Jillian Chantal

I’ve been wanting to blog about this for a few days but went out of town and when I got back, I was working on some edits and some work for the day job.  This is the first chance I’ve gotten to bring this up.

I follow several editors and agents on Twitter. Mostly for information about what’s going on w/the industry but some of them are quite witty and others tweet about other things that interest me besides the publishing industry.

I was a little surprised when one of these people tweeted last week (and I’m paraphrasing here) that he/she didn’t like to invite people to hang out or socialize as it could lead to that person getting false hopes for representation or publication.  In just a few seconds, another editor/agent chimed in- echoing the sentiment.

My first thought was that the level of arrogance was unreal. Spectacular even.  I was stunned that these people thought they were so important that people would only want to be friendly to them if they thought it would lead to a contract.  Then it dawned on me that it was really spectacularly sad. At least to me it was. They may think they’re too important to be friendly, but I think it’s tragic.

I would hate to go through my life thinking people only wanted to be around me for what I could give them.  To think there was no way someone would want to socialize with me because I’m charming and fun to be around, but only because they want a publishing deal. Sad, sad, sad.

I’m not an award winning writer and may never be, but I am a pretty big deal in my day job. I’m a well known/respected lawyer with a lot of  years of experience in a very specialized field. I’m always available to chat with people (even strangers) about legal issues. I wrote a training manual for the Florida Bar (under my real name) that’s in its 6th edition and I get calls from all over the state from lawyers with questions (some of them call even from outside a courtroom while in the middle of  trial). I’ve also served as an expert witness numerous times.

I’ve never felt too good to talk to people- nor have I ever felt I was superior to them. We are all people deserving of respect. It doesn’t take anything away from me for me to share my knowledge. Nor does it make me feel that people only like me for what I can offer them.

I find those tweets I was privy to last week to be very disturbing. The publishing industry is tough and is small; just like the legal community. It’s sad that the same level of camaraderie can’t be reached. I’ve duked it out in court many a time, left the building and joined opposing counsel for lunch. Wonder why that’s so hard for agents and editors? We, the great unwashed, undeserving hoi polloi, just like to have fun sometimes sans ulterior motive.