Impressed (derogatory) with the gall of querying writers who do not follow any of my submission guidelines but do, regardless, feel entitled to follow up with me every single day, sometimes more than once a day. You better twirl those red flags.
Mark O’Brien
@bookmarkobrien.bsky.social
Associate literary agent at Azantian Literary Agency, previously at NetGalley, Writers House, Triada US, and more. Queer, neuroscoundrel, he/him. #1 fan of my perfect cat Monroe and onion rings. Freelance edits: https://bookmarkobrien.com
Could an LLM extend a meaningful invitation to vampire for purposes of threshold crossing?
Fun bit: telling your gay partner you’d still like them if they were gay. It kinda just always hits. And it’s free!!!
unfortunately i am invisible now due to having been disappeared :(
Adrian 'buy HAIR SHIRT' Sobol@yoadrianididit.bsky.social · 2w agoExcuse me?
it's always odd when "you should expose yourself to more diverse ideas" always means a certain kind of conservatism instead of like, Indigenous art, new fusion foods, math paradoxes, or the Dvorak keyboard layout
What’s the suburban equivalent of “this book made me miss my subway stop”?
I’m being impersonated by a scammer. Like any reputable agent, I will never refer querying writers to a freelance editor. Nor will I contact writers directly from a Gmail account. My agency has some tips for identifying these sorts of scams: www.azantianlitagency.com/scams
It’s always panem et circenses, never panem lightly toasted et a little bit of butter
I had a great chat with John Parker on @thegailyshow.org yesterday. Check out the second half for: the EEOC refusing to investigate trans cases, the right’s fury over MyGender Dolls, and anti-trans crusaders turning on women’s rights (as we always said they would). www.youtube.com/live/knPxQzk...
Children’s Theatre Company. Journalist Faefyx Collington on EEOC & Flint Del Sol.
YouTube video by The Gaily Show
youtube.com
My eleven-year anniversary of working in book publishing is on Saturday, and I’m very proud. It is the honor of my life to work with so much incredible art.
Sometimes people will ask me how to become a literary agent, and as I always tell them, step one is finding something else to do
There’s a super special top-secret extra bonus layer of hell for strangers who sign me up for their newsletters
KOKO THE GORILLA: Koko birkin bag. Practical Koko possession bag RESEARCHER: No, Koko. You can’t have a Birkin bag. KOKO: Good Birkin good Koko give beautiful Koko deserve gorilla RESEARCHER: Koko, we simply can’t afford a Birkin bag. It is an unjustifiable expense. KOKO: jealousy professor
The annual Marge Simpson Convention is on and I’m on the outside, looking in
I would like to be reincarnated as someone who doesn't have an anxiety disorder, please. No worries if not!
One day I'm going to write about classism in book publishing from my POV as a college dropout who's lived 95% of his life in poverty and has worked in the industry for eleven years. Some outlet should pay me for this, actually.
And if I said I used four exclamation points in a three-line work email just now, what then?
Professional achievements: •working with my incredible clients •11 years in book publishing next month •I am the Wikipedia editor who added this image to the article for Becky Albertalli
