AgentSpeak: Snippets from Literary Agents and the Publishing Industry

Literary agent Jessica Faust of Bookends, LLC shares her opinion on what makes a character unlikeable:

For me likeability tends to coincide with one-dimensional. A character being unlikeable usually means she has no redeeming qualities, and usually even unlikeable people have a redeeming quality or two, something that gives them more depth.

Read the rest here.

Another reaction to NewSouth's editing of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, this time from writer Sean Ferrell, who deems the decision cowardly:

http://www.byseanferrell.com/2011/01/why_the_n-word_matters.html

An article in the Chicago Tribune shares several viewpoints re: the editing of two of Mark Twain's classic novels. NewSouth will release The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as a single volume with all racial epithets removed. Professors and others weigh in on this decision:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/books/printersrow/chi-books-reactions-edit-twain,0,6497750.story

Ever been baffled after a literary agent requests your manuscript, then responds with a generic "not for me" rejection? Back in December Suzie Townsend offered an explanation:

http://confessionsofawanderingheart.blogspot.com/2010/12/truth-about-feedback.html

Author and former literary agent Nathan Bransford shares a post in defense of literary agents who blog:

http://blog.nathanbransford.com/2011/01/in-defense-of-blogging-agents.html

According to Kristin Nelson, spamming a literary agency with the same query every day for two months straight might get you noticed, but not in a good way:

http://pubrants.blogspot.com/2011/01/query-spammer.html

Rachelle Gardner reminds hopeful writers that negativity about the industry is not the way to a literary agent's heart:

http://cba-ramblings.blogspot.com/2011/01/how-to-avoid-getting-agent.html

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