Youtube video on a lit agent who sends back insulting responses

[munley]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-dI5DkkVOU

The Abosolute Write web page has a forum discussing the same agent, who apparently rants at writers for various reasons, like "wasting his time" if he asks for a full, after reading a partial, and is told the writer just agreed to an exclusive for a certain time.

[sarah_biglow]

That's kind of ridiculous!  At first I thought it was a lit agent complaining about the queries he receives.  I was surprised it was a disgrunted query-er.  Still...ridiculous.

[JeanneT]

Well, it probably doesn't do that author any good to rant, but the agent in this case seems to be pretty questionable.

[munley]

Well, it probably doesn't do that author any good to rant, but the agent in this case seems to be pretty questionable.

Yes, if you type the agent's name in quotes on an Internet search, you'll get hits on complaints about this agent on other sites that are not youtube videos of rants.

[isinglass]

Well, Preditors and Editors doesn't say anything against him, but he doesn't seem to know a lot about the business. He states at Abolute Write that it's better to have someone versed in law handling your contracts than a mere literary agent. How can he not realized that attorneys, like writers and doctors, specialize? If you have an entertainment attorney or a lawyer experienced in publishing contract law going over your contract, great. But plenty of nonattorney agents have worked with publishing contracts, and they're doing just fine. And I'd rather have an agent who's seen dozens or hundreds of contracts and know what to push for and what's not worth fighting for than an accident attorney, even a good one, who's never seen a publishing contract before.

And he rants a lot. Writers have enough self-esteem problems without having to worry about needy, emo agents.

It is possible to tell whether a book's a go just by reading the first page or several. If the writing isn't polished enough, or the story doesn't grip the reader right away, or it's just not a genre the agent is interested in, then there's no reason to read further. But there's no reason to be rude about it.

I spent a year as an unpaid first reader for a small sf/f magazine. We were instructed to read the entire story and comment on it, but honestly, in almost every case I could tell within a couple pages whether the story was a go or not.

My two cents.