Comments on Nathan Bransford - Literary Agent: This Week in Publishing

Good stuff here.

2009-07-20T12:40:20.605-07:00

Good stuff here.

LOL, I loved that plate tetonics thing too! How d...

2009-07-20T08:56:08.642-07:00

LOL, I loved that plate tetonics thing too!

How do you find these things? :P

Lots of useful links today, Nathan. Just wanted to...

2009-07-20T08:36:41.070-07:00

Lots of useful links today, Nathan. Just wanted to say thanks.

Yeah, Anon. The first Anon, I mean. I've seen Jane...

2009-07-20T01:28:28.637-07:00

Yeah, Anon. The first Anon, I mean. I've seen Janet post with great passion and humor about writing, books and her clients. She wrote a post about the writers who had the guts to get up in front of hundreds of people and live-pitch that made me teary-eyed. It was really sweet and sincere.

Maybe you missed those?

Well, I feel alittle weird talking about another a...

2009-07-19T20:48:39.386-07:00

Well, I feel alittle weird talking about another agent here; it feels like talking behind someone's back - although knowing she'll read this.

....so, I will say two things.

One, yes I think Janet gets grumpy, and I've mentioned that to her - directly.

But two, she is also tremendously loyal, genuinely capable of admiring other people (a quality you really want in an agent!) and works extremely hard for her clients. She has a good heart, and a sincere dedication to the business - you can see it through her site.

No one is perfect, and I think it's unfair to dismiss someone based on only one aspect of their personality.

Why, even Nathan has made mistakes occasionally. Yet he continues to be the fair-minded, kind and admirable person that he is.

Anne Hawkin's piece reminded me of a point Nathan ...

2009-07-19T19:02:08.745-07:00

Anne Hawkin's piece reminded me of a point Nathan was trying to make a while back. Being rejected doesn't necessarily mean the writing/story/idea/etc. was bad. It just didn't connect with that agent. It's reassuring to be reminded of that it's not personal.

I can see how you could read Janet's postings as personal but I'd disagree. Her bluntness is great. You never wonder where she stands on an issue.

@anon 5:21, If Janet Reid repped my genre, I'd fi...

2009-07-19T18:32:21.000-07:00

@anon 5:21,

If Janet Reid repped my genre, I'd fire my agent in a hot second and beg her to be mine. She loves her job, loves her writers, and is continually honest about the shitty parts of the business. What's not to like?

Please don't encourage Janet Reid. She gets way to...

2009-07-19T17:21:18.985-07:00

Please don't encourage Janet Reid. She gets way too much sycophantic love already considering her continual ranty nastiness. She has her fans, all suffering Stockholm Syndrome, I presume.

We all have parts of our jobs we don't like. She seems to think she's the only one who must suffer fools.

Reid could transform her rants into something acceptable if she ever diplayed an ounce of humor, a scintilla of kindness or an iota of grace. Seriously, she needs to dwell on her successes a little bit or take a happy pill. We can all learn from failure, but she needs to find another setting besides mocking and pissed off. Jesus!

Somebody said her rants made him feel glad he wasn't an agent himself. Reid's blog makes me awfully glad she's not my agent.

Anonymous for Obvious Reasons
a la Writer Rejected

Nice links, Mr. Bransford. Many thanks.

2009-07-18T19:33:14.162-07:00

Nice links, Mr. Bransford. Many thanks.

Good to know. If we wait long enough, we can walk ...

2009-07-18T14:31:27.554-07:00

Good to know. If we wait long enough, we can walk to Europe instead of flying.

I enjoyed Jeff Abbott's post.

2009-07-18T12:51:30.198-07:00

I enjoyed Jeff Abbott's post.

Great information, especially in some of the links...

2009-07-18T11:54:34.213-07:00

Great information, especially in some of the links. I'm so glad I found this blog, and really appreciate that you take the time to share all of this with us. The tectonic plate thing was really cool too!

Thanks Margaret!

2009-07-18T10:46:55.747-07:00

Thanks Margaret!

Great links this week. I was already following Ly...

2009-07-18T09:36:14.687-07:00

Great links this week. I was already following Lynn Viehl's workshops and popping in on Pimp My Novel (is that guy incredibly smart or what?).

I enjoyed Guest Blogger Week (more so because I was freaking out that there would be no new posts while you were away...imagine my surprise.) but I wouldn't want that every week.

You could just add another link on Friday's. Instead of Guest Blogger it could be Guest Blogger Link. Is that stupid? It sounded better in my head.

That video was made out of pure win.

2009-07-18T08:52:13.544-07:00

That video was made out of pure win.

"Wow" to Janet's link. Just one more reason why I'...

2009-07-18T08:17:37.039-07:00

"Wow" to Janet's link. Just one more reason why I'm glad I'm not an agent. No offense.

brian_ohio, lol.

2009-07-18T07:25:58.718-07:00

brian_ohio, lol.

Sorry: that was Bane that suggested Calif was drop...

2009-07-17T22:23:50.381-07:00

Sorry: that was Bane that suggested Calif was dropping off into the ocean someday in the near evolutionary future.

Oh that was just too much pity pool to post. Afte...

2009-07-17T22:19:24.021-07:00

Oh that was just too much pity pool to post. After reading what I wrote I deleted it and decided on:

Thanks Nathan for your thoughtful links. And, the next time I seriously contemplate giving up my day job for this fickle hobby called writing, I'll take my money to the casino and let those odds decide my $20 bucks worth of fate.

And Anon: California is NOT dropping off into the ocean. Only the souther half - from say San Francisco and south.

Oh, my bad! Don't you live in SF Nathan? I don't; I'll have beach front property at the next decent earth quake!!

Steph - I saw. Cool. Debate. :-) That video is ...

2009-07-17T22:15:08.549-07:00

Steph - I saw. Cool. Debate. :-)

That video is awesome. Australia, sad to say, but looks like you're the first to go.

Love Fridays. Thank you.

2009-07-17T22:06:47.301-07:00

Love Fridays. Thank you.

From Boing Boing: People who bought Orwell's ...

2009-07-17T20:38:30.441-07:00

From Boing Boing:

People who bought Orwell's 1984 and Animal Farm for their Kindle were surprised to discover that it had disappeared from their devices overnight. It turns out the publisher changed its mind about offering an electronic version, and Amazon caved into their demand to sneak into people's electronic libraries and take back the book at the publisher's request.

It's nice to know I'll finally get back to Europe....

2009-07-17T20:00:55.570-07:00

It's nice to know I'll finally get back to Europe.

Hmmmmm, speaking of eBooks, Amazon has erased some...

2009-07-17T19:13:09.379-07:00

Hmmmmm, speaking of eBooks, Amazon has erased some eBooks right off people's Kindles:
Some E-Books Are More Equal Than Others. I love the last three paragraphs in the article:

"You want to know the best part? The juicy, plump, dripping irony?

"The author who was the victim of this Big Brotherish plot was none other than George Orwell. And the books were '1984' and 'Animal Farm.'

"Scary."

@anon 5:04, Lynn Viehl's "left behind and loving ...

2009-07-17T18:47:18.518-07:00

@anon 5:04,

Lynn Viehl's "left behind and loving it" virtual workshops are on her blog. http://pbackwriter.blogspot.com

Hope this helps. Lynn's workshops are great and she provides tons of good links.