About Asking Questions Here

wonderactivist

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So I'm having this ongoing dialog with an agent for about a year now. There are several questions I would kinda like to ask y'all about it, but this is a public forum so I don't feel comfortable asking them. (I know that if you Google my name, some threads from AW show up in the results.)

Does that make sense? Would an agent hold it against you for asking specific questions here (without names, of course)? Has anyone ever considered that, like SYW, maybe this room of the forums ought to be excluded from search engines?

Just asking. Maybe I'm being insecure. I have truly enjoyed reading the many posts here.

Lucie
 

Theo81

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Generally, if an agent held the asking of questions against you, you are likely doing yourself a favour.

That said, there are some questions which *could* be inappropriate to post on a public message board. I would not, for instance, be personally happy to know a private discussion of mine was being spoken about on a message board - any questions *ought* to be addressed to me, but...it's scary asking questions. :)

My suggestion is to either PM one of the room mods and ask them to post your message, explaining why (I've seen them do it in BBRB). They will also likely be able to tell you if you need to be concerned or not about posting it. Either that or PM somebody who looks friendly as ask them to post it as an "My friend's in this situation..." yoke.

Of course, you're now going to have a to wait a bit, because we'll all know it's you doing the asking ;)

The mods will also be able to delete your thread at your request. Edit - oops. No, they can't. Not even the mods have that much power.
 
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wonderactivist

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Thanks, Theo. That's a great idea. I know it sounds sort of paranoid, but I do really like this agent and don't want to do anything to offend him/her. Just want to clear a couple of reddish flags out of my head.
 

Old Hack

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Sorry, we don't delete threads: it screws up AW's database and causes all sorts of problems.

If I were concerned about something my agent was doing I'd ask them to explain. It's surprising how helpful they can be.
 

wonderactivist

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This agent is not actually my agent, though I would like them to be. Hence the nervousness about offending them. We've been corresponding about a manuscript of mine for over a year now. I just don't feel like I know enough about this industry to know for sure.
 

Bufty

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Over a year? A YEAR? A whole year? A year? Like before April 1st 2011?

Be careful. I think your Agent has a crush on you.
 

Colossus

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This agent is not actually my agent, though I would like them to be. Hence the nervousness about offending them. We've been corresponding about a manuscript of mine for over a year now. I just don't feel like I know enough about this industry to know for sure.

Sounds like the words "So you gonna represent this thing or not?" should perhaps be in your future.
I wouldn't say be rude to the agent, but a year is several times over enough time to make a decision on the project. Unless there are less-than-honorable intentions present, it would sound like they are interested in rep-ing it. Maybe you just need to press the magic button and make him/her decide.
 

Quickbread

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I think that depends entirely on the manuscript, any revisions that have been undertaken, and the nature of the discussions. I've read on this board of some agents taking much longer than a year and several rounds of revisions before agreeing to rep an author.

But, yeah, I agree, this sounds really positive.
 

wonderactivist

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Over a year? A YEAR? A whole year? A year? Like before April 1st 2011?.

Yes :e2violin:, but from private notes with a couple of mods, I'm learning that this is more common than you think. It doesn't mean it's going to be a yes either. Still, I do want this agent. Just ... (don't wanna get into it so publicly)

And the suspense may kill me. Colossus and Quickbread, you're both right, depending on which hour of the day it is.