Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Was It Something I Said?

Happy Book Birthday to dating coach Jess McCann's Was It Something I Said? The Answer to All Your Dating Dilemmas!  



Not only does Jess have Was It Something I Said? releasing this month by skirt! books, but an updated version of her previous book You Lost Him at Hello: From Dating to "I Do"-Secrets from One of America's Top Dating Coaches (HCI) is also being repackaged and rereleased.



In her new book, Jess gets into the nitty gritty of dating, she covers the trickiest and most troublesome scenarios in today's complicated dating world.  In a lot of ways, for writers, finding an agent is just like finding a mate. You want to find the perfect "match" for you and your work. With that in mind, I thought it would be fun to take one of the question from Jess' book and apply it to the author-agent relationship. Here goes:

How Do I Correct a Bad First Impression?

I've done my fair share of writer's conferences and bad first impressions happen more often than not-- authors stuttering through their pitches, drinking too much, or becoming angrily defensive of a critique. I know it's mostly due to nerves and often give writers the benefit of the doubt and let their writing speak for itself. However, if you're an author who has made this mistake and you want to make amends here is what Jess recommends (edited to fit our situation):

Admit Your Mistake: Crying to your writer friends while praying for the agent to call you won't fix anything. Take action and contact them yourself. Be honest. Tell them that you were extremely nervous. Then apologize.

Move On: If you see the agent again, don't mention your faux pas anymore. Telling them over and over again that it's not like you to be that way will lose its signifance if you keep watering it down with apologies. Everyone makes mistakes; no need to keep recapping yours. If the agent doesn't return your calls/emails or accept your apology, do not plot a recon mission to figure out how to win them back. What's done is done. Move on to the next agent and carry this lesson on with you.