The Tale of the Agent who lost their job over a Tweet
Drama in the #WriterCommunity and #Querying Hell.
Writer Community
Literary agent Hilary Harwell (@hilaryharwell on X, account since deleted) tweeted the following on 23 June 2024:
“Just read a query that was essentially THE ROAD meets DELIVERANCE (#YA) and now I want someone to write this for me, please? 🤩 #amwriting ##amquerying #MSWL
Responses to the Agent’s Tweet:
Jamie Damato: with respect do you not see how it’s actually kind of insidious for an agent with industry influence to reject a querying writer with no power and then try to get someone ELSE to write THEIR concept but “better” just because they didn’t use those specific comps?
Morgana Bourggraff: but not the querier?
Hilary in response: Hi, no, the author did not pitch it as such nor was the opening strong enough.
Hilary, What Did You Do?
By all accounts, Hillary is a cracking good literary agent. If you don’t believe me check out her Publisher’s Marketplace.
I queried her and was rejected back in April. She was active on Twitter Pitch events. While I’ve never met her personally, that she is a human being, has kids, pets, and loves her job — comes out in her #MSWL and these interviews.
Stephanie D. Rondeau
Why the Witch Hunt?
The implication of the above tweet is that she rejected someone’s query and now wants someone else to write the idea proposed by the original author.
I found out about her tweet via threads. The thing is… Hilary’s past shows she’s represented a diverse cast of authors. Hasn’t she been doing good work with good intentions?
Hilary Joined KT Literary in 2016 began her life as a literary agent in 2017. I really liked her MSWL to the extent that I queried her a couple of months back.
I don’t think she’s a bad person and I don’t think this tweet was anything more than an agent asking for more of a ‘type of thing’.
That the tweet itself is in poor taste, yes.
That it sends shivers and dread down my back with a paranoia that screams to the rafters that Literary Agents are secretly hiding in the shadows willing to steal your carefully crafted plot and idea and redistribute it to an established author — NO WAY. INCONCEIVABLE!
And yet it HAS happened.
Agent Gives Author’s MS to Another Author
The allegation is that Emily Kim shared the manuscript of Lynne Freeman with Tracy Wolff who subsequently wrote and published a book through Deebs-Elkeaney.
See the linked court documents of Lynne Freeman versus Emily Sylvan Kim of Prospect Agency and Tracy T. Wolff
Thank you to @Beebbopalula on Twitter and AbsoluteWrite.com for sharing.
Linked Court Documents of Freeman’s case.
Response of the Writer Community
If agents really are this nefarious, well — then the vocal critics of traditional publishing are quick to voice their experiences. This is why you should drop these futile goals and self-/independently publish your work!
Trouble is, there are dragons in those realms too!
Suddenly a mountain of rejections, bad experiences, and poor experiences at the hands of literary agents are converted into the dung that is flung at poor Hilary.
SHAME!
Its entirely possible the original query in question had nothing to do with The ROAD meets DELIVERANCE. It could be that it just ‘read’ that way. OR it’s entirely possible that they quoted other comp titles and that Hilary was moving forward with that query while asking for the idea that jumped into her head that she thought would be brilliant.
Poorly written tweet, YES.
Did she have a mind for her audience? NO.
Am I making excuses for her? Yes.
Why?
Because she’s human. Humans make mistakes.
Then a plot twist. Found this post by Peyton June!!!:
So I guess an agent deactivated after she was called out for tweeting the premise of a book she rejected. Last year she rejected my query because “no one wants to buy books about grief.” She then tweeted part of the rejection as “advice” for authors. I was gutted. — @peyjuly on Twitter
In Response to herself:
I almost wanted to quit. I mean, how embarrassing???? A year later, I signed with the perfect agent and that “unsellable” book sold.
This industry is so subjective. Not everyone will understand your work, or even treat itwith respect. But please please please please know one person can’t speak for all of publishing.
That advice on writing that Hilary posted, I read and referenced in my background research of said agent as evidence that she was a sound agent BEFORE sending my query.
Unfortunately, those tweets and the thread have been deleted with the account.
Conclusion: The Agent Lost Their Job Over a Tweet.
On 24 June 2024 — a day later — the agency posted this on their instagram.
We at KT Literary have decided to part ways with an agent whose recent public statements directly contradict our values and the trust we work to build our clients. We are reaching out to affected clients to discuss their representation options and ensure continued support. Thank you for your patience and understanding. — KT Literary
Instagram image of KT Literary’s response (quoted above)
Back to business, as usual. That is the cold hard truth of the publishing industry. When you’re running on reputation, you can’t go anywhere near a scandal. When that scandal starts to show the cracks in your inability to monitor the ‘subjectivity’ of your agents? Well, then the dark side of humanity starts to show.
Amidst a tweet/thread storm, we’ll never know Hilary’s side of the equation. We don’t need to.
The Ugly Side of Literary Agents
In my querying journey I have found:
- literary agents who aren’t on social media and have no presence — agency reputation is the only indicator of whether they are good, bad, or in between;
- literary agents who vanished after creating a promising online presence;
- literary agents who hop between agencies — every two or three years they are at a different agency. An attractive #MSWL but long unanswered query queues.
A line that is repeated in the tweet storm commentary:
A good agent will work WITH an author to raise it to the level it needs to be to query publishers.
This puts a lot of onus on the agent’s shoulders.
Some agents, like Hilary, advertise expertise as developmental editors, query reviewers, pitch writers. Some are ghost writers. Many are successful authors marketing their books.
I get it. An agent may hustle to make ends meet. Agents burn out. Some make mistakes while trying to find the balance between their side-hustles. Some are predatory.
The majority of literary agents are good at what they do and are trying to make a living at it.
@Shardai_smith on Twitter reported finding an AI agent at Codex Literary Agency.Thread on Twitter exposing an AI agent.
Response of Literary Agents to the Tweet Storm
Already, the retweets and commentary is full of vitriol against the power tripping gatekeepers who are our literary agents.
Literary Agents were quick to condone Hilary’s tweet. Many spoke of their respect for confidentiality agreements.
Final Thoughts
Stories persist within the writer community: this is not the 1st time, nor is this the only agent to be found guilty. So many similar stories are being retold by traumatized published authors and agents alike. Factual evidence is rare.
When western born POCs, like myself, experience racism and bravely recount our story; it sparks a chain of storytelling. I think it happened to me but I brushed it off because I didn’t believe it was happening. We’re affronted. Should I call them out? I don’t want to create a scene.
We brush off these experiences in the hope that it’s not me. I’m not at risk.
Letting the news become water under the bridge guarantees that it will happen again. There’s no consequence to the system. The agent lost their job. The agency publicly distanced themselves. The twitter account is deleted. The victim goes uncompensated. Authors who self or independent published are vindicated.
In voicing my fear, will I be reprimanded? Silence falls.
Until it all happens again.
I wrote this article for the non-twitter users who are at the end of a game of broken telephone.
Wherever you are Hilary, wish you well and good thoughts. Hope you learn from your mistakes.
-D.M. De Alwis
Why am I posting this? The writing community is composed of 1000s of individuals spread across the world. This story will not be featured in a newspaper.
Literary Agent Hilary Harwell was known to many Fantasy and Horror writers because of her participation in recent twitter pitch events such as #DarkPit and #KidLitPit. She specifically wanted to represent members of the BIPOC & LGBTQ+ communities.
Step back and consider what the tweet storm is about.
The Writer Community online is TIGHT.
If you’re a querying author reading this — now you know. It happened. It isn’t an urban legend.
