So my question is: Is there a perfect literary agent for every author? This has become a vexing question for me recently. I've spoken with a lot of writers and authors recently. Some of the writers who have definitely queried more literary agents than me are throwing in the towel and going straight to self-publishing. I thought about that, but my memoir experiences are just too pressing for our current times for me to just take the easy way out and hire a vanity publisher. Plus, I've gotten good feedback from some really high profile editors so I know I have something that hooks people. If you actually met my family in person you would definitely be enthralled. One author who has published six books contacted me recently. He has been through three agents in his career. "Did you have a meaningful relationship with any of the agents?", I asked. "No", he said, "it's all basically about the bottom line for an agent". Joy. There's inspiration for a potential debut author.
A writer just today informed our writing community that she had queried an agent over eleven months ago. The agent asked for the full manuscript. The writer sent it promptly. After four months passed the writer sent the agent an email regarding an update..........the agent said she had had health problems and was still reading. So the writer waited another four months and asked for an update once again. No response. Then right out of the blue, eleven months after the writer sent the full manuscript, the agent sent a one paragraph rejection. Obviously, she was furious. I was speechless.
This morning I was browsing blogs where literary agents had commented on the memoir genre. I found one agent who is obsessed with memoir, so much so that she reads most of them when they are first published. She will accept memoir queries, but I later learned that she will not take on a memoir if other literary agents have seen it. Wait? What? I'm expecting the whole world to see the memoir sooner or later so I decided against querying this agent. For heaven's sakes, when did this whole querying process become a spy mission for crying out loud? I never approached the process as a Navy Seal Team Six mission.
Next, I located a blog post about an agent lamenting the fact that she could not find fresh, slice of life memoirs. Okay. She says she does not care what the memoir subject matter is, the voice and humor must draw her in or she rejects the manuscript. "Voice" in writing is a very subjective thing. Let me tell you that what draws this literary agent's eye and what draws my eye in terms of memoir writing are polar opposites. I compared her top five memoir list to mine and we do not have any shared likes. Scratch that agent off the query list as well. This literary agent exploration has been stressful and exhausting. My husband is ready to be my agent. He says he can take the book and run with it seeing as how I have already made connections with potential editors. There is an agent out there that comes from my neck of the woods, recognizes the significance of my memoir experience, and how I uniquely write about that experience right??! Well, where are you? Please be in touch soon dear agent because I'm not getting any younger. Also, I have jury duty coming up soon so please, please be in touch so I'm not stewing over the lack of quality literary agents while I am waiting to discover if I am being selected as a potential jury member. Literary agent, literary agent, where art thou?!!!
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