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Okay, I rarely blog, but even if I updated more often I doubt I would ever blog much about my slush pile in any specific way (other than how far behind I am on it). That is because while a lot of other agents frequently write about their query stats, and I know a lot of readers enjoy such posts, I personally find it... boring.
There, I've said it: I find reading about other people's slush boring, for the most part. That is absolutely not a criticism of agents who write about their slush or readers who like to read about it--I think these posts provide a valuable resource, and are often both hilarious and well written--but in and of itself it's just not that interesting to me, because I have my own slush pile and live with it every day, I talk about slush with the people in my life, etc. For me, reading posts about slush is like reading a book which draws on insider knowledge of a profession or world few readers have any personal knowledge of (high fashion, forensic investigation, deep sea diving, whatever): if I am one of the few who is familiar with the subject, there has to be something more there to draw my interest. and usually that's either the way the author writes about it, or some new-to-me information about my own area of knowledge.
All of which is a just long lead-in to my making an atypical post about slush, since I have recently had a completely new experience. I'm sure it isn't unique in the history of the submission process or the annals of publishing or anything--but where slush is concerned, it's the first thing to have happened to me in years that I've never seen before.
This past weekend, I received the following email [names removed]:
Dear Diana,
Per your request, please find attached chapters 4-6 of my ms.
Thank you for your interest!
X
_____________________________________________________________
From: Diana Fox [diana@foxliterary.com]
Sent: Monday 11-24-2008 17:35 AM
To: X [address redacted]
Subject: manuscript proposal
Dear X,
Please send three or four sample chapters that I can look over.
Cordially,
Diana
Now, you might think this was a perfectly normal exchange... except, I HAD NEVER EMAILED THIS AUTHOR. Or rather, I never sent him the email in question; I checked my records and found that I actually sent him a form rejection on November 18th. I then responded:
Dear X,
I can't understand why you would compose a fake request email from me as you have done below, but I didn't send out any requests on Monday, November 24th. It's also very clear that you have never received a request from me as I would never phrase it as you did, or ask for chapters 4-6 of a manuscript, or open a .doc attachment.
I concluded by asking him never to darken my virtual door again, but the thing that I can't understand is, what would possess an author to do something like that in the first place? The dude made up a FAKE REQUEST EMAIL from me after I rejected him! Did he think I request so many things that I would believe I'd somehow just forgotten I requested his manuscript? It takes a lot to surprise me, but seriously, what was he thinking?
It's not just the dishonesty of his tactics that I found so unpleasant, but I hate incompetence--after all, if he'd done his research and found this blog, he'd have known I always request full manuscripts to save time. Moral of the story: being dishonest is bad, being dishonest AND stupid is worse. (And also, of course, that aspiring authors should never do what this person did... but I can't believe any of my readers would need to be told that!)
Has anyone else either had this happen to them, or heard of it happening?
There, I've said it: I find reading about other people's slush boring, for the most part. That is absolutely not a criticism of agents who write about their slush or readers who like to read about it--I think these posts provide a valuable resource, and are often both hilarious and well written--but in and of itself it's just not that interesting to me, because I have my own slush pile and live with it every day, I talk about slush with the people in my life, etc. For me, reading posts about slush is like reading a book which draws on insider knowledge of a profession or world few readers have any personal knowledge of (high fashion, forensic investigation, deep sea diving, whatever): if I am one of the few who is familiar with the subject, there has to be something more there to draw my interest. and usually that's either the way the author writes about it, or some new-to-me information about my own area of knowledge.
All of which is a just long lead-in to my making an atypical post about slush, since I have recently had a completely new experience. I'm sure it isn't unique in the history of the submission process or the annals of publishing or anything--but where slush is concerned, it's the first thing to have happened to me in years that I've never seen before.
This past weekend, I received the following email [names removed]:
Dear Diana,
Per your request, please find attached chapters 4-6 of my ms.
Thank you for your interest!
X
_____________________________________________________________
From: Diana Fox [diana@foxliterary.com]
Sent: Monday 11-24-2008 17:35 AM
To: X [address redacted]
Subject: manuscript proposal
Dear X,
Please send three or four sample chapters that I can look over.
Cordially,
Diana
Now, you might think this was a perfectly normal exchange... except, I HAD NEVER EMAILED THIS AUTHOR. Or rather, I never sent him the email in question; I checked my records and found that I actually sent him a form rejection on November 18th. I then responded:
Dear X,
I can't understand why you would compose a fake request email from me as you have done below, but I didn't send out any requests on Monday, November 24th. It's also very clear that you have never received a request from me as I would never phrase it as you did, or ask for chapters 4-6 of a manuscript, or open a .doc attachment.
I concluded by asking him never to darken my virtual door again, but the thing that I can't understand is, what would possess an author to do something like that in the first place? The dude made up a FAKE REQUEST EMAIL from me after I rejected him! Did he think I request so many things that I would believe I'd somehow just forgotten I requested his manuscript? It takes a lot to surprise me, but seriously, what was he thinking?
It's not just the dishonesty of his tactics that I found so unpleasant, but I hate incompetence--after all, if he'd done his research and found this blog, he'd have known I always request full manuscripts to save time. Moral of the story: being dishonest is bad, being dishonest AND stupid is worse. (And also, of course, that aspiring authors should never do what this person did... but I can't believe any of my readers would need to be told that!)
Has anyone else either had this happen to them, or heard of it happening?
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I guess the moral of the story is if you're going to perpetrate a ruse, do so with research upfront, so you aren't easily exposed. :)
Happy holidays,
Catherine
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My head hurts.
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I am awed.
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Huh.
(Also, hope all is well with you, strange slush encounters aside!)
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That's just... yeah, wow.
Basically, I got nuthin'.
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Perhaps he thought you didn't keep records and received so many submissions that you'd assume you really had sent the original letter.
How dumb, in any case.
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I also like how he/she/it sent chapters 4-6 instead of 1-3. DOUBLE FAIL! Two fails for the price of one!
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It's baffling that this guy was inventive enough to lie and go to all the trouble to invent a fake request, but too lazy to do any of the actual research that would tell him a partial is always the first chapters of a manuscript, not chapter 4-6. Um, even the most rudimentary research into how to send partials would have yielded that information, much less researching what you as an agent usually request.
Epic fail.
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But I think that you are right and it was most likely an effort to slip past your slush shield.
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Really, there's only so much you can do about these things. "Dear Author: NO."
And then post about it on the internet.
I think you've got it covered. ;)
This is the first I've heard of it happening. Mostly I just get the stupid annoying things, like people not keeping records and sending me their query three times in two days, or writing back to insist I can't tell if their book is any good by the query letter. Whatevs.
That was a mighty nice and restrained letter you sent back.
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I am much less restrained in private.
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Um, HUH?
Sent another rejection, and have been expecting another batch of chapters since. Haven't shown up yet, but that doesn't mean they won't....
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Something to live for...
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I emailed him to ask if maybe he'd crossed his lines somewhere (because, you know, FedExing something costs money and he ought to know if he made a mistake), but it turned out he was just another slush author. Took quite a while to get him to admit it though.
But fabricating an email exchange? That's something new. What a crazy.
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The mind, she boggles. I have to admit that I feel uneasy about agents who solely use the query as a sorting tool, because one person's fantastic query is another person's meh, even if both end up liking the book. The moment an agent allows several pages of writing, however, I'm cool with being rejected - I do not *like* it (who does) - but it's the same sort of decision I make while browsing in bookstores - do I like the sound of the project as a whole (back/query blurb), do I like the writing. Hard to complain about that, really.
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The story withdrawal included this line: "I especially don't feel comfortable attaching my name or ideas to your butchered excuse for prose."
Well. It is his right to withdraw his story if he doesn't want to do the edits but I will remember his name for the future.
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^___^
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OK, I have to admit I laughed. Laughed at the sheer boldness of people who apparently think lying is the way to go when submitting work. I have not heard of that particular thing before, but it sure wouldn't surprise me to know it has happened to others. Wow.
I'm glad you realized it was fake and responded as you did.
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ps, i wish you'd picked up your phone tonight b/c shira and i were at yaffa for two hours and you could have been too! <3
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