This really resonates. I'm in a weekly writers' support group on zoom, and last night several members discussed their bad romances with agents.
One had been promised the moon for a debut novel and then her agent decided she loved the novel, but didn't like the author herself, so dropped her. Ouch.
Another went through a full acquisition process with Penguin for a non-fiction book, only to be told to re-write her entire book, then after months of writing a new book and going back and forth on edits, they decided they didn't want the new book. Eventually she left both agent and publisher because she'd wasted two years and written two books and still had no published book. She then had to pay back her book advance.
And for myself, I landed an agent for my memoir, then went back and forth with him on edits for months, then got a publisher who wanted the book supposedly and was sent a contract. Agent said he was negotiating the contract, also promised the moon, then suddenly stopped emailing. Finally he told me he'd left the agency and I'd need to get a new agent and find a new publisher as he never finished sealing the deal.
Very frustrating experiences in general and it makes me not want to query again.
Yes! So many authors have been tricked into thinking they "made it" only to have the rug pulled from them. Traditional publication isn't even appealing to me anymore with hearing so many tragic stories
This really resonates. I'm in a weekly writers' support group on zoom, and last night several members discussed their bad romances with agents.
One had been promised the moon for a debut novel and then her agent decided she loved the novel, but didn't like the author herself, so dropped her. Ouch.
Another went through a full acquisition process with Penguin for a non-fiction book, only to be told to re-write her entire book, then after months of writing a new book and going back and forth on edits, they decided they didn't want the new book. Eventually she left both agent and publisher because she'd wasted two years and written two books and still had no published book. She then had to pay back her book advance.
And for myself, I landed an agent for my memoir, then went back and forth with him on edits for months, then got a publisher who wanted the book supposedly and was sent a contract. Agent said he was negotiating the contract, also promised the moon, then suddenly stopped emailing. Finally he told me he'd left the agency and I'd need to get a new agent and find a new publisher as he never finished sealing the deal.
Very frustrating experiences in general and it makes me not want to query again.
Yes! So many authors have been tricked into thinking they "made it" only to have the rug pulled from them. Traditional publication isn't even appealing to me anymore with hearing so many tragic stories
Same tbh. The bad stories are just too abundant.