I’ve grown quite used to pontificating on this semi-frequented blog, but now it’s your turn to get all Dear Abby on me.
What advice would you offer me?
This can touch on anything from how to find clients to how to deal with queries to how to maintain a social life (ha!) while working full time and reading hundreds of pages a week.
Really, you tell me this time.
Mary says
I don’t know if you’re a coffee drinker or not. But I recently stopped drinking caffeine after 10:30 am, for the rest of the day I drink water.
You’ll feel more energetic, and the reduction in stress-levels is amazing!
Anonymous says
I appreciate your “when in doubt query me” attitude, but the lack of quantifying what type/tone of YA excites you — what type you usually sell leaves us with no clue if you’re a viable agent for us.
This is what Publishers Marketplace is for, where you can look up the books he’s sold and read them.
Nathan Bransford says
Honestly, I’m a bit confused by all this focus about my particular specific tastes. Within the genres I represent, just query me.
I also don’t think what I’ve sold previously is necessarily the best guide if you’re trying to get specific — I want different voices than what I’ve sold in the past, not similar ones.
Anonymous says
I thought (now banished)anon 2:26 did have some valid points. Bad queries should roll off an agent like water from the proverbial duck’s back. If you want to discover unknown gems, it’s part of the job, something hardly worth mentioning let alone complaining about. Think of the novelist writing book after book after book–on spec–until one finally gets placed. There has to be an equivalent side of the proverbial publishing coin for agents, and that side is slogging through piles of misguided, sub-amateur drivel in the hopes of one day finding something salable that will pay off. Obviously you want more for yourself than your existing clients are likely to pay out, or you would have no need for new subs whatsoever. As someone else pointed out above, the only other way to get new clients if you don’t want to deal with a slush flood is to make unsolicited inquiries yourself to up-and-coming authors who are burning up the Amazon ranks without a traditional publisher, and see if you can sign them with promises of bigger and better things.
Keri Ford says
I also don’t think what I’ve sold previously is necessarily the best guide if you’re trying to get specific
Nathan, for me, I’m not so much interested in what you’ve sold as much as I want to know to which house and which editor it went to. You don’t rep romance, but if I saw houses/editors in your contacts my book would fit with, I’d send it to you and pitch it as more of mystery than romance.
I want different voices than what I’ve sold in the past, not similar ones.
thank you for saying this! I’ve never understood the, query agents who have material similar to yours. All you get back is a, ‘I’m sorry, I love your story, but I have someone like this on my roster already. good luck.’
nightsmusic says
I’m sorry. I was speaking of agents in general and thought I made that clear when I posted about the specificity issue. Not you.
If an agent takes paranormal romance, say so. Don’t say “I like romance, commercial fiction, mystery, suspense, fantasy, yada yada and then tell the querying author, I don’t do paranormal romance. To me, and perhaps I’m totally off-base with this, romance is one of the broadest genre titles out there. If the agent loves contemporary paranormal romance but hates historical romance, they need to say that and save everyone a lot of time. That’s all.
Sorry.
nm
Anonymous says
“I appreciate your “when in doubt query me” attitude, but the lack of quantifying what type/tone of YA excites you — what type you usually sell leaves us with no clue if you’re a viable agent for us.”
What’s with writers pinpoint laser targeting agents who already say they’re in “your genre” anyway? If you have a YA–any kind of YA–and an agent says they handle YA–any kind of YA, regardless of whether you think it’s “like yours” or not, then send it! Who cares what they sold last month or signed this month? At most there’s maybe what, 150 agents handling YA? Query all of them, 10 or so at a time. Why waste time fretting over “but do you like YA-like-this, or does it have to be YA-like-that?” Silliness!
Anonymous says
Bad queries are part of the job, something hardly worth mentioning let alone complaining about.
Really? And how would other writers know what’s “bad” if Nathan and other agents didn’t point it out?
Nathan Bransford says
anon@3:29-
I’m happy to have a conversation about these things as long as they’re done in a non-insulting manner, so thanks for bringing it up in a more constructive way than previously-deleted anon.
You’re absolutely right, queries should flow right off my back, and normally they do. I’d say I’m pretty positive in general, I put myself out here on the Internet specifically to get more queries, I’m proud that by according to one measure I’m the most-queried agent in publishing. So I would definitely agree with you.
But I’m also human and this is a frustrating business — not just for authors. I think sometimes aspiring authors have a notion that they have a monopoly on frustration, and that’s not the case. When you sit on this side of the computer screen it’s not at all easy, and sometimes it’s frustrating, particularly when you’re wading through a whole lot of hostile and frivolous queries to try and get to the good stuff.
I definitely agree with what you’re saying, but hopefully the fact that I occasionally get frustrated shows that it’s all a little more complex than an agent sitting up on high like a king of the castle.
Julie Weathers says
Nathan,
Number one, I’m glad you don’t lock yourself into saying you want books that read like xyz or whatever. All that does is encourage poor imitations of the real thing.
When you discover you no longer have a passion for a certain genre, post it immediately. Not that everyone will pay attention, but it may cut down some traffic.
Honestly, I probably wouldn’t submit to you if you hadn’t said several times, “try me.” That and you like historicals and my fantasies have some strong historical elements. In the short run, that attitude probably gets you a lot more submissions than some others get.
However, I think you looking for works that speak to you instead of locking yourself into strict boundaries is going to pay off. You might very well be the one who picks up something unique like Harry Potter because you’re willing to taste something different.
Take time to go off and do unique things that force your mind off business. Go to a pow wow or a Celtic festival or a ren faire or something equally different. Go up in the mountains and rent a cabin for two days and just listen to birds. Go to the beach and just hang out. Everyone needs to get away and let their mind and spirit renew.
Julie Weathers says
“However, I like trees. I’d rather you just took a more relaxed view toward the truly abysmal queries. That, or start using an online system which is just sufficiently complex enough to flummox those people who couldn’t locate their own bum if they used both hands.”
Phffft. I can’t even figure out how to post links. Now you’re going to make me figure out how to post in a complex system to submit queries?
That will only cause me to haunt your blog with endless whining.
Anonymous says
WWMSD?
Anonymous says
Gin?
Anonymous says
I hear you, Nathan. (Anon 3:29 here).
And let me add (since a lot of people here have likely queried you themselves) that I don’t mean to say that every query you receive with the exception of the ones you choose to represent is complete crap–it also must be frustrating to come across a well-written, professional query for a project that has obvious commercial potential, but that for whatever reason, you just aren’t that into it, or you don’t have the professional contacts for that type of project. That must happen from time to time as well; it’s not as black and white as every query either being total crap or obvious winner.
Nathan Bransford says
anon-
Definitely.
Adaora A. says
@Julie – I completely agree. I like the generality of what you accept because it means more of us have a chance to be represented by him.
As I was having my dinner San Francisco made the CNN news. They cancelled the Olympics festivities because protesters were polluting the place. I saw a very sunny and lovely place crowded out by people who are prostesting a little too late. Could they not have done it earlier. I agree with the human rights issues which need to be addressed but they wait until it’s all set up and they bombard a city, enough to ruin the festivities.
Did the parade make it to you office Nathan?
Lynne says
Be the agent for my book(s), we’ll both make megabucks and you can hire an assistant for the slush pile, travel, surf, whatever you want! Now I shall go see if the Olympic Flame gets very far.
Aimless Writer says
Dear Agent-man. What I’d like in an agent easy.
A nice rejection letter. Please don’t give me a sliver of paper with a no thanks. (electronic submissions may have ended this little issue) Even if its a form it can still be a nice form letter.
If you do send a rejection and maybe my work was close to what you want but not quite making the grade-pencil a little note on the margin saying something-ANYTHING. (One agent said, This book moved too fast-In five little words she taught me pacing)I understand its not your job or responsibility, but its nice to get.
Please know when I meet you in person I’m shaking in my boots so don’t think I’m really this goofy, most times I’m normal.
After I send you the next great American Novel and we sign the contract-don’t forget me! Even an occasional email will be fine. Keep me updated, just say hi, tell me about your new pet piranna.
Don’t be afraid to tell me life got in the way, but things are still okay. I have life too, so I’ll understand.
Keep blogging. It’s priceless.
🙂
Captain Ron says
I’d suggest using sub-contracted or incentive driven test readers and actually examine more manuscripts, regardless of the ‘quality’ of their query. You even have enough of a following, where you could use volunteers.
Why, do you ask?
For two reasons… Your opinion is, well, your opionion, as is everyone’s… as is the particular mood you’re in at the time of your reading… And, as stated, you can examine more manuscripts by sampling the opinion of your reader’s ‘score card’ before investing your time.
Hey… you asked…
Captain Ron says
And I agree with Beth at 10:54 AM.
austexgrl says
Agents should be VERY SPECIFIC about what type of books they want to represent…saves them time and saves us time, too. Also, one agent’s perfect query is another agents pet peeve. Isn’t there some way agents could show examples on their blogs about what to do and not to do. Honestly, the last thing a writer wants is to piss off a potential agent.
Thanks Mr. Bransford.
LindaBudz says
Was just reading about the torch and thought of you, Nathan. Hope all is well there!
I very recently gave yoga a shot and now I’m like, OMG, I waited until practically middle age to do this? Why oh why didn’t I start this 20 years ago? If you haven’t already, I encourage you to try it! And start out with a super easy class so you can relax and get into it.
beth says
@ Nathan and Anons–
When I mentioned specificity originally, I actually meant agents in general, not Nathan in particular–because I do like Nathan’s open-door (open-query?) policy. I wish other agents had it. But I do worry about wasting my and Nathan’s time by sending something he’s not likely to like…especially if all agents were so open about what specifics they want! I want to be professional, and shudder to think of an agent getting my query and rolling his/her eyes “Oh, jeez, one of these, I hate it when an author does ____ in the genre! Why can’t an author do ___ in the genre instead!”
And, PS to Nathan: In all honesty, I think what you’re doing (and how you’re doing it) is about the best thing I could ever wish for in an agent.
And, PPS to Nathan, re: frustration for agents not just writers–Wow, never thought of it your way, but you’re right, it must be frustrating on your side of the computer, too. Thanks for keeping us all in perspective.
John says
[As usual, I’m late to the party so this is probably going to get lost in the mists of time. But fwiw…]
This isn’t for agents, but for writers… The whole thing about needing genre specificity is (I think) a red herring, a distraction. Think about it: you’re not just a writer but a reader (and you were certainly the latter before the former). So AS A READER you go into a bookstore, or you click over to Amazon, Powells, Alibris, whatever. You need to find a book — not a specific book, just a book that you’ll be interested in. Where do you go?
If you’re looking for the shelves labeled “YA Paranormal Fantasy Romance” you probably have a frustrating afternoon ahead of you.
Instead, you go to the YA section. You start looking for books with swirly purple artwork on the covers. And you proceed from there.
Note that you did not start in Romance. You did not start in Fantasy/SF.
THAT’S how to solve the whole perceived “What genre do I write, and does it correspond to what you represent?” dilemma. Go at it as a reader, in a retail establishment. DO NOT pitch your YA-Paranormal-Romance-etc. book that way. Pitch it as a simple YA title, avoid the entanglements of description which merely make it too hard for someone to sell your work, and let them make up their own minds (once you’ve hooked them with your query) how to construct their own pitches to editors. No matter how different your work is from everyone else’s — i.e., no matter how specific its “true” genre — it has to begin by being LIKE a lot of others.
Remember that in the Garden of Eden, life was blissful when Adam and Eve just pointed at something and said “tree.” They didn’t get into trouble until they started to embellish that noun with “of knowledge,” “boughs heavy with ripe tasty fruit,” “domain of eerily intelligent reptiles,” and so on. 🙂
nightsmusic says
John!
FWIW, I LOVED your post! Thank you for giving me a delightfully comical (yes, I know, the dreaded adverb but here I think it applies) way to look at it all!
thanks!
nm
Jeff Abbott says
Full disclosure: I am a long-time Curtis Brown client, and have known Nathan for several years. I think he’s a great guy and a very capable agent.
I am only posting because I am seeing a couple of things in the comments that I would like for people to think about a bit. First of all, I know how hard it is to land an agent–years ago I had two major publishers offering on my first novel and still a couple of agents wouldn’t return my phone calls. (Yes, I still know their names, and no, I did not have voodoo dolls fashioned in their likeness.) It can be maddening. But I would like to offer, respectfully, a little knowledge borne of experience with agents and editors for y’all to consider as you go about your agent search.
First: requesting more specificity from Nathan or any agent is self-defeating. Agents cannot make a living just representing narrow tastes within genres. No agent represents only noir, or only cozy traditional mysteries, or only paranormal romance. Because very few editors specialize that deeply as well. So they represent mystery, or romance, and what they hope is not only to find a great project but–this is key–a great writer who they can build into a long-term success. If it’s a traditional romance, great, if it’s a historical romance, great. But agents are not going to self-limit what they’re looking for because that serves neither the writer, nor the agent, nor the editor. And in turn you want an agent who sees the value in your project and the value in you as a writer, not one who simply draws specific subgenre boundaries and asks only for those books that fall within the boundary. You would get a very small-minded agent who did not know the wider market. He would also be faint due to starvation.
An acquisition editor at a major publisher will likely want a mix of books for their catalog. For instance, when my agent sold A KISS GONE BAD (a suspense thriller) to NAL as my first deal with that publisher, the other crime novels in the imprint included cozies, suspense thrillers, police thrillers, historical mysteries, etc. (and beyond that, a mix of westerns, sci-fi, historical, and mainstream commercial fiction.) So, yes, editors do buy a range of material within a genre, and agents need to be able to identify and represent a range of material in the genre.
Re agents declining because they already represent someone similar to you–well, that’s very common. I have heard of agents turning down published authors because the author’s work is too close in feel or sub-genre to another author’s work who they already represent. I’m not sure of every reason for this, but I think it’s a challenge for any sales rep (agent) to sell two products that are very similar (two writers who are too close in feel or style or subject). One is always going to win out, and the other may suffer, and then the agent hasn’t done his best duty by that second client. So don’t get annoyed when you hear that, just move on to the next agent. This is also why you don’t want agents with too much specificity. Seriously–if any agent said he/she really wanted vampire romance novels, and took a dozen such writers on as clients, do you think any of those writers would get the best of treatment?
What I hope aspiring writers remember in approaching any agent is that a good and reputable agent is not looking just for the next book to sell, but the next author to build. Years ago when I was looking for an agent, I would have loved to have blogs like Nathan’s to read. You all are very lucky to have this resource at this point in your writing careers.
I wish you all success in your agent search.
Peace,
Jeff
Adaora A. says
@Jeff- Great post. Doesn’t that go back to what he said about a good book being just that? If you restrict yourself to what’s ‘popular,’ then you’re setting yourself up for disaster. Who knows how long the ‘in’ thing will be ‘in.’ Books that seemed to have made it big were books that beat their drum in their own way. I remember watching A&E with J.K Rowling. They mentioned two things that stuck out to me:
1. The Slush Pile
2. Her book was against the grain. NO one was writing about wizards going to wizard school when she was subbing. People were turning it down because they were sure it wouldn’t sell. That’s insane when you think about it now.
Furious D says
1. Get a haircut, ya hippy! 😉
2. Eat lots of fibre.
3. Never play pool against anyone nicknamed after a US State.
4. Eat more Indian food, it makes the fibre more palatable.
5. Geese can be troublesome.
6. Don’t let the queries from the nut-cases, half-wits, and cranks get you down.
Nothing But Bonfires says
Watch The Bachelor regularly. And DVR The Hills when it’s on at the same time as The Bachelor. Honestly, you need SOME comic relief.
Anonymous says
Something that I like that the people at Donald Maas do is the “What We’re Looking For” page.
Now that’s their thing, and this is your thing. But I bet your version of a similar thing would be interesting and helpful. And I wish more agents would do something like that.
J.P. Martin says
You are intelligent, informative AND humorous (BIG plus). I enjoy reading your blog and I look forward to submitting to you in the next few months. I don’t know that there is anything that you could do differently when it comes to agent/potential client relations. You give people more of a chance than most other agents do.
A lot of people on here have suggested that you be more specific about genre preference or send more informative rejection letters. I don’t think that is really going to help YOU any. Managing stress in various ways is certainly not a bad idea. Maybe you could print out some of the queries or take your laptop to a nearby park or balcony and read through a few submissions for a change of pace/scenery. Computer glasses can help with some of the eyestrain associated with staring at a computer screen for many hours of the day.
Maybe you should put yourself in the writers’ shoes and write a short story or two. Maybe you could get the rest of the office to join in a little friendly short story competition to see if you know-it-alls can do any better. Then you guys can critique the anonymous short stories and whoever has the most agents willing to “represent” would be the winner.
For most writers I don’t think that writing the story is the hardest part. I think the criticism is. Everybody wants to be the exception to the rule and I think this prevents writers from seeking out truly objective critiques. I think you would get fewer lower quality submissions if the writers that submit to you first submitted to a Simon Cowell-like critic.
Maybe you could write a post about professional editing services. You could take a poll at the office to find out how much more likely a professionally edited query and/or manuscript is likely to be considered.
I know that many writers view editors, independent and ones that work for publishing houses, as killers of originality and creativity. They think that their manuscript is going to be turned into some lifeless, superficial commercial flop. On top of that they cost money and writers are trying to make money, not spend it. From what I understand editors normally tell a writer WHAT to change, but not HOW to change it. This still leaves the writer to their creativity while at the same time making the story more [fill in the blank].
Maybe if writers had a better idea of what kind of changes editors requested they would be more willing to seek their advice. An editor can’t MAKE a query/story be perfect, but they can help a writer realize they are a few revisions away from submitting.
Bottom line: Your blog rules. You give us all of the necessary info necessary to submit great queries. If people can’t get that right I really don’t see what else you could do short of writing it for them.
Thanks for everything.
Wanda B. Ontheshelves says
Chasing a Cat Never Works
Oh, I have no advice at all. Don’t change anything. Don’t do one thing differently. It doesn’t matter one way or the other.
***
Recently I was thinking about the phrase “torn limb from limb.” I had returned to a spot where I had fallen on some slippery, semi-moldy grass (chasing my cat so he wouldn’t run through the mud up ahead, chasing a cat never works, when will I ever learn?).
As I fell, I was amazed at how the energy of the impact passed through my hips, my knees, my ankles – I just looked at them flopping around in the air, like my god, have I just broken every bone in my body?
Well, happily enough, I didn’t break any bones – although I did make a mental note to A) Never chase after a cat again and B) Never run on grass, the day after the snow on it has been melted away by a rainstorm.
But falling like that gave me an idea of what the phrase “torn limb from limb” means. And I was thinking that there was an emotional equivalent to that, intellectual, imaginative: We can blog all we want, or write, or query, or whatever we want to do to “build a career” as a writer – and for a lot of us (most of us, 99% of us), it’s like running on semi-moldy, “snow-drenched” spring grass – we’re going to fall (fail), our books will never be picked up, and far in the future, if these agent’s blogs are archived somewhere, researchers (unborn as yet!) will pore through them, or maybe batches of our query letters stashed somwhere, doing “content analysis,” using our words, our dreams of a writing career, as a window into American popular culture, globalization, or whatever the researcher’s area is. Maybe some Chinese grade schooler right now in Shanghai, will be the collective biographer of all us querying / blog posting / writer’s career dreaming English-speaking people. That’s it. That’s as far as it goes. When you die you bequeath your writings to your grandchild, they aren’t interested, and the lot of it gets recycled with pizza flyers and shredded bank statements. The End.
***
Right now I have a “frontispiece” of Olaudah Equiano staring at me – an African-American/Afro-British bought-himself-out-of-slavery adventurer and abolitionist. What’s he saying to me? “Just write the damn thing(s)” “Fuck it” “Fuck it all.”
Advice to self: Don’t chase after cats. Advice to agents: Don’t have any. But thanks for letting me post on your blogs!
JaxPop says
Cut down on the blog – limit yourself to 2 or 3 posts per week – days to post changing as you feel motivated.
Ditto previously suggested email checks.
Get outside as much as you can. Walking, biking, whatever – all stress relief.
MAKE time for yourself & your future Mrs. – no matter what.
Change from bourbon to Irish whiskey –
Appreciate those that appreciate you – ignore the rest.
Listen to the song “Don’t Blink” by Kenny Chesney (ok so it’s country – sue me) – but it’s true, life goes faster than you think. Enjoy life every day Nathan. You’re a good guy – you desrve it.
Anonymous says
Grrr…
Advice for the agent? Well, based on your blog and your willingness to provide advice to readers, I think you’re a genuine, good-natured person who sincerely cares about the careers of writers.
However, like every agent, you seem to believe that agents are busier than everyone else in the world and are the only people struggling to maintain a “social life.”
My advice? Understand that authors are insanely pressed for time, too. Most have day jobs, family obligations, and still manage to write.
Me? I work full time, am earning a law degree, and manage to write.
Social life? Does anyone today really have one? We squeeze in social interaction when we can… dinner here, the rare movie there…
Best of luck with that 🙂
mlh says
What advice would I offer an agent? Simple.
Eat, drink, and be merry.
Have a fantastic meal, take off your agent chains, heft up your glass of bourbon, and go down to the beach to watch the sunset. Remind yourself during the tough times that you can step out of these fantastic writers’ worlds and enjoy real life now and again. Then step back into these aspiring writers’ fantasies with a refreshed attitude.
And let us know if you’ve spotted the Olympic torch.
Nathan Bransford says
Update on the Olympic torch — they never came by our offices. They moved it over to another part of the city, all of the people who were protesting outside our offices had gone off looking for it, and by the time I walked home from work today you’d almost never know there had been a giant protest. Just a few stragglers and police officers left over.
Lane says
I liked Aimless Writer’s idea. its obviously not your job and you shouldnt have to go to great lengths to do it, but if the reason pops out at you immediately, it would be awesome if u mentioned it.
And I would love to know more about your clients actually, what their writing, how many they’ve written, etc. It would be cool for us and considering how popular this blog is, help them sell books haha.
Btw is there an easy way to find books recently written by first time novelists? since im in the middle of writing a first one I’m kinda interested in trying out some new people if I like what the book is about.
WitLiz Today says
What Nathan Bransford at 3:40pm said.
As a piano teacher, I used to get totally frustrated if a student came waltzing in week after week playing their pieces exactly the way I kept telling them not to.
And no matter how many loose strands of my very grey hair fell out with each wrong note they played, they blithely continued on as if the piece was actually composed that way. Not only that, but they were damned proud of themselves, too. As well they should be, because they were invariably my very best practicers. Which unfortunately, also meant they were repeatedly playing wrong notes in practice. Then I wised up and taught them how to practice. But that took loads of patience, and more patience.
A writer doesn’t have the luxury of being personally mentored by the agent when they send off a query. We have one try to get it right with the agent we like. Either our book will sell the agent or it won’t. Again, for various reasons, none of which should cause us writers to run screaming into the circus with our hair on fire, and an intense desire to join the cannonball brigade.
Frankly, I think the emphasis on queries is way overdone, simply because of the multitude of factors that play into its success or not. This puts undue pressure on a writer. Maybe on agents too, because they can’t possibly cover all of these factors in their blogs, without blowing their minds out the back of their very caring heads trying to explain themselves over and over to a group of disappointed writers. Like Mr. Bransford has had to do with this genre specificity issue. Hell I can’t even spell the damn S word.
And finally, I have a word of advice for literary agents that could make life easier on all of you as you read queries. With each query letter you get, picture them written by truly unique individuals, with a multiplicity of talents, that may or may not include writing necessarily, but certainly extend far beyond what you see in a query. And so they have a right to be respected for their efforts regardless of how their query might hit your funny bone or your frustration level. And regardless how you think they should’ve done this or that.
Don’t stress over that shit. Instead, think of the many lives you have the potential to touch, as you read each query. Are they worth the hassle and frustration you feel at times? If I were an agent, I’d think so, because I firmly believe that it’ll be the agent who understands the spirit behind the conception of the letters who will be the most successful at what he or she does.
Anonymous says
When you sit on this side of the computer screen it’s not at all easy, and sometimes it’s frustrating, particularly when you’re wading through a whole lot of hostile and frivolous queries to try and get to the good stuff.
As an editor, I experience the same frustration. We’re all human and subjective. When I take on a story for my magazine, it’s not just because it’s well-written, has all the right elements, and the author is a big name. It’s because I love it! And I have to read through a ton of stories to get to those few.
I know it’s a frustrating business, but sarcastic cover letters will never get you published.
Daily affirmations, Nathan! Look in the mirror and repeat:
Hi. My name is Nathan Bransford. I’m good enough. I’m smart enough, and gosh darn it, people like me!
Adaora A. says
Update on the Olympic torch — they never came by our offices. They moved it over to another part of the city, all of the people who were protesting outside our offices had gone off looking for it, and by the time I walked home from work today you’d almost never know there had been a giant protest. Just a few stragglers and police officers left over.
I was going to ask about that. It was all over CNN. Wolf Blitzer’s people had cameras all over the place. All I saw was a bunch of people crowding around a location I can’t remember. So the protest cut and run before you left your office. I thought you would have had to tell stories of tripping over posters and hand-cuffed protest arested people! I remember how sunny it looked and I was green with envy. Then I saw PALM TREES, and I went even greener. Lucky you to live in such a beautiful place.
Anonymous says
One word: Quality.
There are an awful lot of books that are getting published too soon. Either the author is not ready to finish telling the story, or the writing is clunky (and I’m talking novels and memoirs here, not “how to” books which can be a little more forgiving), or the book is merely good when the author is capable of great. Once money enters the picture, it is REALLY easy for the book’s potential to get sacrificed to economics and short deadlines. (Two recent examples: Eat, Pray, Love and Harry Potter 5). Especially for first-time published authors, it is hard both to SEE that a book is not what it could be and to turn away from the quick sale for the sake of a better book.
We NEED you as an agent to be on the side of our book, whether that means turning us down as a client because the book isn’t ready yet, suggesting we revise and try you again in a year or two with a revised manuscript, working with us after signing to get the manuscript in incredible shape before approaching publishers, negotiating a contract that provides time for needed revisions, or holding the publisher at bay if those revisions are taking longer than anyone anticipated. When we are caught in the thrill of publishing and tired of writing another world, we need you to help us keep in mind this book’s future, to make sure that the book we are happy with today will still be something we will be happy with fifty years down the road because it truly represents the absolute best we could do.
I’m not saying this is easy, or that you will immediately see the rewards (you may actually wind up experiencing more wrath in the short term). But fifty years from now, there will be authors, publishers, and readers thanking you, and royalty checks still rolling in on titles that might have otherwise disappeared in six months. Think of it as saving for retirement, and leaving something meaningful for your grandkids, all in one 🙂
Heidi the Hick says
Don’t cut your hair short.
Erica says
Go to Flora Grubb (on Jerrold near 3rd), get a cup of coffee and sit in the sun. Bring a manuscript but forget to read it. Trust me.
Laurel Amberdine says
I do think a web form might work well, in your particular case, with responses sent from a drop-box email: no reply possible.
My advice to an agent would be my advice to anyone who is self-employed (or has an otherwise free-form job that can get overwhelming). Set hours. Stick to them. Get everything done as fast as possible… and if you’re doing that and work is running over into designated free time, something has to go.
I think you probably do this anyway, but I know a whole lot of self-employed people who don’t apply themselves during their work, because there’s no hard deadline, and then because they’re always behind, they never take any time off either.
It’s a miserable way to be.
stephe says
I agree with Abey there! Represent fantasy, Nathan. Big way.
Never deprive us of your blog. Miss Snark’s leaving was devastating enough.
My final thing is something you don’t need to be advised about, but other agents do, so I wanted to mention it. Please don’t ask for a “long” or “short” synopsis. Just a synopsis (which means you don’t care how many pages), or specify pages like Nathan does. Seems like a small thing, but the horror stories that ensue whenever writers don’t do exactly what agents ask of them cause us stress to no end.
Thanks.
mkcbunny says
Schedule lunch breaks and stick to them. Or at least schedule a get-up-from-the-desk break. If there’s a lot going on, it’s easy to just keep putting off that breathing time, but the work never really lets up. If you wait for “a good time” to eat or rest, inevitably, it’s later than it should be for your body.
And the work isn’t going anywhere. It’ll still be there, waiting for you when you return.
Eat. Go for a walk. Rest those eyes on something purty in the SF skyline.
Same thing regarding weekends and days off. Plan real days away, out of town, preferably away from technology. Folks who do part of their job at home (such as reading) are bound to let unplanned time get sucked up by lingering work. So plan that fun!
Al says
Represent me (see my query e-mail). I’ve got two other novels, several novellas & a bunch of shorts — enough to make another two or three books. Then take the time you save not having to work with a half dozen authors & do yoga, go to Disneyland, get a significant other, or go fishing.
Whirlochre says
Ditch the yoga and get a decent cactus. It’s the ultimate in deliciously subtle ambient growth – and if aliens try to steal your coffee, you can use it as a weapon.
As for the eye strain, I’m sure San Francisco has plenty of can-can girls who’d gladly dance on your desk for fifty bucks – forty if you gargle with honey every time you pick up the phone.
Ithaca says
A friend recently told me he knew how to set up a Wiki; I suddenly realised that if I had set up a Wiki for my first book it would have been amazingly helpful for all the foreign publishers. There were some technical problems that everyone could have used help with; some translators raise a lot of good questions, but everyone doesn’t have access to every answer (most of the time the author doesn’t even know who the translators are unless they get in touch). I would have spent much less time solving last-minute crises if all the typesetters had had a forum where they could share fixes, and all the translators had had a forum where they could pool information – many problems could have been solved without appealing to me, and those that did require an answer from me would only have had to be dealt with once.
The agents I talked to were all very keen on hands-on management of foreign publishers, which in practice no one really has time for. It would have been incredibly impressive if someone had said: Don’t worry, we’ll set up a wiki, all the corrections and updates will be in one place so people will pretty much leave you alone.
John says
nightsmusic @ 5:32 PM:
Thanks, glad it helped. 🙂