And thank you very much for commenting on this. I’ve actually quit Twitter, after that appalling display on the part of that agent and the aspiring sycophants who leapt in to posture along with her. I don’t have time for that kind of thing. I have writers to help.

Not all agents are rude. But it’s true that many are. There is a widespread “in-crowd” culture that gives agents of all types permission to ignore phone calls, refuse to send even form rejections, neglect to respond to manuscripts in a timely manner, and now apparently to denigrate aspiring writers on public forums. As I said, the really big agents do not indulge in this childishness. They’re professionals doing a professional job, and they have no need to bolster their egos with “in-crowd” posturing. Many of the middle-ground and less-known agents don’t, either. They are also acting like professionals. But many of them do. Particularly the newbies and those without an understanding of professionalism in general.

As I’ve also said periodically, publishing and writing are two very different things. And now that POD, ebooks, and self-publishing have exploded onto the scene, writers have less reason than ever to put up with such nonsense. Nobody makes beans writing. Everyone’s scrambling for every nickel. The publishing game is hype! And it’s purveyed largely by those who stand to possibly make money off an endless influx of hopefuls doing the actual grunt work at their desks, whether anybody’s taught them how to do it properly or not. It’s an absurd system feeding on the dreams of those in the worst position to understand it.

You don’t have to play the game. Just write!

best,
Victoria