The Ari Gold of publishing?

In the book world, agents are elusive creatures. They travel in stealth, in secret, in fear of being deluged by unwanted manuscripts and adamant would-be authors. Not that they're timid; they just don't want to be found.

Which is why when a book broker speaks up, I take notice. Time Out New York checked in with several bookish types on the state of the publishing industry:

"We are the first line of defense -- we keep it safe to read in America," agent Ira Silverberg said, adding that most submissions are a four-letter word for godawful. "That’s not to say that we don’t make mistakes, but at least we vet the writing first, and thus we are trusted by large houses and thus most large houses have a no-unsolicited-manuscripts policy."

So let me get this right: Agents block garbage from making it to publishers. The reading public can rely on them to be the tastemakers. They've got the ear and the skills to get the right book to the right publishing house. Which means, somehow, that left to their own devices, publishers would do nothing but deliver dreck? The horrid dreck that people write?  That's hyperbolic and illogical -- and insulting, too.

Worthy of "Entourage" character Ari Gold, for sure. It's a little like when the ruthless talent agent said, "Sundance is a great festival for little people. You should kill over there! But for the rest of us normal people, it’s just a chance to . . . a Mormon."

Silverberg might not be quite as histrionic, insulting or filthy-mouthed as Ari Gold. But he's almost as full of bombast.

Carolyn Kellogg

Comments

[Jim S]

Thanks for this post. Not to say they're all bad, but some of the agents I've encountered have made me wonder about the future of American literature. No doubt they weed out a lot of dreck, but how many good books get stopped at the agents' gates for being insufficiently amenable to the "market"? Often seems like you can't get them to read very far unless something outrageous happens on the first page of the manuscript. Hence all those novels being published as memoirs because the truth wouldn't be "exciting" enough to grab an agents' attention...