Yes, you read it correctly. I met Miss Snark, the anonymous literary agent turned popular blogger about all things agent. Through some investigation, I learned the identity of Miss Snark recently and vowed to meet her at BookExpo America. I passed the word around to agents at the event: Tell Miss Snark I’m looking for her.  (I say “her,” but it could also be a “him.” To keep it simple, I will use the female gender from here on.)

Anyway - the word was out.  I was on a Snark hunt.  Days went by.  No word from MS. 

On the final day of BEA, I was sitting in an educational session and decided to leave for LaGuardia. I gathered my belongings and walked out of the room. Then, something out of a movie happened. As I passed the last row, a hand shot out from someone sitting in the crowd. It was a woman. She didn’t look up to meet my glance, but instead simply pointed out of the room, as if to say, “Meet me outside.” Outside, in the almost empty hallway, I looked at this woman’s name badge and saw who it was: Miss Snark herself, standing there right in front of me. 

She said she wasn’t in that session to meet me; it was just a serendipitous rendezvous. We talked for about 10 minutes, discussing everything: her blog, her decision to end it, what good will come of that, the relief of stopping, and much more.

“I got 500 e-mails telling me they were [saddened] that I was stopping,” she said. I asked her for "the definitive post-blog interview," and was denied - and then denied 16 more times as I persisted. Note: She also declined writing an article for the 2008 Guide to Literary Agents book, and said she will never write a book on agenting under the byline Miss Snark. Add it all up and you get this: The blog was truly a labor of love. How much time did she spend on those 4,000 helpful posts? Agents say they use their nights and weekends for reading submissions. How much time is left when you spend that time blogging?

It's still pretty amazing when you think about it.

Will the Legacy Live On?

So who is Miss Snark? The answer is secret, but she (or he) is still agenting in New York. Katharine Sands, an agent with the Sarah Jane Freymann Literary Agency in Manhattan (who is not Miss Snark, in case you were wondering), proposed an idea as to how Miss Snark could retire but live on; she calls it the “Dread Pirate Roberts” idea, in homage to The Princess Bride. Katharine suggested that a new literary agent continue the anonymous blog under the sobriquet, “Miss Snark,” and continue to give great feedback. Katharine even suggested a worthwhile successor - a successor I cannot name here in case she (or he) does indeed take on the moniker and resurrect the greatest agent blog on the Web. 

Long live Miss Snark.