Some Hypotheticals

Harriet Hellbent is an unpublished writer. She has written her first novel and, having completed it, is trying to figure out how to market it. She has joined all the loops, read all the books, visited all the blogs, paid her dues in all the professional writers’ organizations. She has edited this book to within an inch of its life. She’s taken “perseverance” as her own personal motto. When you look at all the work Harriet has done on this book, you can’t help but be impressed. In her search for an agent, she was relentless, undaunted, hard-working. She exhaustively researched the agents, was not depressed at all when the rejections stacked up, kept going and going and going until 50 or 60 or 112 agent queries later, she finally signed with a well-respected agency. Her new agent starts sending out this first book of Harriet’s, and, being a good agent, she gets quick responses. Of course, they are all passes. They like Harriet’s voice, but the plot doesn’t work for them, or Harriet is writing in a tough genre, or they don’t know if this book would be competitive against similar books currently out. Harriet is frustrated, sure, but remains optimistic. She found an agent, didn’t she? The right publisher is out there for this book of hers. Eventually. It’s been more than two years since you met Harriet, and not once in all this time have you heard her mention another manuscript, or even the idea for another manuscript.

Abigail Aydeedee is an unpublished writer with a heap of industry savvy. She’s been swimming neck deep in this business for most of the last decade. She knows every editor, every agent, all of their tastes. She’s smart, quick on the uptake, and has a natural knack for capturing the vibe of whatever’s “in” at the moment. She can wield a high-concept hook like no other, her gripping query letters invariably lead to breathless requests from even the most hard-to-please agents, and most unpublished writers would kill for her to share the secret of her pitching strategies. Abigail has never written more than fifty pages of a book in her life.

Winifred Waffling is an agented, unpublished writer. She was thrilled to get her agent interested in an early manuscript, but, unfortunately, despite the manuscript’s merits and the agent’s dedicated shopping efforts, it wasn’t picked up. Now, Winifred has a new manuscript that she’s very excited about. The curious thing is that the agent doesn’t seem to share her opinion. It was like pulling teeth to get her agent to look at the work, and when he did, he responded that he didn’t think it was the right choice for her or for the current market. Attempts to get him to elucidate were less than successful. She’s gone on to other projects that he deemed more acceptable, but can’t help casting longing glances at her beloved manuscript.

Olivia Overcommitted is a published writer whom Harriet, Abigail, and Winifred ask for advice. What do you think Olivia should say to each of them?