At least once a week, I am contacted by an author who claims that their latest novel is a New York Times bestseller. Given that I make money by 1) editing these manuscripts and/or 2) signing an agency contract with these authors, I have to always bite my tongue in regard to such statements.
I read two to four manuscripts a week, hoping that I'll get to edit them, but that rarely happens. Instead, I read these tomes for evaluation for representation. Although there are some good ones, I have only read four possible bestsellers in the past nine months, and I represent all those authors.
But I wonder if this stance by authors is positive thinking, with a lot of hope build in, or whether the authors actually believe that they have written a bestseller? When I evaluate a manuscript, I look for 1) publish-ability and 2) sale-ability. In other words, is the time I am going to put into representing this author and their book, which can amount to a hundred hours or more if I am not the editor? Am I going to eventually make such money?
I evaluate a manuscript on a simple 1 to 10 scale. If it is an 8, 9, or 10, I offer to represent the author. If it is a 5, 6, or 7, I offer suggestions for improvement and offer to look at the manuscript again when the author cleans it up. If it is less than a 5, I thank the author, offer suggestions, and leave the matter alone.
Because my literary agency division is predicated on the Jerry McGuire principle and I represent less than twenty authors at a time, I have to be picky. I have read ten authors with an 8, 9, or 10 (in my opinion) out of about eighty who have submitted to me. I am picky, yes. But my authors are getting published.
Literary agents have a hard enough time already if we don't have to constantly have to find tactful ways to tell an author that, no, it isn't a bestseller.
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