Cities and suburbs, real and imaginary.

Friday, October 19, 2007

I got my Literary Agent through MySpace... No, really!

So, a couple weeks ago, I got a message at my MySpace page from a total stranger. The headline was "New York Literary Agent". I opened it up.

Apparently, this person is an assistant at a literary agency of some repute.

Matt Bialer had heard about me, and heard that I was not currently represented. He decided to get in touch with me. The only things he could find were my blog and my MySpace page. He asked around the office, and his assistant was the only one with a MySpace page.

She sent me a message dropping a name I recognized immediately because he was actually next on my list of agents to query. She asked me to give them a call. I double-checked the phone number at the agency website.

It was legit.

I called. I spoke with the lovely and talented assistant who was surprised I got in touch with her so quickly. They requested the manuscript.

I heard back from the assistant. She loved it. She handed it off to Matt Bialer.

I heard from Matt today, and they offered representation.

Don't nobody ever - EVER - let anybody make fun of me for having a MySpace page ever again.

That is my crazy MySpace story.

So... I think I may be the first person in the history of MySpace to get their agent through their MySpace page.

That is all.

(Hooray!)

3 comments:

Keanan Brand said...

Cool story! Congrats!

Crazy, but it seems to me that more people find representation in unconventional ways than via the more "professional" methods i.e. properly formatted proposals to agents.

Since I've borrowed one of your poems for my "Other Poets" file, here's a (losing) entry for an impromptu limerick contest four years ago. It fits your theme, but it's cheesier. (Hey, it's a limerick. What else can I say?)

I vow to make the plot tighter,
promise the prose will be brighter -
trust me not, forsooth,
I can't tell the truth.
Why not? Because I'm a writer.

Charles said...

Congrats!

Lindsay Ribar said...

I am so linking to this from my own blog.

--The Assistant