Ghosting and Other Bad Manners in Publishing

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Being Ghosted by Agents and Publishers Stinks, there, I said it...

Ghosting has become endemic in the publishing industry and today I want to talk about the impact of it on us authors. If you’ve every queried agents or been on submission, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about. If you’ve yet to reach that stage, buckle up.

Here’s how it usually goes, you come across an author or editor online, read their bio and feel the planets have aligned because this person is seeking queries/submissions that basically describe your manuscript exactly.

You read their requirements, follow them to the letter, whether that’s three chapters, one chapter, fifty thousand words, ten thousand words, a one-page synopsis, a half page synopsis, the winning lottery numbers for next Friday’s draw. You send the email and then you wait, and wait, and wait, and wait. But nothing. No automatic reply, no response after the three months the agency/publisher has listed on their website as typical response time. Nothing.

You’re left feeling worthless, hopeless, the kid who hasn’t been picked for the football team when all the other kids are having their books sold and articles written about them in the Bookseller.

Guidelines for Authors, Agents and Editors

To coincide with the recent London Book Fair, the UK-based Society of Authors, published sets of guidelines to help authors, agents and publishers understand what to expect from each other during the querying and submissions processes. The documents advise on factors agencies and publishers should consider, to make the querying and submissions processes that bit more humane for authors. Areas covered include accessibility, clear guidance on submission requirements, transparency, clear communication and managing expectations around timeframes. The one part that stood out for me, included in both documents is in relation to dignity, respect and professionalism,

When processing submissions, be mindful of the person behind the submission who has

invested their hope and much time in their work or proposal, and is trusting you to consider

their creative work with respect.

In my experince, peak ghosting was when I started querying agents, once I secured an agent and they begin submitting to publishers, it definitely decreased but it very much still happened. The frequency at this point is really dependent on how established your agent is. I didn’t realise that when I landed an agent, assuming I was on a clear road to publication, but when I first went on submission with an agent who no longer represents me, she was ghosted by over half of the editors submitted to. Having shared experiences with other authors, it turns out this is common, but not talked about nearly enough. I do think it’s something writers should be aware of, at least then we can prepare ourselves mentally.

There are, of course, two sides to this story and I’ve read horror stories about authors bombarding time-starved agents and editors with emails, reaching out to them on social media and the absolute worst, abusing them when they are rejected. There’s no place for this in any industry, so please, for the sake of us all, just don’t do it.

Here are my tips for handling being ghosted:

• Set yourself a timeframe – mine is 6 months. If I don’t hear back from a publisher in 6 months, I write them off. Reframe it in your mind as, you, not wanting to establish a long-term working relationship with someone that you have to spend the rest of your career chasing.
• Work on your next book – possibly the most important piece of advice I will ever give. Write, write, write. Write your way to the top of the industry and don’t ever give up.
• If your mental health is really being affected by querying or submissions, take a break, stop engaging with your writer groups, stop reading the Bookseller, stop everything. Read, walk the dog, go on holiday, spend time with your kids. Fill your mind up with something else so that you can forget about it.
• And again, remain professional at all times no matter how frustrated you might feel.

And one tip for agents and editors

Please, set up an automatic reply for queries and submissions. PLEASE. Tell us you’ve received it, tell us how long you expect it will take you to respond, tell us if you’re not going to respond.

It’s tough out there, so we need to support each other.

Hope you have a happy writing week.

Here’s a great Podcast recommendation. It’s Turning to Story by authors Lyssa Mia Smith and Anne Mercier and they describe it as their coming together to present their most effective defence against the woes of the publishing industry: Craft. As an added bonus, the two women are great friends and are absolutely hilarious presenting together, so not only will you learn lots, you’ll also laugh.

Don’t forget if you’ve any writing related questions, send them through on the Contact section of my website and I’ll do my best to answer them in an upcoming newsletter and please share the Writing Mentor link to your socials if you’ve found it helpful, so your writer friends can also benefit from it.

Til next time,

Antoinette

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