I’m here to do a break down and try to find a better solution, as always. Paragraph breaks are roughly guessed since the original had none.
Original thread: https://twitter.com/SBLitAgent/status/1658675176865660933
Long thread ahead, captain: Arguing on Twitter isn’t my vibe, so I don’t, but I want to say this: Take it from someone 13 months into long COVID, mental health is wealth, and protecting it is vital. We can choose to hear the most dramatized, demonizing take on a misunderstanding—a thread written specifically for querying writers who have yet to break into the profession interpreted in the context of professional writers—and take it for truth, reacting to it. No one is stopping anyone from doing so, and honestly, I don’t judge people for it.
We’re all sad and scared and hurt. We feel so helpless in this world, and anger feels powerful; it feels like it accomplishes something. I’ve been there time and time again, and I’m not going to pretend I won’t stop back for thirds. The downside to this anger, though, is that with every jump we make to put someone in the Bad Person category, we make our own world less safe. Are there shmagents out there? Absolutely. But they are a rarity, and if you spend too much time here, it’s easy to become convinced otherwise.It’s easy to start truly believing it’s common practice for agents to harm writers.
Traditional publishing is hard enough without this extra level of baked-in mistrust, and while this certainly isn’t fair, it is true: the only people that mistrust really hurts are querying writers. My professional reputation isn’t decided by a snowballing mischaracterization, but if writers walk into the querying process already disillusioned with it, the whole experience will be miserable.
Having a new agent to put on a Do Not Query list every week very, very quickly depletes not only a writer’s hopes of getting published but also any faith in the industry. This is what the question boils down to: Do you want to write someone off as a potential champion of your work because of a tweet that was misinterpreted and amplified? That’s for every writer to decide individually, but it’s important to note that mob mentality is no friend to logic.
Any tweet—this thread included—can be read in the worst possible way, but it doesn’t have to be, and the world will feel much friendlier for it. For the past year, my central nervous system has been hijacked by stress. I have a fainting disorder; I have nausea so intense I have been physically starving multiple times; I used to be an elite athlete and now can barely climb a hill. I know how debilitating constant negative bombardment is. So that’s it, the whole takeaway: in a time of relentless turmoil, trusting people to be good instead of expecting them to be bad can make a huge difference in our mental health, and right now, we need all the positivity we can muster. With love and peace, y’all—truly.
In the interests of better discourse, I’m going to break it down for you, Savannah...
Long thread ahead, captain: Arguing on Twitter isn’t my vibe, so I don’t, but I want to say this: Take it from someone 13 months into long COVID, mental health is wealth, and protecting it is vital.
This is called deflecting. You need an apology editor.
We can choose to hear the most dramatized, demonizing take on a misunderstanding—a thread written specifically for querying writers who have yet to break into the profession interpreted in the context of professional writers—and take it for truth, reacting to it.
For writers who interacted with your thread this will feel like gaslighting. This will feel like you didn’t say you were saying you didn’t even like books and just saw them as a paycheck.
Also, the “we” here, as used is passive aggressive white womaning, just labeling it because white women don’t know they are doing it most of the time (and saying this as an Anthropologist with a BA that studied this, and with white women who owned it for good, rather than evil.) This does not go well with People of Color, who recognize it for what it is. It feels for a lot of People of color, like a fight you want to start, rather than trying to make peace. And since a large portion of people were people of color, they will likely dislike you doing this. For allies that know what white womaning is, they will also dislike it and see it for what it is. I would encourage you, as many therapists say, to use I statements with apologies.
No one is stopping anyone from doing so, and honestly, I don’t judge people for it.
You are, which is why it feels passive aggressive, because you turn this around with more white woman we statements. I know you think it feels like you’re trying to make peace, but without ownership, it’s not peace. I’ll show you how it’s done so you get better PR.
We’re all sad and scared and hurt. We feel so helpless in this world, and anger feels powerful; it feels like it accomplishes something.
Saying people are unjustified in their anger and anger well-directed is not change is destructive when you’re talking to writers who are asking for change. You’re talking to people who want change in the industry--I specifically gave you a list to look at, such as asks for transparency in mswls, such that you tell where your marketing advice comes from, or some numbers to figure out where to go.
I’ve been there time and time again, and I’m not going to pretend I won’t stop back for thirds. The downside to this anger, though, is that with every jump we make to put someone in the Bad Person category, we make our own world less safe.
Not always. Sometimes putting a white supremacist Nazi on such a list for someone like me, who checks all of their, “I hate you boxes” makes *me* safe, and that’s something you should contend with as well. You said, and offered up, that you have Long Covid, then would you feel safe with someone who said “Long covid doesn’t exist.” No, right? Especially when they get violent with you.
Are there shmagents out there? Absolutely. But they are a rarity, and if you spend too much time here, it’s easy to become convinced otherwise.It’s easy to start truly believing it’s common practice for agents to harm writers.
Truly unable to call out your fellow agents for things like selling Nazi Romance books, which I put number one on the list of why we strike agents to you is unbelievably bad. Your fellow agents within your agency also hated explicitly on neurodivergent people and then said that grief was not marketable, which is patently not true, given Encanto, Everything Everywhere All at Once, Turning Red, and a variety of other books, shows, etc. I can do gratuitous plugs of my friends’ books. There is a corner of the market due to covid that need trauma processing books. Again, personal taste is not the market.
Owning why, and trying to fix it is much harder task, but saying agents can’t fix it and it’s up to the person getting railed against, sounds like another round of abuse. YOU fix your own mess.
Traditional publishing is hard enough without this extra level of baked-in mistrust, and while this certainly isn’t fair, it is true: the only people that mistrust really hurts are querying writers. My professional reputation isn’t decided by a snowballing mischaracterization, but if writers walk into the querying process already disillusioned with it, the whole experience will be miserable. Having a new agent to put on a Do Not Query list every week very, very quickly depletes not only a writer’s hopes of getting published but also any faith in the industry.
No, it doesn’t. As much as you have thousands of writers coming to you, we also have thousands of ways to find a path to publishing. We know all of the options aren’t you, you who put on the website that YA writers somehow are a cheaper version of Adult writers. C’mon, show some respect for the PROFESSION of writers and you wouldn’t be in this mess.
This is what the question boils down to: Do you want to write someone off as a potential champion of your work because of a tweet that was misinterpreted and amplified?
That’s the thing, you don’t look like a champion with this tweet thread. What you look like is blaming others for things you said, and you need a writer to help you out. Hey, I’ll do it for you without the white womaning, free of charge. I’ll help you with the PR lesson you forgot since you left school. And though I never took marketing class, I did learn PR under fire such that I probably could swipe that 150k, you boasted about last time.
That’s for every writer to decide individually, but it’s important to note that mob mentality is no friend to logic. Any tweet—this thread included—can be read in the worst possible way, but it doesn’t have to be, and the world will feel much friendlier for it.
This feels like gas lighting... for the average writer. You’re not going to apologize.
For the past year, my central nervous system has been hijacked by stress. I have a fainting disorder; I have nausea so intense I have been physically starving multiple times; I used to be an elite athlete and now can barely climb a hill. I know how debilitating constant negative bombardment is. So that’s it, the whole takeaway: in a time of relentless turmoil, trusting people to be good instead of expecting them to be bad can make a huge difference in our mental health, and right now, we need all the positivity we can muster. With love and peace, y’all—truly.
Mixture of white womaning and deflecting your own trauma as an excuse. I’ll show you how to do better, because apparently your whole agency needs help with the PR campaign.
1. I say this often because I mean it: Trauma is not an excuse for abuse. You fuck up, you own it.
I say this as someone with c-ptsd and a lot of issues. I equate it to the Caspian sea, wide, but shallow. But I fuck up a lot. I own it as quickly as possible. And then I go off and do self-care until I can handle it.
2. Learn for PR reasons how to make clean apologies.
An apology is what you did, why it was wrong, and how you swear you’re going to do better.
3. Focus on how you can do better in the future and address real concerns in a mature way.
I gave you a really good list for this. I encourage you to look at it. I meant it for all agents. Start better discourse, communicate better, give us transparency, and update your guidelines to be dead clear. Show that you genuinely want to work with us.
Again, instead of what you did, showing how you could have written this thread to help. Here. A writer can help.
Hi, yeah, so the last thread I made turned into a mini-disaster and I own that. I shouldn’t have said I could make 150k a year with my degree and that writers are not also seeking a career. I didn’t understand much at the time, but take this as trying to open up and understand.
What I meant to say, is I feel passionate about books as much as you are passionate about books and I hope to be passionate about selling your book.
I understand that you also have concerns about the other agents in my agency and that some of you are talking about how we posted, “If it’s too difficult to write for grownups, write for children.” though I had no hand in that, I will try to work with my fellow agents towards fixing that by the end of this or next week.
In the interests of engaging better with what happened last week, I’m updating my client submission requirements to include more explicit submission guidelines, such as clear trigger warnings, and clear turn around dates. I am also willing to update and talk openly about where I get my marketing info about books and how I come to my manuscript wishlist conclusions. I also solemnly swear to never, ever sell Nazi Romance or Black Slavery Romance books. In the interests of better discourse, I will also agree to try harder to understand how difficult it is also for writers, so I can be your strongest advocate, and also learn how to talk about diversity more. I will do my best to hold my fellow agents also accountable, and work towards better solutions.
I will understand if you would not like me to be your agent after the last thread. I own that. I am very sorry, your anger was justified, and I will try my best to work with you rather than against you.
Tada~~ the magic of being a writer is also because often we try our hardest to understand psychology well to write better characters.
So do a version of my rewrite, than the problem above. And learn the PR techniques I used. And be genuine about it. I’m sure you put me on mute, but maybe someone would be kind enough to show you this post.
