Wow, an agent soliciting a specific writer!

Miss Plum

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If I'm reading this right, I think it's something a few writers must dream of:

https://twitter.com/beth_phelan/status/214730595794821121

@Mywritesdntbite Hi Rachel - any interest in trying to house your books with a traditional publisher? Lemme know if you want to team up!

Beth Phelan, a new agent at the Waxman Agency, is tweeting at self-pubbed writer Rachel Higginson and asking if Higginson wants Phelan to rep her. Pretty cool!
 

heyjude

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That's awesome if it's legit, but it seems like an odd way to approach a writer.
 

taylormillgirl

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That's awesome if it's legit, but it seems like an odd way to approach a writer.

That's my first thought. An email from the agent stating her creds would seem more professional. I mean, we don't query via twitter...
 

KTC

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I see nothing wrong with this approach. This happened almost a month ago...and the agent hasn't tweeted since that tweet. ??
 

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That's my first thought. An email from the agent stating her creds would seem more professional. I mean, we don't query via twitter...

funny. And that's exactly what went through my mind - it's unprofessional. Though, I did read an article by a self-published author in London who said she was approached by many agents when her books started selling well, and she said most of the correspondence from them was so unprofessional that she wouldn't consider it. I think asking via Twitter is too unprofessional...unless there's no other way to get in contact with the author.
 

Stacia Kane

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Yeah, I'm not sure why she didn't email (although it's entirely possible the writer in question doesn't have a contact form or a published email address), but it's certainly not unheard of for this to happen. I've gotten a couple of those emails from agents, just general "If you're ever looking for new rep please contact me" sorts of things. I just reply with thanks, and tell my agent so I can watch him get annoyed. :)

(I have a couple of times recommended one of those agents to other writers whose work I think would fit, though, and told them to mention my name. Personally I think an agent *should* be a go-getter. They *should* be aggressive, you know? That's part of their job. So when I see that, I think it's a good thing, as long as it isn't crossing the "direct poaching attempt" line.)
 

shadowwalker

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I wouldn't be impressed if contacted that way. Puts me in mind of being approached by an eager high school 'reporter'...
 

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Much depends on if they were already having a conversation on Twitter, I think. The dynamics there can accommodate such approaches, sometimes. But if this was a cold invitation, without any contact before, then it does seem a bit odd to me.
 

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I've definitely said to writers "this sounds interesting, if you start looking for an agent, query me I'd love to take a look" kind of thing.

Saying "do you want to team up" seems perhaps overly enthusiastic. I mean, how do you even know you like the material? And I generally have a conversation with somebody before I actually offer... but who knows what interactions they've had in the past... *shrug*
 

shadowwalker

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Twitter is just not the place I'd put forth something like that. I mean, there must be some contact info for the author short of that, right?
 

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Speaking as a former lit intern, sometimes it really is difficult to find contact information for a given writer. Not everyone has a website, and not everyone lists their contact info when they publish a piece. If I didn't know another way to contact a writer I was interested in repping, hell, why not?
 

Kayley

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I'm more confused by her tweet before that one: "How do you get your office super to stop telling people you're his girlfriend" What kind of office is this? I guess it was meant as a joke, but it seems odd. Definitely unprofessional. I'd probably contact the agent back to see what she had to say, but I'd be wary about it.
 

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I'm more confused by her tweet before that one: "How do you get your office super to stop telling people you're his girlfriend" What kind of office is this? I guess it was meant as a joke, but it seems odd. Definitely unprofessional. I'd probably contact the agent back to see what she had to say, but I'd be wary about it.


I'm confused. What's unprofessional about that one?
 

Kayley

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I'm confused. What's unprofessional about that one?

Wouldn't it be inappropriate for a boss to tell people that he's dating a subordinate, especially when she doesn't want him to? Even if it is the case, it shouldn't be posted on a public and professional account. Or am I reading it wrong? I've been taught to only discuss business on a business account and to handle personal concerns on a separate account. Since her Twitter is linked on the agency's website, she's assumed to be representing the company.

Anyway, I'd handle the situation the same regardless of her other tweets. See what she wants and judge based on how she acts once the conversation is taken off of Twitter.
 

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I think you are misreading the tweet -- probably "super" in this case means "building superintendent" (aka handyman/janitor type guy) not supervisor.

I just tweeted about a beetle and spider battle happening in my bathroom. That has nothing to do with my work... but I don't exclusively tweet about work. In fact... I rarely tweet about work. I think being casual and funny on twitter is not offensive to most people.
 

Kayley

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I think you are misreading the tweet -- probably "super" in this case means "building superintendent" (aka handyman/janitor type guy) not supervisor.

I just tweeted about a beetle and spider battle happening in my bathroom. That has nothing to do with my work... but I don't exclusively tweet about work. In fact... I rarely tweet about work. I think being casual and funny on twitter is not offensive to most people.

Oh, okay! That would make more sense.

I guess I'm prejudiced from my experience in the corporate world. There, you post only business and business-appropriate material on your professional Twitter account, because you're representing your company. If you want to post your personal thoughts, you make a separate account. For an author, I understand that it's different, since it's your personal Twitter account and you're not using it to represent a company. Since her Twitter is linked on the agency page, though, I consider her to be representing the agency. That's why I think it's weird.

It is not quite as weird if it's not her boss, though. When I made my comment, it was with the interpretation that she referred to her supervisor. That is what I referred to as being unprofessional. Her boss should not be trying to schmooze with her if she doesn't like it, and if he is she should deal with the issue in private. Now, though, I see that is not the case.

I want to clarify that I'm not admonishing her for including it. It just strikes me as odd. I'm sorry I brought it up. Let me return to the original discussion by once again saying that I would respond to see what she wanted and then proceed based on how she acts off of Twitter.
 

mrsvalkyrie

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Oh, okay! That would make more sense.

I guess I'm prejudiced from my experience in the corporate world. There, you post only business and business-appropriate material on your professional Twitter account, because you're representing your company. If you want to post your personal thoughts, you make a separate account. For an author, I understand that it's different, since it's your personal Twitter account and you're not using it to represent a company. Since her Twitter is linked on the agency page, though, I consider her to be representing the agency. That's why I think it's weird.

It is not quite as weird if it's not her boss, though. When I made my comment, it was with the interpretation that she referred to her supervisor. That is what I referred to as being unprofessional. Her boss should not be trying to schmooze with her if she doesn't like it, and if he is she should deal with the issue in private. Now, though, I see that is not the case.

I want to clarify that I'm not admonishing her for including it. It just strikes me as odd. I'm sorry I brought it up. Let me return to the original discussion by once again saying that I would respond to see what she wanted and then proceed based on how she acts off of Twitter.

Don't worry. When I first read it, I thought the same thing. Especially with it being linked to the agency website (which I think is what was said??) But if it's building super, that makes all the difference. :)

Okay... Derail complete. Carry on. :)
 

Jessica_312

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Oh, okay! That would make more sense.

I guess I'm prejudiced from my experience in the corporate world. There, you post only business and business-appropriate material on your professional Twitter account, because you're representing your company. If you want to post your personal thoughts, you make a separate account. For an author, I understand that it's different, since it's your personal Twitter account and you're not using it to represent a company. Since her Twitter is linked on the agency page, though, I consider her to be representing the agency. That's why I think it's weird.

It is not quite as weird if it's not her boss, though. When I made my comment, it was with the interpretation that she referred to her supervisor. That is what I referred to as being unprofessional. Her boss should not be trying to schmooze with her if she doesn't like it, and if he is she should deal with the issue in private. Now, though, I see that is not the case.

I want to clarify that I'm not admonishing her for including it. It just strikes me as odd. I'm sorry I brought it up. Let me return to the original discussion by once again saying that I would respond to see what she wanted and then proceed based on how she acts off of Twitter.
I agree with you. If your account is directly linked to your employer's website, then you're representing the company and you do have to be careful about what you say. I thought the same thing at first, until it was explained that she probably wasn't referring to her supervisor.

And I agree that the tweet at the author does sound a little... unprofessional. Not necessarily because it's a tweet, but because of how the tweet is phrased. "Lemme", "team up", etc. Nothing wrong with being personable, but if I were an agent approaching a potential client for the first time, I'd want to sound as professional as possible. I'm not knocking the agent by any means, I know nothing about her and she may very well be a fantastic agent. But just not sure about the tweet. JMO!
 

lauralam

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I had an agent solicit me via Twitter (one of his clients was reading and loving my book) but he contacted me via DM, which I found perfectly fine (and wonderful!). Publicly tweeting like that is a bit odd to me, but as mentioned, if they're friendly anyway, that's different. I think I would have said something vaguer like "I'm an assistant at X agency, can I send you an email about your book?" or something.