Nathan here! I recently had lunch with literary agent Tess Callero from Europa Content, and we talked a lot about pitches and the importance of nonfiction authors really nailing the introduction/overview. (See also: how to write a nonfiction book proposal). I invited her to participate in an interview, and here it is!
Nathan: What’s life like for a literary agent these days?
Tess: I’m not sure if this is true for everyone, but for me, no one day is the same. One of my favorite parts about the job is that I can spend one morning fully immersed in a line edit for a YA, then in the afternoon be looking over a contract, coordinating with a client’s publicist, or helping an author outline their proposal. My brain is constantly being thrown in different directions that require different skillsets, which means I’m almost always being challenged in a way I find very refreshing.
What do you look for in a book project (both fiction and non-fiction?)
Fiction: exceptional writing, a distinct voice, a compelling pitch with relevant, fresh comps.
Nonfiction: platform, writing, and layers (meaning does a project fit one, specific audience, or is there a way to scale an idea to capture an even bigger readership than what feels obvious on the surface).
One of the keys to a successful nonfiction book proposal is really nailing the introduction/overview. What do you think are the crucial elements?
I like to be involved in the proposal-writing process from the start, but if an author queried me with a solid introduction, I would definitely be open to reading more of their proposal.
The key to nailing an introduction is storytelling. Tell me who you are and why you are the person who should be writing this book, but in a way that gives me access to your world and immerses me in the story. By the end of the introduction, I don’t need to necessarily know what the book is in its entirety, but I should feel compelled to keep reading in order to find out.
What’s the best thing an author can do to get your attention?
Perfect the query. I really do read every query myself, and I always look for professional, concise pitches that (again) have fresh comps. Comps should have been published or released within the last 5 years and should communicate the audience for the book. I’ve read great queries that included outdated comps and have passed because it indicates that the author doesn’t understand the market in which they wish to publish.
Here’s more information about comp titles and how to present them in a query letter: How to come up with good comp titles for your book
Thanks again to Tess!
Tess graduated from Indiana University with a dual degree in Marketing and English. She moved to New York in 2014 to combine her love of both fields and become a literary agent. After spending four years at Curtis Brown, she moved to Europa Content in March 2019. Tess represents clients across genres and categories, from young adult and adult fiction to select nonfiction projects.
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Hello, Tess, I hope you don’t mind me making a personal comment, but how lovely are you–and also appear to be so high energy.
I appreciate the interview coming at this time as I’m working on a query for my WIP and feel I’m close to nailing it thanks to all the information Nathan has shared recently and in the past. I notice you’ve mentioned ‘conciseness’ which is something I’m struggling with as it seems that anything left out will leave the reader puzzled. The project is a surreal read.
When you say ‘fresh comps’, do you mean recent competition wins?
I was browsing the internet investigating local lit agents, and all except one were currently not accepting submissions. The local branch of Curtis Brown was only accepting submissions for 2020 during February, June and October. However, many more publishers are accepting submissions, including unagented ones. According to this site,
https://writingcooperative.com/5-major-australian-publishers-that-accept-unagented-manuscripts-702904c02ef9
Australia is one of the few places in the world where there are a dearth of submissions to publishers. Who knew?
Hi Wendy, let me jump in if you don’t mind because I can answer some of these questions. By “comps,” Tess is referring to comp titles, not competitions. There’s more about how to choose good comp titles here: https://nbrans.wpengine.com/2018/04/how-to-come-up-with-good-comp-titles-for-your-book
Also, just FYI the different Curtis Browns around the world actually function as separate companies, so they are less branches and more standalone agencies.
And yes, you’re right that Tess is great!
The Europa Content website is kind of surreal itself, Wendy, but in an interesting way. It’s worth checking out. Just click the “O” in “EUROPA” when it opens.
It’s a mystical, magical, mystery tour of a site, John. I appreciate you pointing it out.
They help ‘visionary authors’ and ‘thought leaders’ to develop and sell their books. Oh to breathe that rarefied air. 🙂
I like where they mention that their authors possess ‘a crazy, impulsive need to rock the culture,’ It certainly needs rocking. Sometimes it feels, right now, as if we’re just repeating ourselves…especially musically and artistically, and especially compared to the sixties where everything moved forward with an all-encompassing renaissance fervor.
Something like that.
Just want to point something out: Australia doesn’t have “a death” of people submitting to publishers. It’s just as competitive as any other market, but the publishing industry works very differently, and there are very few literary agents. Most authors with Australian publishers (including Big Five) are unagented.
It’s not like we don’t read here!
Whoops – typo! DEARTH.
Thanks for that, Nathan. 🙂
I admit, it’s pretty dispiriting to read that Tess won’t even request a partial from a great query based on comps alone. The queried book could be the next ‘Harry Potter’ but outdated comps are essentially disqualifying, really? Yes, I know the author is not absolved from knowing whether what they’re writing is saleable, but ultimately the publisher is going to be the one who decides to whom book is marketed. The author’s foremost job out to be writing a good book.
Ought, sigh.
I think it speaks to the level of demands placed on authors who are pursuing traditional publishing. It’s not enough to just write a great book, it’s also important to be savvy and sophisticated in the way you approach the publishing journey.
We can debate whether that’s a good or bad thing, but it’s just the reality right now. And I think authors have *always* needed to be sophisticated about the business beyond just the writing. This is just the modern version of it.
How a writer describes their work matters too. Most novels probably fit one or more categories, and no doubt some publishing professionals at least can see beyond the author’s categorization and consider the story. Certainly, no story category ever seems to go out fashion on TV and in movies.
Some publishing professionals chase trends almost fanatically, and advise authors to do likewise. But others not so much, and agent Rosemary Stimola, interviewed by Publisher’s Weekly recently, advised authors to ignore trends, or start new trends. And a trend may be over by the time even a fast writer has completing a novel written for that trend.
As for comps. PW recently reported that:-
“In fact, NPD figures show that in 2018, consumers bought more books published before 2000 than books published in the previous two years.”
Industry news and views are interesting and worth studying. But the age-old sayings are also worth recalling and pondering. Everything changes and everything remains the same. There is nothing new under the Sun!
I would make a distinction between *chasing* trends (trying too hard to write to the market as it currently exists), and following the industry and showing familiarity with your genre, which is much more helpful and professional. You should ideally have a rough sense of where your book fits into the marketplace when you’re crafting a pitch.
It’s true that the backlist is where publishers make the bulk of their money (new books are almost venture investments in the hopes that they’ll eventually make the backlist), but you still have to write to the current market, not to the market that existed 10 or more years ago.
And that has *always* been true, that’s not some current fad or lack of understanding on the part of the publishing industry. Definitely take time to learn the lessons of the past, but current is still current.
Our discussion begs the question of just what we mean by the “Market”. Do we mean the ultimate readers or the professional industry? Self-publishing versus “conventional” publishing, for example. I’ve long suspected the various trends originate more within the industry and its intermediaries than from the ultimate readers, but I could be wrong there as elsewhere.
Comparing self-published versus trade-published bestsellers would be an interesting exercise. Are the two markets the same? Moving targets? Recurring? I must consult my crystal ball…
I think the ranks of bestselling self-published books/authors proves my point to an even greater degree than traditionally published books.