Here is what a typical day was like for me when I was a literary agent:
8:00: arrive at work
8:00 – 11:45: answer e-mails, call editors
11:45 – 1:30: lunch with an editor
1:30 – 3:00: answer e-mails
3:00 – 4:00: write detailed comments on client’s proposal
4:00 – 5:10: answer e-mails
5:10: leave for home
6:00: eat dinner, watch some news
6:15: start reading manuscripts
7:09: realize that I haven’t had time to blog
7:12 – ???: read until I can’t read anymore!
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7:09-7:12 Which would explain why this entry is so much shorter than usual! Sounds like a busy day. Enjoy your reading.
Poor You
Yes I mean that, I’m not being sarcastic! I tried and tried to read through the 675 entries of your contest – now I am trying to read all the entries over at the Bookends contest – it’s pretty hard, I’m giving up, I am!
Admire your stamina (but would rather be finishing Michael Creighton book)
~smiles at Wanda~
You are a brave soul. I put something up on Bookends for fun. It’s more sci-fi than paranormal romance but parnormal can be broadly stretched.
Nathan~
I think I’ll trade with you. I’ll go sort manuscripts and the slush pile and you clean the house and chase the 2 year old. Deal?
No? Well, such is life.
Have fun reading! I hope you find something that makes your late night worthwhile!
Nathan,
A few Snark questions, if you’ve got the time.
First question: A few months ago, a really well-known agency in NYC requested my manuscript. (Wahoo!) From the schedule you’ve got listed here, I am hoping that maybe, just maybe… they are still considering it, is that an okay assumption?
Second question: How do you work your way through a manuscript and how long does it take you until you decide to represent?
Third question: This agency has about 4 or 5 agents, some junior, some senior. Is it possible that it is working through the agents?
Fourth question: Also, I’ve heard mixed stories on whether it is okay for us to call them after the 2 month period, or to simply email. Is a (non-pushy) phone call okay?
Thanks for your thoughts,
Kinzer
Sounds like a very busy day! Good thing Lost isn’t on till Thursday!
Ah, to spend all those hours reading material written by people who love to write! As opposed to material written under groaning duress by college students who would rather be slamming $2 wells at the corner bar.
6:00: OBAMA WON WISCON. OBAMA WON WISCON! Will be voting absintee in the election. Couldn’t resist. ^_^
LOL! I’m sure we all gathered how frazzled you are with work.
Hang on, you go to your office and work and then go home and work some more? Geez. The job of an agent if never ending. You’ve gotta really love books/words to get into the career haven’t you?
7:12: You mean until you’re cross-eyed.
Kinzer-
This post should help you out on following up.
And it varies how long it takes me to decide on a manuscript. Sometimes a couple of minutes sometimes hours and hours.
Excellent. Figured you had covered those bases somewhere, just couldn’t find it.
That’s exactly what I needed to know. Except for the call thing… would you be peeved by a (nice) call if you asked for the manuscript? (This is not really you, btw. Not your genre. No sneaky blogging going on.)
I appreciate your insight, and kind tone.
Kinzer
kinzer-
E-mail or letter only. Don’t call.
Sounds like fun…except for the whole election part.
10-4.
Nathan, do you ever feel discouraged with your query/partial piles? I love to read, but I also love to read things that are good. Do you get enough good to make it worth trudging through all the junk?
I’d rather be a writer….
You work too hard!
Crawl out of bed–whenever
Make coffee.
Feed the assorted animals.
Boot up computer.
Check out Blogs while drinking coffee.
Open current WIP
Write till I run out of coffee
Lunch.
Maybe some TV and a nap.
Print and review writing.
Start dinner.
Write till unconcious.
Its bliss…
Sounds like you could use a date. š
Oh Nathan, you’re such a busy guy. It’s amazing you even find the time to blog with all this going on. I don’t know how you do it all.
Now add three kids to that mix and you know why it takes me so long to write sometimes… lol
Hi,
My schedule invloves putting the kids on the school bus, arriving at work, leaving work late at night, eating dinner with the family, helping the kids with homework, putting the kids to bed, blogging, and then writing until one o’clock in the morning. Blogging helps my writing, and I learn from my readers. Now, I am off to work. Thanks for the post. -Mike.
“Election Coverage”–is that an new reality show on MTV? Or just a code name for something else?
š
Not a bad day, all things considered. Especially if the lunch and the MS were both good š
OMG!!! Though I bet when you find a find it makes it all worth it.
Keep up the good work.
Right there with you Mr. Grudge and I’m a single father.
I love my job, but any time you put in a 14 hour day it’s pretty exhausting.
We appreciate your 14-hour day. We really do. Thanks, man.
PHEW! Hey, Monday night when I checked the blog I was like “Oh man, Nathan hasn’t blogged today. He never mentioned anything about this,” and then I spent half an hour trying to find proof of the apocalypse. Glad its just that you’re such a dedicated agent. š
Thank you for sharing this. I mean, I know agents are incredibly busy, but seeing it broken down like this was enlightening!
Okay, this is odd since I had a dream where I e-mailed Nathan asking him what a typical day of an agent is.
Now, I think we can also add 10-10:15: start watching The Hills then realize how idiotic Heidi and Spencer truly are.
Only 15 minutes to eat dinner and you watch election coverage while eating?
You’re too thin. Mange, mange.