Let's talk about literary agents stealing ideas.
Ask the Editor #7
Welcome to Ask the Editor!
Today’s installment features lots of great writing, including…
A query for a heartfelt middle grade historical
More pages from that LA-based horror novel
A question about agents and red flags
Speaking of, first we’ve got to talk about literary agents stealing ideas.
I’m going to put this part above the paywall because it’s something I was going to write about in a separate post and then I thought eh, two birds, right? To the paid subscriber who submitted the question about red flags on certain agents and agencies this week, this is for you!
I’ll be honest — I don’t have a list of red flag agents to rattle off. I do recommend Writer Beware as a resource to check on specific agents and agencies. But while I’ll admit I’ve heard a few things about specific agents from their clients, I don’t think me naming names publicly is something I’m willing to do. Privately, for an aspiring author with a question about a specific agent? Sure. But there are always two sides to a story and simply repeating things I’ve heard that may or may not be entirely true feels less like a public service and more like gossip.
That said, there were a few happenings in the world of literary agents that popped up this week that are worth looking at and discussing! First was this instance of an agent not thinking before she tweeted…
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In short: an agent received a query, wasn’t impressed with the pages, and passed. Then she tweeted the concept of the query, which she described as THE ROAD meets DELIVERANCE, and that she would love someone (else) to write it.
The agent was promptly fired by her agency (KT Lit).
I might do a longer post on this at some point, but I need to get my thoughts together. But a few of them, in no particular order…
Agents absolutely know authors who query them are also social media stalking them. Tweeting about a query you passed on is bad form. Tweeting about a query you passed on but you think someone else should write that idea AND you share the idea is so stupid I can’t begin to comprehend it.
It does matter (to me) that the person who sent the query did not pitch it as THE ROAD meets DELIVERANCE but YA—the agent came up with those comps. I still think this tweet sucked but it would be worse if the agent took the exact comp (or other wording) from the query. Five writers could take that pitch and write five VERY different books.
If I were querying and saw this tweet, I would not personally have wanted to query this agent. Red flag for me. Not a red flag for the agency though. (Again, for me.)
I’m not sure how I feel about the agent being fired so promptly. I know a lot of people cheer when this happens (agents/authors/editors losing their jobs/deals based on one questionable/unethical incident). It makes me wary.
I’m not sure how I would’ve felt about the agent NOT being fired either.
Keep in mind this agent had been with the agency for seven years and had a sizable client list. All of those authors just lost their agent. Many of them are on submission, or preparing for submission, or in the midst of contract negotiations. The decision to fire her did not just affect her. It effed with a LOT of careers.
That said, the agent is responsible for her own actions. I’m sure the head of the agency took all of those clients into account when they made their decision, and I’m sure it was not made likely.
I could go in circles with this all day.
I was chatting with an author friend about how I suspected the agent simply didn’t think before sending that tweet. I’m not saying that in defense of what she tweeted, which to be clear, is really offensive to me as an author. I’m just pointing out that no one among us has never done or said something insensitive, online or off, without thinking first, and then regretted it, and dare I say even grown and learned from it. And the swiftness with which employers now fire workers who make these mistakes, presumably in an effort to ward off the incoming mob…again, it makes me wary.
My exact text to my friend:
When I typed that, I was thinking about how I get questions from querying authors all the time worried about copyright, and how that kind of theft is so, so incredibly rare, and how laughable it was to imagine an agent pilfering ideas from unpublished writers and feeding them to one of her established clients, who would then go on to turn them into mega-bestsellers.
That would never happen, right?
Right?
You know where this is going. Something else happened this week. And this one is much bigger than a tweet. In fact, it’s a whole lawsuit.