What do those rascally fellows really do?

A agent opens the door to the editor. Past that they have similar tasks. Read through books until they find a winner.

To be a winner you have to know your craft, you have to know grammar and have a burning desire that ignores all distractions. We go into some of this stuff elsewhere on this site, but, really, that’s up to you. It depends on how well you educate yourself, and how good you are at ignoring things that distract you from writing.

You being expert at grammar and finding yourself wanting to sit at a desk for 10 to 12 hours a day, I want to address the question: how do you tell a good agent/editor from a bad one?

I’ve had agents, and I’ve had editors, and whether they are good or bad is a bell curve. Interestingly, whether they are good or bad does not depend just on whether they make you money.

Most agents/editors are okay. They are adequate. They do the job and provide you with the least distractions and encouragement.

The good ones provide you with inspiration.

Out of the dozen or so agents/editors I’ve had there were two good ones. I’ve had two Einsteins out of a world of engineers.

The first one was Marion Zimmer Bradley. MZB wrote books. She probably wanted to fill in spare time, so she started her own sci fi/fantasy magazine.

I sent her a story and she wrote back. Not a form letter, didn’t just drop my mail in the shredder, but answered. In essence, she said, ‘Al wonderful story, but it’s a bit airheaded in that you haven’t threatened the world with destruction.’

Bam! Hit me right between the eyes. Not rude, not polite, but a sentence or two written by a writer who understands how to ignore distractions, and even writes her simple responses to submissions with no distractions.

Shortly after that I wrote Monkeyland, which started The Monkeyland Series, in which the world was threatened with destruction.

The other most excellent editor again responded to my submission with a short, one or two sentence advice that cut me through and through.

Whether I’m right or wrong, whether you agree or disagree, I have divided agents and editors into three categories.

Bad agents/editors don’t answer you. They are ‘too busy’ to bother with the hoi polloi. Your email just evaporates with no word to let you know that you aren’t even worthy of their notice.

Adequate agents/editors send you a form letter. Even if it is corporate structured and manufactured by algorithm, at least they responded. They care enough to keep you in the loop.

Good agents/editors respond. Not with computer generated form letters, but with incisive thought that might be polite, or might be rude, but which causes you to change your pants.

I’m sure there will be agents/editors who will disagree with what I’ve said here. Even though they are on the other end of the pipeline, I respect their opinion, even as I drop it into the shredder.

The publishing business is all about communication. Paying money for a book is communication. Sending a book, something a writer has spent his life on, is the initiation of some very significant communication. How can an agent/editor even call themselves an agent/editor if they don’t answer that communication?

Too busy? You aren’t as busy as Marion Zimmer Bradley was.