I am sure I am not the only agent who has faced this before. We sign an amazing author, only to find that a day or two later we find a submission from another author with a similar story.
Does this mean we reject the story immediately? No. But it does mean that we will take a lot more time to really think about the project and decide if we want to take it on.
At Greyhaus, I never want my authors to be in competition with each other. I try to find niches for each of them so an editor is never forced with having to make the decision of one or the other. For this reason, we all look at those projects that come in with the same idea in the back of our head.
I know also that editors are sometimes faced with that same situation. I called an editor once with a project and she loved it. The problem was that another editor beat me to the project by 2 days. This was no ones's fault. It was simply a matter of timing.
Again, just one more case of the way this business can seem so unfair at times. Not a reason to give up though.
Scott
Unfair? Is there ever a good reason to give up? (rhetorical) No matter how you slice it, the whole submission process is super frustrating. After I do get published, I'm pretty sure I'm going to spend a long time having nightmares about it. Today I could use a little pep in my step. I'm attending a possitive thinking seminar later. (Big fan of anything that promotes self-help) Reason? I require infusing and a renewal of focus. It's my version of atta girl. Besides, I'd hate to have to relinquish my optomist guru crown to the runner up.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the post, and for answering my question yesterday.
I just wanted to point out that Chuck Sambucino's site is really good today.
ReplyDeleteThanks for being honest Scott. This is why I keep reading. You give insight into how the industry works, the good, bad and ugly.
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