Friday, January 06, 2006

Divas in Limbo

So my rock grrl novel, The Screaming Divas, has been officially abandoned by the agent who took it on something like six years ago - a rather inauspicious beginning to The Year of the Dog. When she first signed me up, she was bubbling with enthusiasm, saying that she was "passionate" about the book and that she would keep sending it out. I never figured out quite where she was sending it to, although she forwarded responses from Wendy Lamb and Dutton (who called the book "unusual and powerful." Several months later, she wrote that she couldn't sell the book as it was and asked for a revision. I duly revised it and sent it back in a timely manner, but never heard if she read it or what she thought of it. A couple years later, I queried by e-mail, thinking I'd send it out on my own. She wrote back saying that the market was really hot and that she'd try it again if I'd revise it again ("Make it tighter, add humor," was all she said.) So I revised it again, sent it in, and heard...nothing. Finally, last summer I got an e-mail from one of her associate agents saying that she was enjoying it and wondering if it was still available. I wrote back that it was. Months passed. I e-mailed again in October. The associate replied, "We were just saying that we need to talk about The Divas at our next meeting!" She wrote that she'd get back to me at the end of the month. October passed, November passed, December... I returned from the States to find my reply: "I have now had three of my agents read your revised manuscript, hoping that one of them would love it enough to take it on [I thought she loved it]. Unfortunately, none feels that it is quite strong enough to take on. A few years ago, when I first saw it, I thought it had a lot of potential as edgy books were getting popular. But now, there are so many of them that this isn't special enough." Whatever. I wasn't happy with the level of communication and I think I'm better off without them.

2 Comments:

Blogger kate said...

Yikes! I'm no expert, but that sounds like inexcusable behavior on the part of the agent-- I mean, I understand that tastes change and the market changes, but to go so long with no contact seems beyond the pale. Are you shopping around for a new agent?

12:28 PM  
Blogger Gaijin Mama said...

Actually, I haev a new agent already, though I haven't shown her this book yet.

11:27 PM  

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