How often do read a partial and LOVE it, request the full and love that too, but end up not offering representation because your boss didn't like it as much as you did? I know every case is different, but what's a ballpark figure. 1 in 2? 1 in 5? 4 out of 5? Rarely, because you and your boss are mostly on the same page?
I have no idea what the figures would be if I was actually requesting partials and fulls myself, because I don't do that. The boss does that.
Either way, it's irrelevant. My job is not to find material that I like but material that is good and my boss would like. We have different literary tastes, but my tastes are my business and I leave them at the door. My job is to find material for her. There are some books on her list I don't care for at all. They're either not my genre (I don't care for autobiographies of courageous women escaping Iran, having read enough of them to last a lifetime) or my interest (my boss promotes a lot of political books and I have different views than her on certain things). We do have shared interests, but for the most part, the major crossover between us is being able to recognize quality writing.
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2 comments:
Ah, did you just open the door to discussing the distinction between "quality writing" and saleability?
Many people forget that a person doesn't always share the political, cultural, dress or culinary views (tastes, desires, etc...) as their bosses.
I used to work for the our dear Federal Gummint in DC and I did that through six administrations (seven if one week counts). And you can't share their political ambitions, you simply do the job required and do it well.
Miss Rejecter works for her boss and acts on the bosses desires. That's what an assistant does.
AS for sale-ability versus good writing, please Good Writing Trumps All. Even cheap pulp fiction should have good grammer and style. I Want to read proper English when I pick up the trashy, pulpy wallow in the sleeze book to rest my poor brain after days and weeks of studying Proust.
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