We Must Be Doing It Wrong . . . The Agent Search, That Is

I am not the type of person who likes to poke fun at other people (unless it's directed at the fiance regarding his overly-high standards of cleanliness which I think is acceptable since he knows I love him anyway) but I just cannot resist sharing this.  I tried sharing it with the non-writer fiance but it didn't have much of an impact.  I think only you guys would really get this since you understand how the publishing industry works and what is involved in getting published.  You know, the incredibly long and frustrating process.  I'm pretty sure that most of you have read your fair share of agent blogs and submission guidelines and have a pretty firm grasp of what NOT to do when searching for an agent.

So there I am tooling around on the Craigslist Philadelphia job ads to help out a friend of mine who is looking for work and I come across this ad (I'm reprinting it here exactly as it is except I've deleted the reply-to information):

I did not make this sh*t up.

author looking for agent (Philly area)


Date: 2011-11-14, 1:31PM EST
Reply to:



For someunknown reason, my last post was flagged. All I asked is for an agent or publishing representative who might be interested in representing me for a couple children's books I've written. They're very good, I just don't have the personal drive to pursue being published, but I love to write. Why this would have been deleted totally befuddles me...buy here I try again!
·         Location: Philly area
·         it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests
·         Compensation: I am willing to pay standard representation rates

Oh where to start?

Comments

  1. Oh God! I can only hope that morons like this don't paint us all in the same light in the eyes of agents, that the work ethic of those of us who strive every minute of every day to become better writers & more knowledgable about the business shines through & is in no way dulled by dimwits such as this. Of course, he or she will probably manage to get published through some kind of dumb luck.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hey! Why did they delete my ad!? LOL

    You've got to be kidding me!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Strangely enough, no one has answered my ad yet. I thought for sure the Philadelphia Craigslist was THE place to snag an agent. LOL.

    ReplyDelete
  4. This is possibly the greatest post of the year. Pardon me while I tell everyone.

    ReplyDelete
  5. It's so bad, you'd think it was a troll.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I swear, it wasn't me. I don't even live in Philadelphia! *grins*

    Oh man. That is nuts. Absolutely nuts. ...Yet hilarious in a sad kind of way. Thanks for sharing it! :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. This is almost as good as the ebay guy who was willing to sell the novel IDEA he'd developed over ten years, but didn't have the skill to write... for $1 million. He assured us that it was going to be a bestseller (in the vein of a wide range of bestsellers from various genres)--but he wasn't going to give any more details than that because he didn't want to give the rest of us writers ideas that should belong to the purchaser.

    I love these folk. It's always good to have something we can point to and say "See? Not like THAT!"

    ReplyDelete
  8. Oh this is definitely one for Slushpile Hell. Or it would be if the writer ever bothered to aim for the slush. *grins*

    ReplyDelete
  9. I too like to publicize my lack of personal drive.

    ReplyDelete
  10. LOL, this is too funny. Thanks for the laughs! :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. An acquaintance once ask me to tell him the quickest and easiest way to get published because he didn't have the time or interest in going through all "the nonsense" of what it takes to get a manuscript published. He, too, as he explained to me, was all about the writing and, therefore, had no interest in all the song and dance of getting a book published.
    I wished him luck.

    ReplyDelete
  12. LOL. What a crazy add. I can't believe someone actually paid to have that printed. Of course, you never know. I read on one of the blogs once that someone snagged an agent on Twitter. :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Oh good lord. Bwahah! Just came across your blog from Nancy's. Nice to meet you!
    --Lora

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular Posts