End of an era?
Posted by A Writer
I don't have time for a long post today, but I had to mention something about this. Looking at a few comments over at LROD (my favorite private dancer site) I noticed one posted by Gerard Jones, and the name stirred a memory…and then I remembered Ginny Good, and everything came back to me at once. Back when I was first starting the submission game in 2004 I went looking for literary agent sites, and stumbled across Everyone Who's Anyone. The site is technically a listing of literary agents…but it's actually way more than that. Jones, a Haight-Ashbury refugee who's never gotten over the flowers in his hair, even though he sure as hell isn't a gentle person himself, starting querying every agent he could find in 2001 about his book Ginny Good. And I mean every agent. Seriously. He sent out thousands of E-mails to agents…and got bupkis. Well, that's not totally true–he did get some people to notice his style, which is, well, unique:
"Your children and grandchildren are gonna see your name among the thousands of chicken-hearted, money-grubbing schlock-peddlers and giggly twits and useless goons who dismissed my beautiful books and chose instead to go gaga over the unspeakably inane, mind-numbing twaddle that will become known as American literature and culture of the early 21st Century. And you picked it. Wow. Should you feel good about yourself, or what?"
Heh. Writer, Rejected, eat your heart out.
What really got Jones on the map, though, was his website Everyone Who's Anyone, where he listed every agent he had queried (and more he could find) on the site, including E-mail addresses. He also put E-mail interactions with said agents on his site, and when they objected, er, rejected them right back:
"Hmmm. That's a pretty insulting letter regarding Al Zuckerman that you've posted on your site! Emily Kischell, Assistant to Al Zuckerman.
Dear Emily: Really? You think so? I thought it was sort of funny myself. Tastes vary wildly vis-a-vis humor, however. Thanks. G."
And when they asked him to remove their addresses, sometimes with ever-increasing annoyance, he would post all of those messages too. In short: he ignored them, just like they tend (let's me honest, agents have something like a 90% rejection rate) to ignore us. And boy, did that feel good for those of us who were getting tired of being told how "unenthusiastic" a given agent was about representing our work.
Well, Ginny Good eventually sold, and since then Jones has gotten other books out there, but he's now announced that he's finally done updating his directory…which is kind of sad. Even when I wasn't actively querying books it was nice to know that someone somewhere was fighting the good fight. And as W, R points out, Jones really got a lot of the "who gives a damn" crowd a voice in writing, and that was a big deal too. Of course Jones isn't dead, and he's not going anywhere anytime soon (God forbid!), but still…there's something a bit sad about not hearing as much from the guy who wrote "[My book is] about a billion times better than any of the giddy, contrived, touchy-feely, 'redeeming' horsepiss that have won pussy Pulitizers or namby-pamby National Book Awards lately, that's for sure. It's tough being the best writer alive when everybody's been so brainwashed by preposterous puke that nobody even knows how to read anymore. Thanks."
Thanks right back at you, G. The rest of us clowns got a lot from you, even if we don't dig Scott McKenzie.
January 16th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
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January 19th, 2008 at 5:35 am
“And when they asked him to remove their addresses, sometimes with ever-increasing annoyance, he would post all of those messages too. In short: he ignored them, just like they tend (let’s me honest, agents have something like a 90% rejection rate) to ignore us.”
I believe there are various demonstrations as to why being helpful to us is really a rather bad idea. Some people want honesty, some are just hurt by it. The agent explains why something was rejected and they are attacked for it, they try to be helpful and encouraging and receive hatemail. Agents have a right to lives outside of letter-writing and query-reading. Being published is a guage of skill and professionalism, which leaves no room for ‘the next literary classic’ with its pushy self-importance and possibily failures more difficult to correct in something that is ‘the next.’
But I agree in that it is sad when someone quits at something, particularly website. Websites are dynami by nature and when ignored there is a certain air of deadness to them.
January 19th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
Hmm…an interesting point. Personally I’ve always been a little bit skeptical of the “poor agent” theory–no one held a gun to these people’s heads and made them go into the industry. When they decide to get involved with authors, who like many creative people can be flaky and a bit self-absorbed at times, agents set themselves up for the possibility of pissing off some members of that former group; I don’t think it’s reasonable for them to love their gatekeeper status in the industry (and they do, even the good ones) and then get mad when some people trying to get through the gate get upset with them. How many people do you know who like the bouncers at a dance club?
That said, I agree that a lot of authors view publication as a birthright, which it clearly isn’t…and since I’m published myself I’m right with you on the “skill and professionalism” business.
But Jones is a good writer (you can read excerpts from Ginny Good and see for yourself), and just as with Hunter S. you need to be careful not to confuse the real originality of his voice and personality with “self-importance.” There’s a big difference.
Thanks for your thoughts, and please stick around!
A.W.
January 24th, 2008 at 1:55 am
In the spirit of Gerard, I present the following E-mail exchange:
——– Original Message ——–
Subject: You and me and Hunter Ess
From: “Gerard Jones”
Date: Tue, January 22, 2008 8:54 am
To:
I can’t get your comment thing to work but I didn’t “quit” anything, I’m just done. I’ll still update the sucker when people send me new or different information. Give me an address and I’ll send you a copy of the audio book of Ginny Good. It’s got Scott McKenzie singing on it. See the index (Chapter 23).
http://everyonewhosanyone.com/ggsyn.html
Here’s a review about me and Hunter S, too. Thanks. G.
http://www.januarymagazine.com/biography/ginnygood.html
—– Original Message —–
From: writer@rewrittenreality.com
To: Gerard Jones
Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2008 12:23 AM
Subject: RE: You and me and Hunter Ess
Hey Gerard,
I actually saw that review…put me on to the idea of the Hunter S. comparison, which I imagine you don’t mind too much (he’s not your level of writer, you understand…just saying there are some similarities).
Would you have an objection if I posted your E-mail in the comment section on the post?
Best,
A Writer
Gerard’s reply:
No, no, stick anything I say anywhere you want. I put the whole eight million dollar book online for free and like sending free copies of the whole fifteen million dollar audio book to anyone who wants one…I got these closeout Christmas cards that cost fifty-eight cents to mail with the two CDs inside. Hunter S., he dead. A penny for the old guy. Thanks. G.
February 17th, 2009 at 3:46 am
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