Agent Updates

7/26 Brown and Miller (Chicago).....7/30 Zero response.

Jolene@MarsalLyonLiteraryAgency.com
Marsal Lyon Literary Agency LLC
PMB 121
665 San Rodolfo Dr. 124
Solana Beach, CA 92075....email sent  7/302020

Celebrating an Autoreply

P. S. Literary sent an autoreply.

Most literary agents are too self-important to be bothered with timely responses, not even an autoreply.

THIS IS AN AUTO REPLY. Thank you for your interest in P.S. Literary. We have received your e-mail and your query will be reviewed shortly.

If we are interested in seeing material we normally respond within 4-6 weeks. If you have not heard from us after 4-6 weeks, you may assume we have reviewed your query and determined that your project is not the best fit for our agency.

To learn more about our Submission Guidelines, please check our submissions page: http://www.psliterary.com/submissions

Thanks again for your interest!

Sincerely,

P.S. Literary Agency

NOTE: Please do not send e-mail attachments unless specifically requested by us.

A small victory but one worth celebrating.

A Kindred Spirit

Am I The Most Rejected Writer in History?

To reiterate:

I completed a novel in 2007, another in 2011, another in 2016 and another in 2020. The corona interlude was used productively to rewrite the latter three novels.

Without irony or verification, I am stating that I am possibly the most rejected writer in history. That is, I have suffered more rejections from publishers and literary agents, than possibly any writer, living or dead.

Part of me wishes I had taken better records of all my many rejections. Then again, the question arises, what constitutes a rejection? If you receive no reply at all, is that a formal rejection? If I had maintained a running list of submissions dating back to 2007, maybe I would now qualify for "The Guinness Book of Records."

I cannot work fulltime, write, and self-promote. Thus, my self-promotion has come in spurts following each novel. Then I get worn down by the process and the inner voice prompts me to stop with the hucksterism and get back to authoring. There won't be any more attempts at commercial writing until I find some success is self-selling.

Is self-promotion the most important thing, or to paraphrase Vince Lombardi, "is it the only thing?" Pop music is dominated by above-average talent who all share a knack for self-promotion. Comedy is dominated by the formerly-funny and the never-funny. Those of us who used to go to comedy clubs remember opening acts who upstaged the headliner and never seemed to find their way out of obscurity. Late-night talk shows--to the person-- are hosted by humorless shills who all share a knack for grabbing the spotlight.

Popular fiction is not much different from other pursuits. The literary versions of Tai Lopez and dropship ninja and dudes who brag about smelling like essential oils all find their ways to the publishing houses. Maybe it's time for the serenity prayer. I cannot change the value placed on self-promo but I can accept it and find a little wisdom along the way.

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Despite possibly being the most rejected writer in history, I am optimistic? Why am I upbeat? Because optimism is free, it is sometimes (!) self-fulfilling, and it feels better than pessimism.

Faith. Affirmations. Smiles. Onward and upward.