Saturday, January 13, 2007

Writers on Interns

Recently I got contacted by an agent with a partial who wanted a full. The request was actually late in coming, she admitted, by a few days. I asked her where her retinue of interns were because I used to work in the same office as her and I happen to know she keeps an insane amount of unpaid Columbia student interns - like, three or four. "They're all on break!" she said. "I'm swamped."

Because, of course, colleges take 5-week recesses that go into mid-January. I'm in grad school and it's the same deal. Because my brother is an unemployed college grad and I'm on break and neither of us care about Christmas, the Rejector family takes their vacation in early January, when the hotel rates are cheaper. (If you have to fly Christmas week, December 25th is a great day to fly) So the interns are gone, home to their families. Even I, a working woman, take my week vacation in January instead of December.

So after taking normal people vacations, the agents return in January to find their assistants gone and the mail piled up. I'm heading back to New York to take care of my boss' pile ASAP. Oh, and there's also phone calls to make, deals to finish, editors to contact, contracts to fax, and planning for some major upcoming bookfairs.

I don't mean to be discouraging to you guys waiting to hear back, but the point of this web log is to tell the truth, and that's it. Don't hold your breath.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't know what words of encouragement or validation you were searching for when you created this space, but please know I truly value your cubicle-level view/demystification of the agency and publishing environment. It may be that I'm slow, but there has been more than one occasion - tonight's post for instance - where I've raised my index finger, tilted my head back and said, "Ah, that's good to know."

Thanks,

Peter

Anonymous said...

Discouraged? Actually, this is encouraging. Knowing my query may be awaiting an assistant to read it and not rejected out of hand gives a bit of hope. Thanks for the insight.