"Meet my wife. She's an Agent."

[Evelyn]

Hello Everyone,

I want to share an interesting thing that happened last night. We were at a "Boxing Day" party at the home of some long-time friends. I sat down with a nice plate of food, and a moment later a man that I'd never met sat down beside me. We exchanged pleasantries. And then he asked what I do for a living.

"I'm an artist. And a musician. And a writer..."

Ah! That's when he told me that his wife (in the other room) is a literary agent and publicist and - gasp - she handles the type of stuff I write. Would I like to meet her? He'd be happy to introduce us. Major heart attack!

So, two minutes later I am chatting with her. Her first question?

"Can you describe your book to me?" Akkk! Now is when I dredge up the "hook" and the "elevator pitch" and the short, punchy description that I am so glad I worked on several months ago. I never thought I'd end up using them in this situation, ha ha.

Her next question? "What's your audience?"

Amazingly, I had a coherent answer. She nodded. She said: "It does seem like that would be a good market." Another major heart attack!

The up-shot is that she has requested a query letter and a partial. She also said that she would pass on my name and the query (with a recommendation) to a colleague at a small publisher that specializes in work like mine.

Yippee!

Just wanted to share...

Evelyn

[Watcher55]

That's too cool! I guess the scenarios we build in our head aren't so silly; even if they are a little self indulgent.

CONGRATS! and good luck.

[sbs_mjc1]

That's awesome! Good luck.

[Guardian]

Great news and I wish you good luck. But as always, make a brief background check about the agent before you send something. Again, good luck!

[Down the well]

Wow, Evelyn. Opportunity knocked and you weren't caught standing in your robe and slippers when you opened the door. Hope it works out. Good luck.

[Evelyn]

Thanks, everyone!

And thank you for the advise, Guardian. I did research her and she is legit, having been in the industry for 25-plus years. Although it does appear that she is more of a freelance publicist these days...

Evelyn

[Margo]

Does anyone remember the sci-fi movie Red Planet?

Spoiler:

The astronauts crash land on Mars, and only Val Kilmer's character has the chance to get back off the planet using the old Soviet probe, but he has to get just the right amount of fuel. And he says something like, "Oh my god, this is that moment they always told us about in high school when algebra would save my life."

This is the moment Nathan told you about, when having your pitch ready could make your career.

Best of luck, Evelyn!

[siebendach]

I guess that had to happen to someone sooner or later, right? I mean, people get struck by lightning --- so why not this?

Well, congratulations on your good fortune.

[Evelyn]

Now it's time to cross my fingers and hold my breath!!!!!

(Imagine me doing a happy dance.)

The agent (who I am pretty sure is actually a literary publicity agent) that I met last Sunday liked my query, and sent it on to the editor of a small publisher.

She (the acquisition editor) liked the query and first ten pages and, even though the publisher does not accept unsolicited manuscripts ... SHE JUST REQUESTED A FULL!!!!

I sent it to her five minutes ago.

I'm pretty excited but with a bit of a reality check, too. The publisher likes sci-fi that's darker than mine... but, we'll see. Maybe my book, GRAYLAND, is darker than I'd thought, hahaha.

Just wanted to share with y'all.

Evelyn

[Down the well]

Congratulations. Fingers crossed for ya.