Why do so few agents give feedback when they decline?

[Katie-Ellen]

The video link won't work, sadly. She has protected her tweets, but a freelance editor is saying:-

We want pre-polished, edited manuscripts. Why? We don't get paid until the writer gets paid. Agents do not get paid to edit or provide feedback. If we offer feedback it comes out of our own personal time. Cherish any feedback you do get. We only give it if we see there is a potential for publication.

 

[Hannah Faoileán]

One agent just re-opened for submissions and tweeted that they received 140 in one day. That's why they need readers and why they don't have time to give feedback to most. I think it's important to be philosophical and just take it as part of the process.

 

[AgentPete]

Agents are reluctant to give feedback because (1) it is indeed a significant drain on their own time (5 mins each X 140 subs = 11.5 hours a day!) (2) it opens the door to an ongoing correspondence that probably won't be productive; (3) putting their own views in writing may be a hostage to fortune and could call their judgement into question when/if your work becomes a bestseller

(I had several elaborate rejections for WOLF BROTHER that I still occasionally dig out and smirk over…)

 

[Dorm Ant]

Feedback is a service, surely? If I want feedback, I expect to either pay for it, or put the equivalent amount of my time into offering feedback for a peer. I don't get why any writer would expect it free from a busy agent. Do they?!

 

[Katie-Ellen]

Writers here have at times expressed upset at getting nothing but standard form rejections.

 

[E G Logan]

And when the form is: "I liked it but I didn't like it enough" – I have myself been known to express regret. Maybe I'll have it carved on my tombstone.