Things I Learned at Sleuthfest, part 1

Over the weekend, I went to Sleuthfest in Florida. It was not the first time I've been to a conference, but it was the best experience I've had at one to date. With that in mind, I'd like to post some of the things I learned.

The first one may be the most surprising to some of you:

::drumroll::
Agents and Editors are People, Too

I met two of each at this conference. Names withheld to protect these people from getting a million query letters. (I mean, seriously--who wouldn't write to an agent or editor they knew for certain was a nice person?)

One agent I met at the cocktail party. No, I didn't pitch to her. We discussed the difference between thick 3-inch heels and stilletto 3-inch heels. We discussed how hard it is to say "no" to someone when they come up to you with a pitch. I know several other people who did pitch to this woman and said she was fabulous: asked good questions, had a good sense of humor, was friendly...all the good things you want in an agent.

One agent I met because I'd paid for a 10-page critique. Yes, the very one I had been so panicked about. (I followed Miss Snark's advice and didn't say anything about our past interaction.) Although she didn't think my work was sellable in its current form, she did offer extremely useful advice on how to make it more marketable. She was very friendly and I had no problem at all asking her advice on another project I have been working on. She said it would be an easier sell.

One editor I met because I was pitching to him. This man's publishing house doesn't accept unagented manuscripts, so when I met him I said I wasn't sure why I was pitching to him. He laughed. He asked me for my one-sentence pitch, then told me what the market situation was like with regard to my type of mystery. I asked him about the work-in-progress and he enlightened me on that market. The whole thing was fun and pleasant.

The other editor I also pitched to. Because his house also doesn't accept unagented submissions, we spent the first half of our ten minutes talking about baseball. He asked to hear my pitch, made several suggestions, then told me that if I made the revisions, he'd be happy to look at it. That doesn't mean he'd want it --his house doesn't really publish the kind of thing I write, but I'd love to get comments from someone who really knew what was out there. I told him the revision was so major that it might be quite a while before he heard from me. He said that was fine...if it was interesting enough to ask about now, it would be interesting enough to read later.

You may have noticed that all three I talked to about my work said the same thing. And they all said it in such a way that it was positive, constructive and hope-inspiring, not negative, destructive or devastating. The revision all three wanted me to make may not be possible for me -- it would be a major restructuring and I cannot, currently, get my brain around it. But I may be able to in the future.

So...yes, Virginia, agents and editors are people, too.