My buddy Chuck Sambucino was writing on this a couple of days ago and I thought I would jump on the bandwagon here.
What about hooking up electronically with the agents and editors that you would love to write for. I'm talking here about links on Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and the like.
IMHO, this is a complete waste of time.
As an agent (and someone who is online a lot for various reasons) I completely avoid situations where someone could try to take advantage of the situation. This is one of the reasons why I have refused (and will continue to) be hooked up on Facebook and MySpace. The thought that some people believe this will give them an advantage in the long run when it comes to publishing is far from a reality. In fact, when I get submissions from someone that has frequently "followed me" I actually hold them at higher expectations. They should know what I like or don't like. Most of the time, they make the biggest mistakes.
So what should you do?
I say go ahead and read what these people talk about. Get to know them. But please don't ask them to be your friend or your contact. This will simply put you on their "radar" of someone to avoid.
Scott Eagan
Hmmmm. While in certain circumstances, this could be the case, there is always another way to look at this.
ReplyDeleteIn this digital world, the benefits of using sites like Myspace and Facebook certainly can give you an upper hand with staying informed and uses for publicity.
As far as agents and editors, I like having them as friends so I can get to know them - just by following their comments from time to time or their announcements about an authors newest release. While many people may send out mass queries, there are a lot of us who follow agents, for the purpose of getting to know them.
Via blogs, facebook, or myspace, all this contact has - in one form or another - decided for me whether I will submit to that agent/editor. I do other research to get to know them - lines they rep, authors they rep etc. But there is something to be said about who the agent or editor is and what they like/dislike, to help gain an idea if they are someone you could work with.
NOW - on the flip side - the 'friends' on facebook that leave an agent or editor a comment everyday, or try to gain info from them, is way out of line. Those are the ones I'd look out for Scott! LOL. And maybe the best thing about these community sites - you can delete as needed.
Have a great day.