Due to the economy

/ Meg

So I got a pretty creative rejection letter from a literary agent today, and this goes to show you that the current trying financial crisis we’re in is hitting everyone — everywhere — and affecting everything, as if we needed even more proof:

“Thank you for considering us, but due to the economy, we are reluctant to represent women’s fiction at this time.”

‘Due to the economy’? Reluctant to represent women’s fiction?! They mean, of course, “chick lit” — an incredibly popular genre, if I do say so myself. Books by Sophie Kinsella, Emily Giffin and Jennifer Weiner are regularly at the top of the bestseller’s list, and just tonight at my bookstore I’ve sold multiple copies of books by heavy-weight writers like Laura Weisberger, Candace Bushnell and Jane Green. Though imprints such as Red Dress Ink may not be welcoming new titles, I beg to differ that the genre is not profitable — in fact, I think that’s downright wrong.

But now I’m being told by a reputable agent that she cannot — or will not — represent me as a new women’s fiction author.

Can someone, like, swoop in and fix this whole mess? That would be great. Kthanx.

2 thoughts on “Due to the economy”

  1. I was just thinking today what the economy was doing to the agents. Making them pickier? Distracted? Or more keen on finding the best ticket, uh book, to solvency possible. Your post answered the question. The economy has given agents one more arrow in the rejection quiver! Now they don’t have to mail the trite and over used, I just can’t get behind this one but someone else may think differently. They can employ the new and unused economy.

    There will surely be a trimming in how many books houses take a chance on. That’s just business. But I disagree big time that women’s fiction is not profitable. I also wonder if books for escape will be more in demand now. Of course the budget minded will go to the library..Go scream and then get back in the ring.

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  2. I think if I were an agent, I’d milk that rejection as long as possible.

    …it wouldn’t surprise me that they’d be shortening up their lists.

    .randy

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