nameless because I'm not one to shoot myself in the foot) because I counted no fewer than four spelling and formatting errors on one page of her website. If I had four errors on the first page of my manuscript, or in my query letter, agents would write me off without a second thought.
Of course there is a possibility that these errors came from being unfamiliar with writing for a website--but in this day and age, a successful novelist needs an online presence. What kind of advice/support on that topic could I expect from an agent whose site is sub-par?
It has been said that beggars should not be choosers. But I suppose that depends on the beggar's long-term goals: is it food for the day, or the means to make a living? If the latter, the beggar should be at least a little choosy, I think, because a bad match could mean more steps backward than forward.
*And toes. And any other body parts you can reasonably intertwine without hurting yourself.
**With much less risk of disease.
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