after reject agent wants Linkedin

Regardless of why -- would it in any way be a bad thing to be linked to them? I'd probably accept it.

SusieQZ said:

Regardless of why -- would it in any way be a bad thing to be linked to them? I'd probably accept it.

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Is it really helpful to be "linked" to someone who isn't interested in your work? Is that a connection you really need to put more energy into at the moment, or would the OP's interests be better served moving on to other agents?

JMHO - never made it as far as a query, myself, but I just don't see the point of accepting an invite like that, even for purely professional reasons... assuming it was genuine, not some sort of glitch of an auto-reply. It's like being ignored by the most popular kid in school, but going to their graduation party anyway just because there was an invitation. Is this a person, or a crowd, worth fooling with - especially when there could well be a party a block away that's far more friendly and suited to your interests? It may not be as big, but it'll probably be more fun and generate more meaningful connections, rather than an overcrowded, awkward affair populated by people who may or may not have anything to do with the host/ess - if this agent really does automatically send an invite to anyone who sends a query, regardless of interest. (Maybe in a few years you will be friends with that popular person, and it will be worth going over... but right now?)

It was probably mass email kind of thing. This thread might help: http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=287434

LinkedIn is for professional networking. So look at this analytically:

• Would you consider this agent a close enough contact that you'd be comfortable asking for a favor such as an introduction to someone else in his network?
  
• How likely is he to remember you well enough to comfortably grant that favor? How likely is he to welcome and honor your request?
  
• What does he gain by adding you to his professional network other than a larger address book?
  
• How beneficial do you think it would be to you and your career to be a part of that address book?

Once you've decided the benefit to your career, then accept, decline, or ignore the invitation, as you will.

Perhaps she's new to linkedin, and she hasn't gotten her settings right yet. I got a bunch of random invites from people I barely knew on linkedin via my e-mail a while back, and I don't even have a linkedin account. I seem to recall linkedin saying this was user error. Yes, here it is.

Linked In is a spam and email harvester in fancy clothes, I'm sorry guys.

If you fail to check a button, it will automatically spam everyone you have ever emailed with join requests. YOU CAN'T EVEN DELETE IT.

Linkedin sucks in my opinion. I've queried agents that connected with me on that and they were all a rejection. I've tried to contact some people to donate some books and only one responded, which then turned out to be a non-response after a nudge. I have people on there endorsing me and I have no idea who they are. So to me, LinkedIn is useless.

Maybe s/he doesn't add thousands of failed rejections. maybe s/he wanted to connect with you? There is no way to know really. IMHo if s/he is worth submitting to s/he is probably worth being connected with.

I use Linked in for my day job quite a lot. Whenever I get an invite I look at their profile and decide whether they are likely to be useful to me (or I want to be useful to them, e.g. with students), and choose accordingly.

It sounds like an unusual request to me. I'm on the side of those who think it may have been sent in error.

I got something like this a few days ago -- might be the same agent!

I ignored it.

Agree with Undercover that Linkedin is useless...at least imo.

I've ignored the few requests I've gotten because I don't have an account and don't need one.

tko said:

The day after a swift and curt rejection for a query letter, I received an email from Linkedin, stating that the (famous) agent wanted to add me to his professional network on LinkedIn. Which makes absolutely no sense--no agent would add thousands of failed querriers to their business circle. And LinkedIn is for mostly for business and not literary connections.

So I'm tempted to just ignore the invite. Either a bogus virus type thing, or a slip of the finger. But a little part of me thinks it's stupid to ignore what a big name agent requested . . .

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Isn't that funny? The same exact thing happened to me yesterday. First and only time. I don't have a linkedin account, not as a writer anyway, and I told him that when I replied to his request with the logline of another book I have; to which he has yet to reply. I wonder if it's the same agent?

Yes, I, and many others apparently, got that request the other day. It boggled me too. Let's just say I deleted it and moved on. Not going to try to figure that one out. But I suspect it's something akin to 'reply all' as someone mentioned earlier.

FWIW, it goes both ways.

I get 4 or 5 EVERY day, sent to my query box, from writers I've rejected.

I guess having used linkedein, which I admittedly dislike very much, here's my take:

accepting them does nothing extra in terms of work or burden for you. One click. Done. And sometimes, by very fucking odd coincidence, even odder shit happens. Odds are small, but its like the effort to bend down to pick up an unused lottery ticket in the parking lot--you don't exactly have a lot of skin in the game, but there is some slim chance it could prove useful at some point.


The slim odds are still worth the virtually nil effort.

quicklime said:

I guess having used linkedein, which I admittedly dislike very much, here's my take:

accepting them does nothing extra in terms of work or burden for you. One click. Done. And sometimes, by very fucking odd coincidence, even odder shit happens. Odds are small, but its like the effort to bend down to pick up an unused lottery ticket in the parking lot--you don't exactly have a lot of skin in the game, but there is some slim chance it could prove useful at some point.


The slim odds are still worth the virtually nil effort.

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That assumes the person USES Linked In.

I don't and have no desire to do so.

granted but if you have the linkedin, your effort is pretty nil to select "add"

particularly since in the thread in question it appeared tko's other option wasn't to ignore, but to actively select "decline" instead.