Wednesday, November 30, 2011

How to get an agent banned from RWA conferences

Okay, this header is a bit misleading. I didn't get him banned on purpose, I swear! This is what happened.

I was in DC at my second conference. Still wet behind the ears, I went to my first one-on-one pitch appt. After an introduction, I began to nervously pitch my book. It was about a Native American heroine and a former soldier, set in Michigan during a troubling time in our history. Lots of action, lots of sexy romance, danger, etc. When I finished, he stared at me for a few seconds then said something about how it sounded like a cross between Pocahontas and some other character I can't remember. Wait. Just because the heroine was Native American did not make her Pocahontas! It was my time to stare. Wasn't he listening? Then he proceeds to tell me that he wouldn't know where to market a historical romance anyway since he was more of a science fiction and mystery guy.

Um. Did he take a wrong turn on his way to the Mystery Writers conference? After leaving him, I stewed. Then I stewed some more. Now, I didn't want to make waves, but I was mad. This guy didn't know where to market historical romance? What was he doing taking pitch appts at an RWA conference? A free vacation? So I went to the check-in desk and told the lady my story. It felt good to vent. Then I forgot about it and happily moved on.

Sure. A few days after the conference, I got a phone call from national. They had several complaints about him and wanted to know my story. To this day, I never saw him taking pitches an RWA conference again. But don't feel bad, he has not suffered the loss of RWA. His agency is successful, he agents his favorite sci-fi and mystery writers, and he no longer has to take pitches from a romance writers like me!   


9 comments:

  1. Sounds like a guy on vacation in so many way lol Good for u!

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  2. That's what I thought. With so many new authors hoping to get the interest of an agent during a pitch, he should know something about romance!

    Thanks for posting!

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  3. It's probably a good thing he got banned. It doesn't sound like he needed to be there.

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  4. I know. For about a second I did feel bad. However, eventually a pitch in San Fran lead (in a round about way) to my agent and my first sale. So pitches can make a difference to writers. We need to be able to pitch to people who actually love romance. so it worked out in the end!

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  5. Thanks Lisa! I'm having fun sharing my odd stories. It wasn't a smooth ride to publication!

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  6. A fun series of posts you have going on here! Thanks for sharing.

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  7. Thanks Tracy! I have more stuff coming up!

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  8. Lol really2 interesting experience! Thanks fos sharing it with us! Aretha zhen

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