You think this is easy? asked American literary agent Nathan Bransford, in response to the widespread (and vicious) criticism of agents which has been gathering steam for the last month online. Well, he challenged, give it a try and we'll see how you do.
Bransford (a brave man) opened his slush pile for the day to the internet masses, posting 50 query letters he'd received from writers on his blog throughout yesterday and challenging critics to spot the good amongst the bad. Three of the queries, he said, were from books that went on to be published.
"Here's the deal," he wrote. "The commenters who participated in Agentfail expressed quite a lot of angst about agents who don't respond to queries. Lots of people think we should respond to every single person who queries us.
So. Want to see what it's like to manage a slush pile for a day? Think you can spot the good queries from the bad? Wondering how the view looks from our side? Think it's easy to respond to everyone?"
From "VI Warshawski meets Lucy and Ethel" to The Price, in which "two elves decide to defect from their kingdom and make new lives in a neighbouring land", or The 15 Date Rule ("for astrophysicist Allie, falling in love is as easy as identifying the planet Venus"), it's an eclectic mix of submissions, and Bransford has collected an impressive response rate from wannabe agents.
He's also, it would appear, gone some way to appeasing writerly rage, with respondents saying variously that they "have a whole new level of appreciation for agents" who "sure … have to read a lot of crap". "I'm just over halfway through and am exhausted," wrote one poster. "Granted, I'm trying to give my reasoning on most, which a lot of agents don't do, but yikes! And it's so clear, as if it wasn't before, why agents don't/can't take the time to give individual feedback on every query."
Bransford's "agents for the day" have until Sunday to respond to the 50 queries, and to select five from which they'd request full manuscripts. It'll be interesting to see how many get it right – and I'll be giving it a go myself this evening.
