Does this editor believe that agents are engaged in some secret sinister plot to disconnect the authors from the editors by moving to different houses? That doesn’t make sound business sense for an agent or an author–UNLESS the publisher is the one who fails the author first. In which case, any agent in his or her right mind would find a new home for the author. And that is the gist of the agent’s response.

And what’s with this put down of agents as being less literary minded than editors. Agents edit all the time! They have to, most editors won’t even consider a manuscript unless it’s presented to them in near publishable form. Sheesh.

Or should we dispense with agents altogether and go back to the days when authors submitted directly to the publisher? Yeah, somehow I don’t see today’s editors going along with that.