On the spur of the moment the other night I tweeted an agent I follow about a picture she'd posted. I was pleased to notice her reply the next day didn't ask who I was and why I felt the need to pester her, but it got me thinking: does being able to contact agents in such a way really help? It's possible random tweeting could get you labelled as a lunatic before you've even bought stamps for your sub. I hadn't planned to contact any of the agents I follow in that way and use twitter to see what they are looking for as they sometimes tweet that. What do we think about prior to sub contact through social networking, dangerous or daring?
I don't use Twitter and don't intend to, unless I become a celebrity author who adoring young women feel obliged to 'follow' (for their own fulfilment, of course). But I don't recall ever seeing an agent encourage any kind of contact prior to a submission - definitely not of the 'hey, fancy taking a look at my work?' brand of contact.
I would say the only exception I've found is on sites like this, with agent blogs open to comment.
I will not be tweeting agents. Each to their own way of trying to attract an agent. I will send out about twenty submissions when I feel my manuscript is ready.
I am now following you on twitter, Victoria. I am @AdrianJohnSroka
Gilly - you're not a writer they might like to represent?
Thanks Katie and Louise. I'm a FB veteran as I lived abroad and it kept me in contact with my friends (I love FB for that) but I'm quite new to tweeting. @JewelInTheJar if anyone feels like adding to my small and select band of followers.