This post was written by me and Sherwood.
The unnamed agency in our previous post has chosen to present their perception of the exchange. We confirm that it was the agency we referred to. We stand by every word we wrote in our original article.
We did not wish to name them, because we preferred to focus on the larger issues. We did not spread rumors about them, and we don't know who did.
This is why we went public: After the initial exchange a month ago, we spoke in private to a number of other writers, without mentioning the name of the agent or agency. There was an overwhelming response of "Me too!" Many other writers had been asked by agents and editors to alter or remove the minority identity of their characters, sometimes as a condition of representation or sale. Sometimes those identities had been altered by editors without the writers' knowledge or permission.
That response, and posts like Malinda Lo's recent statistics make it clear that the problem is much larger than a couple of writers and one specific agency.
We urge you all to continue focusing on the bigger picture.
Discussion is welcome but abuse and name-calling is not. Please do your best to be civil.
ETA: Since several people asked: I do have an agent for my nonfiction, Brian DeFiore. He's great. The work Sherwood and I do together is very different from what we both do solo, and we wanted an agent to represent us as a team.
The unnamed agency in our previous post has chosen to present their perception of the exchange. We confirm that it was the agency we referred to. We stand by every word we wrote in our original article.
We did not wish to name them, because we preferred to focus on the larger issues. We did not spread rumors about them, and we don't know who did.
This is why we went public: After the initial exchange a month ago, we spoke in private to a number of other writers, without mentioning the name of the agent or agency. There was an overwhelming response of "Me too!" Many other writers had been asked by agents and editors to alter or remove the minority identity of their characters, sometimes as a condition of representation or sale. Sometimes those identities had been altered by editors without the writers' knowledge or permission.
That response, and posts like Malinda Lo's recent statistics make it clear that the problem is much larger than a couple of writers and one specific agency.
We urge you all to continue focusing on the bigger picture.
Discussion is welcome but abuse and name-calling is not. Please do your best to be civil.
ETA: Since several people asked: I do have an agent for my nonfiction, Brian DeFiore. He's great. The work Sherwood and I do together is very different from what we both do solo, and we wanted an agent to represent us as a team.
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Authors: There seems to be a pattern of LGBT characters being excluded from YA fiction, and we're very concerned-
Publisher: But I'm a NICER person! I'm not a homophobe! The authors are being mean to me! ME ME ME ME ME!
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Perhaps if your fans are stupid about it, I can loan you a two by four?
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I repeat myself repetitively
You guys were quite specific about not naming the agent, and you were also quite specific about focusing on what people could do, rather than blaming one person. The point is that market forces obvious, and taking the path of least resistance is also obvious, not that one person was a mustached villain.
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I mean, that's how I behave in those business situations. Because people forget.
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Going to go kick something now.
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I think you have a good book to sell. Not "a good book, but." A good book.
The other aspect of this incident that nags at me, is how much worse publishing is without transom submissions. Electing to have a whole class of people unassociated with your business (effectively subcontracting without a formal agreement) handle an important function for you is going to weaken you in the long run.
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I am an author. I am not represented by Nancy Coffey Literary, but I have friends who are. I do not think what Rachel and Sherwood are saying in this article is true, and I am very upset that PW allowed it to be posted without fact-checking. I am also upset that Rose closed comments on the follow up post at http://blogs.publishersweekly.com/blogs/genreville/?p=1533, but I'm commenting here because I think that it was wrong for Rose Fox to post an article like that without fact checking it, and even more wrong of her to do that as someone who is in a position of power to affect author's careers.
I am afraid to speak out under my real name because I'm afraid PW and Rose will give my books bad reviews because I criticized her for doing this. I know some people will think that is unfair, but since she allowed two authors to post something which could damage an agent's professional reputation without fact checking or any PROOF that this happened at all other than their word, I do not trust her to be impartial in reviews either. I spoke to my agent and she said my fears were reasonable and that she felt the same way but would not say anything in public because she didn't want to risk hurting her clients by having Rose Fox or Publishers Weekly give them bad reviews.
I don't know if Rose/PW will even allow this comment to be posted or if they'll censor it, but if other authors or agents are reading this and share my concern I hope they will say so, even if we have to be anonymous. Then maybe Rose's boss or the powers that be at Publishers Weekly will address this situation responsibly and not allow PW to become a platform for unsubstantiated accusations of this kind in the future.
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I do not think what Rachel and Sherwood are saying in this article is true,
One of these things is not like the oooother.
Plus, are you actually claiming that publishers and agents never whiten or straighten characters?
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1. You say you don't know what the truth is, but the rest of your comment assumes that you do, since you obviously believe the agent.
2. The original post goes out of its way to not identify the agency in question. How does that "damage an agent's professional reputation?" The agent's rebuttal is what did that.
3. It's interesting how Rose Fox is being irresponsible because she "is in a position of power to affect author's careers." Apparently that doesn't apply to the agency, or, say, Colleen Lindsay: only Rose.
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Followup on "Say Yes to Gay YA"
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I wonder how that would happen since no one was named in the post.
Interesting that you're more worried about the POSSIBILITY people will develop mind reading powers and figure out this agent from this, rather than, you know, the PROVEN erasure of an entire group of people from fiction, a group with a PROVEN relatively high suicide rate and violence against.
Or was this whole comment a sample of your speculative fiction work?