Some odd news from Victoria Strauss:

eBay has attracted its share of writing weirdness. Writers trying to sell their unpublished manuscripts, writers trying to find investors to finance their writing, writers bidding for the right to write one page of a collaborative novel...the list goes on.

Here's a new one: a literary agency that attempted to auction off the chance for representation. (Here's a link to the cached version of the auction listing, for when it drops off eBay.)

The auction, offered by the UK-based Westwood Literary Agency, urged writers to "bid for a literary agent for your manuscript...a one-time chance to get your manuscript noticed." And why was this thrilling opportunity up for grabs? "We are offering this chance because a.) we are taking in new authors, b.) we are dissatisfied with the quality of the current manuscript submissions and c.) we have decided to try this as a new marketing technique to attract new talent."

Um, in case you can't figure it out, Ms. Strauss offers some good reasons why you shouldn't bid on an agency (people should be bidding on you, no?)