Thanks, Emma. The thought that an agent might lose a MS and not even admit it is just too horrible to dwell on.

I know Miss Snark says 3 months - but, hell, I've waited 3 months just for a response on a *sample*, never mind a full MS.

I hear all the blah about how busy agents are. My experience is that good people are never too busy to be courteous, or organised; and bad people are always too busy even when they have sod all to do.

I once told an agent she was too slow, and if she couldn't get a move on she ought to leave off being an agent. Ha, ha! But you should have seen her hoity-toity response. No luck there, needless to say. Still, it felt good all the same.

I can't help thinking that we're all too deferential to agents. I was casually researching a UK agent on the web the other day, and came across a talk she'd given on how to get an agent. She recommended that authors do research on their agents before submitting, to find out what they like. Then someone in the audience asked, "What do you like?" Her reply: "Anything that sells." Dear God! And agents complain they're busy!

Ikastes

The thought that an agent might lose a MS and not even admit it is just too horrible to dwell on.

I know, but with several hundred submissions coming in every week in a middle-sized agency and most agents being better at people than at the dreary minutiae of office admin, it's easy to see how it happens in any business.

I once told an agent she was too slow, and if she couldn't get a move on she ought to leave off being an agent. Ha, ha! But you should have seen her hoity-toity response.

The need for courtesy cuts both ways, of course. Besides, it's a small trade. Word gets around.

Emma

Thanks Emma. I suspect you and I don't see eye to eye on the whole agents-are-such-busy-wonderful-people riff. One thing I know. If I lost someone's MS, I'd have the balls to tell them. Period. That's professionalism in my book, and if being a people person doesn't extend to that, then what's the point of it?

Best. Ikastes.

Unfortunately, anyone can call themselves an agent. I know plenty of terrific agents, and some who... aren't, shall we say. It's always worth checking out the Preditors and Editors site for the low-down before you submit - it's very comprehensive. And any agent who's a member of the Association of Author's Agents ought to behave themselves, though there are good ones who aren't members.

Emma