Scott Eagan is the literary agent for Greyhaus Literary Agency.
Greyhaus Literary Agency focuses exclusively on the traditional romance and women's fiction genres. Scott believes through increased education as well as communication between publishing professionals and authors, these two genres can continue to be a strong force in the publishing world.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Life is good
What more can I ask for?
Baseball is on the radio. I have my lap top and I'm working in the peace and quiet.
My kids are upstairs (two asleep and one reading).
"The Hong Kong Connection" is a legal thriller about a gutsy female attorney who takes on high ranking International officials. It's a taut, rollercoaster of a ride from New York to Palm Beach to Washington D.C. to Hong Kong. The plot is expertly woven, the characters persuasive, and the dialogue snappy and spot on. www.StrategicBookPublishing.com/TheHongKongConnection.html
Scott? Those kids of yours sleeping so peacefully...little do they know they are going to be serfs when they grow up. But hey, at least "someone" is doing "something" about the economy, right?
Serfs? How funny. Just so they are serfs with health care. These are frightening times, but based solely on the generous way in which Scott has shared his knowledge with us, I would guess they are lucky little ones. My brother and his wife had four boys in about four years. My brother said he felt like the warden of a prison, and the prisoners were always unhappy. No mmatter how much he did for them, they always wanted more...more...more. Meanwhile, I hope more conferences will suggest agents set aside some vtime to listen to book ideas this summer. Why not? Especially when writers will be paying a solid thousand dollars to attend even one in their own state. I'd rather turn down an idea, than tell someone to invest a year writing a book, and then say, "nah. Don't like it." I truly think this is just a way to cut way down on the tidal wave of hopeful writers. I am sympathetic to agents, but still think this is a (new) and completely unreasonable demand on the part of agents. Obviously there would be no commitment on their part, until they had seen the whole ms., if they had any initial interest in it. I feel like a broken record here, but am adamant that it makes no sense whatsoever, to waste an entire year writing a book, when NO agent has the least interest in the plot for the thing. An organizer told me last week that agents want the pitch meetings "so they can see if they want to work with you over the next 10-15 years." Oh please, they don't even know if you can WRITE yet. At best they know you have a viable "idea," and that is surely all. I feel very cranky about all of this today. So sad, too bad, yes, I know. I just want someone to tell the truth about this issue. If you can write a decent query and a proposal, you can surely flounder through a book. Why punish people by demanding an entire book before you will speak with them, especially when they are paying so much money to attend the conference. I'll try not to bring this up again. I doubt things will change, but they should.
Serfs with healthcare? LOL. Well they better not even think about getting sick because the healthcare is going to...for lack of a better word...SUCK. I'm an ex-government employee. I've been there. I know.
Uh oh. I'm an ex-gov also, and actually got excellent care under our plan, but the last year they began to charge for it, and of course once having agreed to go down that slope, the cost to the employees increased steadily. I had all Canadien neighbors when I lived in NW Montana, and they were very happy with their own system. I suspect we will wind up with some version of "comfort care only after age 65." If you want a pacemaker, artificial knee, heart procedure, etc., you must pay for it yourself with private insurance or cash, or put your affairs in order quickly. Don't see how we can care for a huge aging population for long otherwise. Too bad, too sad, as usual. Everyone wants to die healthy and feeling good, and I don't blame them one bit. But who is to pay for it?Too many aging retirees-too few young workers coming up.
When Michelle Obama was in charge of the Urban Health Initiative in Chicago (I think her salary was just over 300k), she took care of the poor patients by turning them away.
"At the same time, the Urban Health Initiative is improving the university's finances. Fewer poor patients are showing up at the U. of C. emergency room for basic medical treatment and are no longer admitted to the hospital. That frees beds for transplants, cancer care and other more-profitable medical procedures that the university prides itself on."
"The Hong Kong Connection" is a legal thriller about a gutsy female attorney who takes on high ranking International officials. It's a taut, rollercoaster of a ride from New York to Palm Beach to Washington D.C. to Hong Kong. The plot is expertly woven, the characters persuasive, and the dialogue snappy and spot on.
ReplyDeletewww.StrategicBookPublishing.com/TheHongKongConnection.html
Scott? Those kids of yours sleeping so peacefully...little do they know they are going to be serfs when they grow up. But hey, at least "someone" is doing "something" about the economy, right?
ReplyDeleteSerfs? How funny. Just so they are serfs with health care. These are frightening times, but based solely on the generous way in which Scott has shared his knowledge with us, I would guess they are lucky little ones.
ReplyDeleteMy brother and his wife had four boys in about four years. My brother said he felt like the warden of a prison, and the prisoners were always unhappy. No mmatter how much he did for them, they always wanted more...more...more.
Meanwhile, I hope more conferences will suggest agents set aside some vtime to listen to book ideas this summer. Why not? Especially when writers will be paying a solid thousand dollars to attend even one in their own state. I'd rather turn down an idea, than tell someone to invest a year writing a book, and then say, "nah. Don't like it."
I truly think this is just a way to cut way down on the tidal wave of hopeful writers. I am sympathetic to agents, but still think this is a (new) and completely unreasonable demand on the part of agents. Obviously there would be no commitment on their part, until they had seen the whole ms., if they had any initial interest in it.
I feel like a broken record here, but am adamant that it makes no sense whatsoever, to waste an entire year writing a book, when NO agent has the least interest in the plot for the thing.
An organizer told me last week that agents want the pitch meetings "so they can see if they want to work with you over the next 10-15 years." Oh please, they don't even know if you can WRITE yet. At best they know you have a viable "idea," and that is surely all. I feel very cranky about all of this today. So sad, too bad, yes, I know. I just want someone to tell the truth about this issue. If you can write a decent query and a proposal, you can surely flounder through a book. Why punish people by demanding an entire book before you will speak with them, especially when they are paying so much money to attend the conference.
I'll try not to bring this up again. I doubt things will change, but they should.
Serfs with healthcare? LOL. Well they better not even think about getting sick because the healthcare is going to...for lack of a better word...SUCK. I'm an ex-government employee. I've been there. I know.
ReplyDeleteUh oh. I'm an ex-gov also, and actually got excellent care under our plan, but the last year they began to charge for it, and of course once having agreed to go down that slope, the cost to the employees increased steadily. I had all Canadien neighbors when I lived in NW Montana, and they were very happy with their own system. I suspect we will wind up with some version of "comfort care only after age 65." If you want a pacemaker, artificial knee, heart procedure, etc., you must pay for it yourself with private insurance or cash, or put your affairs in order quickly. Don't see how we can care for a huge aging population for long otherwise. Too bad, too sad, as usual. Everyone wants to die healthy and feeling good, and I don't blame them one bit. But who is to pay for it?Too many aging retirees-too few young workers coming up.
ReplyDeleteWhen Michelle Obama was in charge of the Urban Health Initiative in Chicago (I think her salary was just over 300k), she took care of the poor patients by turning them away.
ReplyDeleteRead all about it:
http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/obama/1122691,CST-NWS-hosp23.article
"At the same time, the Urban Health Initiative is improving the university's finances. Fewer poor patients are showing up at the U. of C. emergency room for basic medical treatment and are no longer admitted to the hospital. That frees beds for transplants, cancer care and other more-profitable medical procedures that the university prides itself on."