At any Pennwriters’ conference, one of the best attended sessions is the Agents/Editors Panel Discussion. This is where we writers suck in any and all advice concerning trends, preferences, opportunities, turnoffs, and anything else those agents and editors care to share faster than light near a black hole.

Some questions were the same. “What’s the latest trend?” The answer was also always the same. “Don’t write to the trend or you’ll be behind it.” Thank goodness for panel moderator Nancy Martin who delivered a great set of questions to keep things moving. Her efforts turned a boring ‘same-ole’ into an enlightening discussion.

The most informative part of the discussion centered on upheaval in the publishing industry. Here’s some food for thought:

With over 400 editors let go by publishers over the last year, agents now have to deal with a whole new set of players. Familiar contacts aren’t there any more. Publishers have put some projects on hold. They’ve also put out the word that they’re not going to have the time or money to edit works to the extent they went to before.  

What this means to we writers is that our manuscripts have to be highly polished when they arrive at the agent’s doorstep. One agent even went so far as to suggest paying a professional freelance editor to go over your novel before submission – a fee that can run hundreds or thousands. Uhhhh.

This industry sea change forced me to look deeply into the agent’s perspective. Imagine having to go through myriad queries, looking for something promising, and polished, and able to be marketed a year or two into the future. It’s like panning for gold with the expectation that you’ll find a well-crafted 24k chain in a new style that everybody will be wearing a couple of Christmases from now. Yep, it’s almost as easy as picking winning lottery numbers.

While they agents painted a glum picture, they also shared some optimism. The industry has to produce books, or they will be twelfth in line behind Chrysler at bankruptcy court. They see the glaciating in the industry thawing soon. Publishers utterly need fresh stories to survive. So do editors. So do agents. And, it’s up to we writers to deliver.