Different cultures . . .

I happened to see the cover of the July/August edition of Poets & Writers* the other day and got a reminder of how different the writing world is from Hollywood and gaming. There are the cover were four agents being lauded as "game changers" who "turned their debut writers into last summer's hot new author's."

The agents were considerably more modest than the headline writer or even the article's author. But while it's tempting to simply dismiss the story as the latest example of Silver Bullet Wishism, the fact remains that literary agents are held in a much higher regard than their comrades in other fields.

In Hollywood, (writers') agents are generally considered at best as a necessary evil. And I've heard more than one game producer say anyone who uses an agent can't be any good. But literary agents on the whole have a very  positive reputation, even with publishers, who in theory should be their natural opposition. (I do know of a few exceptions, on both sides of the equation.)

Part of that may be because a good number of agents started as editors. But I think much of it has to do with the cultural difference between publishing and other art and entertainment fields. Books, even commercial fiction and nonfiction, are still regarded as somehow above the commercial fray.

They're not, of course. But those of us who write them like to pretend they are, at least occasionally.

* - The article doesn't appear to be on the website, which can be accessed at http://www.pw.org/