Jack William Bell's Journal: SFF Agents Speak

Steven Hunt interviewed some literary agents specializing in Science Fiction and Fantasy. The results are illuminating. For example most of them agree that the SFF market is still contracting, but a couple feel it is recovering. Nearly all of them dismiss the importance of Print On Demand (POD). Some quotes:

Shawna McCarthy on resurrecting the dead: You see slots on the SF shelves being filled by books with ISAAC ASIMOV in great big letters on the cover, and in much smaller type below it is revealed that this is a living writer working in Isaac's universe. I am and have always been one of Isaac's biggest fans, but books like those are taking up space and money that might be spent on living, growing, talented new authors

Jack Byrne on dealing with the slush pile: I read everything myself. I'm very picky. In essence, I open every submission with two desires firmly in mind. One: I hope it is so good it simply blows me away. Two: I hope I can quickly find a reason to reject it. I've become very good at number two.

Don Maass on media tie-ins: It is dispiriting to see media tie-ins so dominating SFF sales, even in specialty bookshops. But you have to remember, that demand doesn't come from publishers, it comes from consumers. You can't blame publishers for giving the people what they want.

Via Bruce Sterling.

Interviewed via email?

[anitar]

This read like a group email interview, though I couldn't make out if the agents were able to read each other's responses.

Re:Interviewed via email?

[Jack William Bell]

I believe that is correct. You will note that some of the agents had a better command of written English than others. Especially concerning comma usage.