One of the most interesting things about social media is watching ideas form and take-off in real time. Unfortunately, sometimes those ideas run off the rails as quickly as they form.
Take the queryfail exercise on Twitter for example. Many of the agents on Twitter, under the leadership of Colleen Lindsay, participate in this day in which agents review queries in their slush pile and offer feedback. The names of the writers sending the queries remain anonymous.
The last queryfail event was last Thursday. It got picked up by the media, including Galley Cat and even the The Guardian UK.
Of course, the backlash came quickly. A few of the agents on Twitter declared that they were not participating in queryfail. And several writers groups are boycotting the agents who participated.
Elaine Spencer addressed this on the Knight Agency Blog: Elaine’s take on Twitter, and ::Gasp:: #Queryfail. Here’s an excerpt from the blog, but I recommend reading the whole post to get a better understanding of queryfail and the fallout:
As an agent it’s a part of my job to educate people on the business. I attend conferences, speak on panels, give presentations, participate in online interviews, do online guest blogs, speak at chapters, participate in online chats, you name it — all in the name of educating and answering questions. Anyone that knows me knows I am an incredibly giving agent to the writing community, not just for my clients, but to those that I have no personal connection to. I try to offer constructive criticism and encouragement. I point people in the right direction and tell them when they are just really not hitting the mark.
#Queryfail was no different. Yes, it had a rather sarcastic tone, but come on, that is certainly nothing new, anyone remember Miss Snark’s beloved blog? I mean how could you forget it? It has become an industry standard of where to go to get the tough love answers to what you need to know. I’ve attended many events and seen online forums where people have offered up first pages only to have them torn to shreds “American Idol” style.
As I said at the beginning of this post, I was on Twitter watching from the sidelines as this was all taking place. I have to admit cringing a bit at some of the tweets flying around, which did have a sarcastic tone that may have come across as condescending.
But I’ve been at the mercy of a slush pile. I know what it’s like to have 500 e-mails in your submissions box with every one of them attached to an anxious writer waiting for a response. Do agents and editors occasionally make fun of some of the queries they get? Yes, they do. Trust me on this, sometimes it’s the only thing that keeps you sane when you’re doing this type of work.
What every agent and editor knows and would like to express to writers is that at least 90% of the queries they receive are wildly inappropriate. They’re mass mailings, or addressed to the wrong person, or inexplicably conceited or—and I’m being really honest here—completely, utterly insane. Like ‘I’m in jail for vague reasons and I’ve chosen you to help me get this published’ insane. I’m not being hyperbolic at all here—it’s just the reality of the day-to-day life of agents and editors.
So I really believe the agents involved were genuinely trying to be helpful and to educate writers. If you pay attention and aren’t overly sensitive you will learn something.
Writers need thick skins. Why lash out at the people who are trying to help?
Colleen Lindsay says the next queryfail is on for late April. If you’re interested, I’ll announce it here when it gets closer.
-Maria Schneider
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flickr photo by lamerie
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As I pointed out on the Knight Agency’s Blog, I don’t think it was a bad thing at all. With so many editors and agents discussing flaws, it quickly became apparent that many new authors make the same mistakes over and over again.
In my opinion, it’s much better to discover that mistake before you make it, rather than after.
If a writer can’t handle anonymous mockery of clear FAILure on the internet, how are they going to handle a rejection letter specifically addressed to them and their work? Some writers need thick skins and a clue or three.
That said, if I were agent in the current publishing environment where my very existence is being justifiably questioned, I’d think twice about being seen as a condescending jerk, no matter how deserving the target.
Rejection is a part of this business. If writers were offended when it was anonymous, they better toughen up.
I found the whole process very informative, and also encouraging. It lets we aspiring authors know how much of the slush pile is actually just inattentive, inconsiderate, or improper, rather than hearing the stats and thinking “oh my god, they turn down that many good novels a day, what chance do I have?”
As far as the criticism of sarcasm or mockery goes, in my opinion I think it’s ridiculous for people to think agents and editors shouldn’t be allowed to make fun now and then. Store clerks, office workers, comp tech support, all get to make fun of the ridiculous people they have to deal with in the course of a day (honestly, who doesn’t get a laugh at dealing with someone ridiculous?), so they shouldn’t be offended to discover agents are people too.
Hey Maria, do you have any examples of people actually speaking out against #Queryfail? I just realized from the comments I’ve seen, that I haven’t actually seen anyone speak out against it.
@Bradley Robb Nope, just what I’ve read on agents’ blogs. Of course they’re not going to call anyone specific out. I’m investigating more on this…
In this day of everyone getting a ribbon for finishing last, it is nice to see some sugar-free advice is still in the offing. I’ll swallow the bitter pill every time if it helps me improve.
–John
As an aspiring writer, I found the session to be helpful and quite telling of the difficult jobs these agents have. I was quite impressed with the entire event–even though I stumbled into it late and had to read back where I could. I am new to Twitter so that didn’t help my efforts. I look forward to the next Queryfail.
~ Jim
I appreciated the comments on what not to do when submitting a query. And as a long time fan of the sometimes unfortunately crude Ricky Gervais http://tinyurl.com/72×8xv , a breath of fresh sarcasm is always nice! (Yes, I’m lookin’ at you Alegra Clarke)
Viva-la-#queryfail!
Sid.
As a published but unrepresented author, I found #queryfail an invaluable learning experience. I look forward to the next one.
I can’t comment on the last #queryfail since I missed it. But I did follow the previous one and found it quite enlightening. I do think this was conceived with the best of intents, that these tweets would serve as cautionary tales for writers so that we can improve our chances of getting an acceptance.
The fatal flaw of #queryfail, over say Miss Snark, (if I understand Miss Snark correctly) is that the exposure on Miss Snark is self inflicted – not so on #queryfail. So I can understand that some people’s feelings got hurt. There was no expectation of exposure. But get real, people. To boycott an agent for participating? These folks really were trying to do the writing community a public service.
And as others have pointed out elsewhere, most of the ridicule came not from the agents participating, but from those following the event – fellow writers, I would presume. Seems we can be a snarky lot.
~jon
I missed the event though I remember reading about it on Colleen’s blog and thought at the time it sounded a bit harsh.
Yeah, we have to have tough skin, but do we have to “man up” in public? Even when no one knows it’s us? It would still hurt and worse because you know people are laughing at you. I’d rather fail without such a random and public audience.
Sid-
I just caught your shout-out.
you are going to keep me on my toes aren’t you?
Good thing it is my natural stance.
And I agree with many of the posts above. While I have an issue with outright cruelty, I know that there are some people in the world with a natural talent for it, and if we make ourselves available to the public it is the flipside of the coin.
I think the trick is to learn when the criticism, in whatever form, is constructive – otherwise don’t take it personally.
I thought QueryFail was great. The inherent problem was that authors who read agent/editor/publishing blogs and websites don’t make those mistakes – or they don’t make them twice. If a writer is on Twitter following agents, he or she is savvy and educated, most likely. I believe it was like preaching to the choir. I wonder if anyone saw his or her own query being blasted – I doubt it.
Hi Maria,
I do think that sometimes the kitchen gets hot. If someone can’t tolerate the heat…
I followed #queryfail and I found it to be quite enlightening. I didn’t come across any that were being picky just for the fun of it. Almost every one had me thinking, “OMG, did someone actually send that in?”
George
The agents may have started with good intentions, but some of the posts got very snarky, making fun of a writer’s last name, mocking a writer’s concept that actually seemed interesting to me, adding cruel comments. And the writers who queried these agents had no idea their queries were subject to public mockery. I think queryfail makes the participating agents look bad, as if they were ganging up on writers for laughs. They are supposed to be our advocates, not our tormenters.
I have published many novels and have had an agent for a long time. Over the years, she has made some mistakes and I have too. We are both human. We would never post about those mistakes on the Internet and mock them cruelly. I have also heard of (many!) dumb things agents have done from my author friends. We may gossip about that over a coffee shop, but we would never get together to mock agents on the Internet in the guise of educating them.
I really like what you have written Author.
I forgot to mention in my post that I did not actually participate in the event and so did not experience any of it, I am just aware of the potential of this sort of thing to take the turn in tone to that it sounds like it did.
I think you have made a very valid point here. Yes, writers have to brace and prepare for criticism both constructive and snarky from the world at large, but when it comes to the agent-writer relationship this should not be a part of the equation.
Of the agents that I have had the good fortune of meeting, they were all professional, challenging, but most importantly, respectful.
Well said, Author. I still would not boycott these agents. But I do think they should chalk this up to lessons learned and fore go the next #queryfail. I think to continue on at this point would be pretty poor judgment.
~jon