why my do-not-query list is private
i have a do-not-query list.
i have not made it public, and i will not make it public.
i have, in response to certain agents/publishers doing stupid shit, mentioned that list. and i have sent it privately to people. but i do not have it as a public document.
why?
- one member’s father was, some years ago, suing people who publicized his son’s bad behavior. the truth is an absolute defense against charges of libel, but having to respond to even a clearly bullshit lawsuit is time and other resources i would rather spend on not-that.
- storytime:
over the past several years, i’ve been asked generally and specifically to evaluate more than a hundred agents/agencies/publishers. when i do so, i assume they are uniquely horrible and should be removed from polite society.
“how can you be so HORRIBLE?”
it’s my job. by day, i’m a copy editor. my job is to assume everyone is wrong. that way, i challenge assumptions, learn some information is wrong, and fix errors. i apply the same concept to research because being thorough works.
a yearish ago, i was asked to evaluate two presses. what i found was horrible. the first one was opaque and generally disorganized. the second one had misspelled words, inconsistent formatting, bad site design and opacity.
the first press thanked me for the feedback and improved some, though not all the way.
the second one … did not. a screenshot of my criticism was shared in another group, whereupon the press founder’s husband — an employee — tried to join my feedback group. i make clear that it is not open to industry professionals. i’m not sure why someone would disregard that. shortly after, a press author tried to join. we discussed the matter, and nothing she said disputed my criticisms. after she insulted me and my group, i said goodbye to her. then someone dmed me on another platform, again not disputing my criticisms, but inviting me to support the press and founder for demographic reasons.
the business is what it is. if you can’t be bothered to check spelling on your site, why should i expect you to check spelling on a manuscript? it’s not a “you’re brown, so i support you” issue. it’s a “you do the work” issue.
then i went looking for the founder — not to talk to her, just to see what was up. i found a meme she’d posted around the time her husband asked to join my group. that meme was something like “i didn’t think this needed to be said, but you don’t need to be an asshole.” it had been liked by someone whose name seemed familiar, so i went back to the press website to verify that … yup, that person had been published by that press.
and in going back to the site, i found one of the misspelled words i’d highlighted had been fixed. so now i was an asshole … worth listening to?
i blocked the founder and the press. i don’t need that shit in my life.
in the year since, i have warned dozens of people away from that press. others have had good or not-bad experiences. and some have loved it. and friends and others have had positive experiences with other people and presses on my list.
good. i wish them every possible success and happiness. i don’t want decent people to suffer, which is why i warn them about people and presses that seem gross to me. also, i don’t want the people and places on my list to, like, quit publishing. i simply want writers to be aware of nonpublic/hard-to-find concerns before they sign legally binding contracts.
so, why is my list private? so more people can’t come after me. so they can’t try to get me fired. so they can’t attack my kids. i know that every time i send someone my list, i risk them informing its residents, and already today someone has tried to do so.
lastly, membership on this list isn’t permanent. i have deleted one person from it because after they fucked around, they made amends. if that spellcheck-averse press came back and apologized and fixed its mistakes, that’d go a long way toward getting off this list.
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