Last updated 10/21/20

Because I keep finding more and more of these on Twitter, I am curating a list of “Stupid Stuff Writers Do to Literary Agents” directly from the keyboards of the agents themselves. This will be an ongoing addendum to my article on “Abuse and Stalking of Literary Agents.”

For advice on how to properly and professionally query and a list of agencies to query, check out the Writer’s Market series of reference books. 

 

Misspelling the agent’s name:

 

Querying your novel is not a dating service:

 

Why every agent needs to own a firearm:

 

This is a new one:

 

Submitting rough drafts of your NaNoWriMo manuscript in early December. Probably not a good idea at all to mention if your manuscript was written during NaNoWriMo, ESPECIALLY if it’s a few months after: