One question...might be stupid - in fact, it most probably is: Would an agent ever read your query, then the first 50, then ask to like , i don't know meet you or something? I don't know why... but I was just wondering if they schedule like appointments or something to speak to someone about their book. Yeah, it was dumb, but I'm a newbie, what do you expect?
They would never agree to meet someone unless have read the entire book and was confident they could sell it. Anything more than that would be a waste of time because everything else can be done by mail.
Besides, most of the agents live in places like New York and Los Angeles. Or in our case, the GTA. If you live in Moncton, it's not that easy to get there.
but one should never say 'never'! if the query and the sample were so brilliantly written and the concept so highly marketable that the agent wouldn't want to risk the author being snagged by a competitor, it is possible that they'd want to meet... not probable, but certainly not beyond the realm of possibility... in fact, it's probably happened a time or two... especially if the author and the agent are in the same vicinity... which is why so many wannabe authors/screenwriters have for generations taken the plunge and moved to NYC/LA, since those are the hubs of the publishing/film industries and being able to 'take meetings' can improve one's chances of success... much more so in the film world, of course, but to some extent in the literary one, as well... though less and less in the latter, as technology erases distance...
This, coming from someone who is constantly telling me not to count on things that are a thousand times more likely to happen than what watson is talking about?
hopefully, you're just teasing, rei! seriously, though, what i just said up there has nothing to do with what i will often caution new writers about in re the realities of getting published, if that's what you're referring to... this post is just about what conceivably 'could' happen and may have, in very rare cases... and is not in any way, advice about what to do or expect...
Having spoken to a few and listened to presentations by agents and editors from NY, I can tell you that what sometimes makes them cringe is a writer who has staked out their office building, waiting for them to emerge--offering to take them to lunch and/or attempting to place a mansucript proposal in their hands, requesting that they read and consider it (a small few far more urgent/persistent than most). By far most writers are polite and understanding. It doesn't happen every day, but often enough for them to remark on it. Standard proceedure: The agents/editors politely refuse the lunch offer and/or request the mansucript proposal be submitted through the normal channels. Terry
I ask this because I was wondered whether you can send in an mc to an agent in like a completely different city...which now i assume is alright. Thanks
From what Terry said, they probably prefer submissions from a distance - the greater, the better. I'm imagining publishing executives going to lunch disguised in Groucho glasses.
If you couldn't submit to agents who didn;t live nearby, most people probably wouldn't get one. Remember, the majority of them are in New York, L.A. and Toronto.
it's not only alright, but done by most... and not only in a different city, but often in a different country!
