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Drop-Ins Not Allowed

February 8, 2010 by Nathan Bransford 110 Comments

This one falls into the “Yes, it needs to be said” category. I know 99% of you wouldn’t think of doing this, but hopefully this will reach the other 1%.

We had a bit of an incident the other day here at Curtis Brown San Francisco as someone came to the office wearing sunglasses and a black hat, refused to provide their name, and asked to see me without an appointment.

Now, I don’t know whether you would have come out of your office when the receptionist called and said, “There’s a guy here wearing sunglasses and a hat and he’d like to see you and I don’t know who he is,” but I believe my exact quote was “Absolutely not.”

Then the person refused to leave for a while. Eventually he gave the receptionist a query and left.

Now, let me be clear: I’m sure this person was just trying to show initiative, probably lives in the area or happened to be here on vacation and was thinking, “Hey, what the heck I’ll stop by and maybe make a personal connection.” I’m sure it was all completely well-intentioned.

But this is not like other businesses – we don’t take drop-in appointments. We also have no way of knowing if someone who shows up at the office unannounced has received one query rejection too many or just thought they’d pound the pavement to show agents they’re serious. So we’re probably not coming out of the office. I take this stuff pretty seriously.

Save yourself a trip – just send me a query. If I love your work there will be more than enough time to meet in person.

Filed Under: Literary Agents

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. JTShea says

    February 9, 2010 at 1:42 am

    Sorry, Nathan. The Devil made me do it. Seriously, it could have been the ghost of J. D. Salinger. Or Winston Churchill. More seriously, you could put on dark sunglasses and a hat and stalk the address in the query.

    Reply
  2. Ben-M says

    February 9, 2010 at 1:48 am

    Only bad guys wear black hats.

    Reply
  3. Andrea Franco-Cook says

    February 9, 2010 at 2:13 am

    It takes all kinds of people to make the world go round.

    Reply
  4. Anonymous says

    February 9, 2010 at 2:14 am

    You mean we can't hide in the bushes outside your front door, either? Dang!

    Reply
  5. Corey Schwartz says

    February 9, 2010 at 2:30 am

    Wow! I would never even drop in on my own agent without an appointment.

    Reply
  6. jongibbs says

    February 9, 2010 at 2:39 am

    Was he carrying a violin case? 😉

    Reply
  7. lora96 says

    February 9, 2010 at 2:44 am

    Oooh. Hi My name is Creepy McTerrorist would you like to read my query? Or just, um, swab it for explosives?

    Reply
  8. The Polar Princess says

    February 9, 2010 at 2:46 am

    I have to agree with Nathan about publishing not being like other businesses. Editors (and agents, apparently!) have to be concerned because there are writers out there who consider a simple 'no thanks' rejection to be a judgment of their worth as a human being. Unfortunately, some people take rejection and editorial advice as personal attacks. Thank heavens these folks are a minority!

    Reply
  9. june says

    February 9, 2010 at 2:48 am

    This just confirms my suspicions that there are crazy people out there that seem particularly drawn to literary endeavors for some odd reason. I'm sure the slush pile is evidence of that.

    Reply
  10. Nathan Bransford says

    February 9, 2010 at 3:06 am

    Hey everyone, I really appreciate a lot of the sentiments and points of discussion expressed here, but I'm going to close the thread. It was never my intent to question this person's character or drag this person through the mud, even anonymously, and I feel like the comments are getting harsh.

    For the record, again, I really think this person was well-intentioned and just thought they'd give it their all with an in-person meeting. Hopefully this post provides a glimpse into how it looks from the other side of the phone. But let's not get overboard – it's ultimately not that big a deal.

    Reply
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Hi, I’m Nathan. I’m the author of How to Write a Novel and the Jacob Wonderbar series, which was published by Penguin. I used to be a literary agent at Curtis Brown Ltd. and I’m dedicated to helping authors achieve their dreams. Let me help you with your book!

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