The crazy, it goes around...
May. 21st, 2008 10:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lagilmanAll right. I'm about to be as indiscreet as I ever am, because this has me going bwaaa? Literally, as ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kradical can attest, as he just had to listen to me doing a very good impersonation of speechless bwa?ing.
....
So, I was conned into joining Linked-In by several people who enjoy doing things like that to me, and have been sort of selectively building a network. One of the things I've been doing is trying to get back in touch with a lot of my former co-workers. It's been a great experience, overall. However....
One of those co-workers is now an agent. Many years ago, I worked with some of this agent's clients. I was not happy dealing with this agent, who was IMO a Not-Good Agent, but I did it because I wanted those authors/books and fine, that was the job.
Over time, two authors who were represented by this agent decided on their own to terminate the agency relationship. When they each called to tell me, I was, perhaps, slightly gleeful. [all right, I did a happy chair dance, and at least one of the authors knew it, and was laughing, after he said "why didn't you TELL me?"] But only after the fact, and after they had already come to their own decisions. Because that's how the game is played. You don't diss someone's agent. In fact, you don't offer a opinionn of agents at all, no matter what. Admittedly, this did not keep editors from talking to each other...
Anyway. Against my better judgement, this week I sent this agent an invite via Linked-In, to be completist, and discovered that this agent still blames me for losing those two clients, almost ten years ago. Bitterly blames me, in fact.
Bwa?
Dude. Reality check. You lost those clients because the clients were fed up with you. At least I was still willing to work with you -- at least one other editor in-house refused to buy a book from your client because you were representing it. Maybe that should have been a clue?
And if on the off chance that something I said to someone had made them end their professional relationship with you.... well, that suggests to me that your professional relationship with them sucked already. Because I just didn't have that kind of power, not then and certainly not now.
(and no, I am not going to name names. Not even now. Sorry. Some of you will be able to identify anyway....)
kradical can attest, as he just had to listen to me doing a very good impersonation of speechless bwa?ing.....
So, I was conned into joining Linked-In by several people who enjoy doing things like that to me, and have been sort of selectively building a network. One of the things I've been doing is trying to get back in touch with a lot of my former co-workers. It's been a great experience, overall. However....
One of those co-workers is now an agent. Many years ago, I worked with some of this agent's clients. I was not happy dealing with this agent, who was IMO a Not-Good Agent, but I did it because I wanted those authors/books and fine, that was the job.
Over time, two authors who were represented by this agent decided on their own to terminate the agency relationship. When they each called to tell me, I was, perhaps, slightly gleeful. [all right, I did a happy chair dance, and at least one of the authors knew it, and was laughing, after he said "why didn't you TELL me?"] But only after the fact, and after they had already come to their own decisions. Because that's how the game is played. You don't diss someone's agent. In fact, you don't offer a opinionn of agents at all, no matter what. Admittedly, this did not keep editors from talking to each other...
Anyway. Against my better judgement, this week I sent this agent an invite via Linked-In, to be completist, and discovered that this agent still blames me for losing those two clients, almost ten years ago. Bitterly blames me, in fact.
Bwa?
Dude. Reality check. You lost those clients because the clients were fed up with you. At least I was still willing to work with you -- at least one other editor in-house refused to buy a book from your client because you were representing it. Maybe that should have been a clue?
And if on the off chance that something I said to someone had made them end their professional relationship with you.... well, that suggests to me that your professional relationship with them sucked already. Because I just didn't have that kind of power, not then and certainly not now.
(and no, I am not going to name names. Not even now. Sorry. Some of you will be able to identify anyway....)
