Location: Old New Castle, Del.

Yesterday I wrote about finding a treasure–a children’s picture book manuscript that a friend referred me to. It is a story filled with magic, sensory richness and adventure.

You may have guessed, after my raving about the story yesterday, that I offered representation.  You would be guessing wrong.  I did contact L. Stewart Marsden through my friend, but it was to ask his permission to blog about his project.

So why, if I’m crazy about this story, did I not offer to represent it?

There are a number of reasons. I thought by discussing them here you might get some insight into why agents make some of their seemingly inexplicable decisions.  So, let me list a couple:

Genre mismatch-- Although I have sold some wonderful children’s picture books both in the CBA market and the ABA market, it takes a real specialist to sell children’s books these days. Someone who keeps up with the market and knows who is buying what. It would be a disservice to Mr. Marsden to take him on for this story. He needs to find a children’s agent.

Generalist Author– I looked at Mr. Marsden’s website and noted that he is in the experimental phase of his career. He has his children’s book but he also has adult fiction, poetry and other offerings. This is normal when an author is exploring, but to an agent, it is a sign that the author has not yet found his genre and his voice.  When he settles, he’s going to be much more attractive to an agent. (I’ve blogged a number of times about the importance of finding your writing “home.”)

I’m sharing this so you realize that finding an agent is as much about a perfect match as it is about getting an agent to fall in love with your writing.

What can an author do to ensure that the right agent falls in love with his writing, his book?

Location: New York City

Talk to any literary agent and she will have stories about discovering that perfect project– the one that wouldn’t   leave her alone. Today I’m going to talk about one such project that I discovered this week. On Friday I’ll reveal why I made the representation decision I made.

One of my longtime writing friends wrote to our critique group to tell us about a reporter who was doing a story about her. She told us he was an aspiring writer himself and she pointed us to a children’s story on his blog. I normally wouldn’t have time to go look at a blog but she loved the story and I needed to see why. The story is for a children’s picture book and is titled Stinky and the Night Mare by L. Stewart Marsden.

I’ve always been a children’s literature aficianado but it’s rare to come across a manuscript that is neither condescending nor “precious.” This is one of those rare ones. As I read the story I could practically see the illustrations. It’s the perfect combination of realistic and magical. I couldn’t get it out of my mind.

Immediately I began compiling a mental list of the editors to whom I’d love to present it. Tomorrow I’ll share next steps but in the meantime let me tell you what it takes to catch an agent’s eye.

• An outstanding manuscript– this goes without saying.
• Perfect timing. In this case I happened to have a few extra minutes to go out to a website and read a manuscript. That’s a rare occurrence and had I been at my desk instead of on the road, who knows?
• A connection. This is not required of course but in this case one of my friends pointed me in this direction. In the place of a recommendation, a meeting at a conference or a stand-out query may do the trick.
• A match between the agent and the genre or subject. We’ll talk more about that tomorrow.

In the meantime, use the comment section to tell us  your story of being discovered. Or about how you discovered a brilliant piece of writing and why it appealed to you.

Location: Books & Such main office, Santa Rosa, Calif.

My favorite moments during the ACFW (American Christian Fiction Writers conference) all involved getting to know people. I sat near a wonderful editor during our 15-minute appointments with conferees, and the two of us became better acquainted. I also met with some of my clients in person for the first time. That was a delight! I loved spending time with them and my other clients too! I wish we could have had more time together, but they sure keep us busy during these conferences.

I enjoy making one-to-one connections with people; so most of the conference appointments were highlights for me as well.

What was your favorite moment at the last conference you attended?

What surprised you most about that conference?

What conference lows did you experience? (Let’s avoid mentioning names, however.)

If you’ve never attended a conference, which one is your  top pick and why?

Location: Books & Such main office; Santa Rosa, Calif.

On Saturday, after a long day of appointments, I was waiting outside of the appointment rooms to introduce myself to an editor I had never met face-to-face. I love making these connections at conferences! We had spoken on the phone the week before and arranged to make a connection.

Unfortunately, two writers decided I was fair game for pitching because I was sitting there. Conference organizers always warn that you aren’t supposed to pitch to agents and editors in the bathroom, but hallway pitches are just about the same. I listened and had a little advice for both writers, but removed my name tag after the second writer walked away. I was practically brain dead after such a long day of appointments. I didn’t want anyone else to recognize me as an agent.

Now, I understand the writers paid a lot of money to attend the conference and they weren’t guaranteed an appointment with me. I understand their disappointment if they wanted to meet with me. But I was not in a receptive spot when they approached me and very tired.

My suggestion for those tempted to do the desperate hallway pitch (or airport pitch) is to instead email that editor or agent after the conference and explain you were unable to get an appointment, but ask if they would please take a careful look at your query letter.

You may or may not get a response, but I prefer this approach and I assume other agents and editors do as well.

Your other option is to sit with the editor or agent at a meal. I always ask the writers at my table what they’re writing and will pass out business cards. My lunch table the first day was not full, so there was opportunity for a few more writers to talk with me about their projects then.

I love it when people come up to introduce themselves to me, but pitching in that situation really is different.

I hope my suggestions help you for future conferences!

Location: Books & Such main office; Santa Rosa, Calif.

I served on faculty at the ACFW conference last week, and I’m happy to report that it was a wonderful event with so many blessed moments. Today I’d like to reflect on my conference appointments. Most of them were wonderful, and it was a joy to meet with each person.

That being said, I do have two suggestions for all of you who might be pitching projects in the future:

1) Be comfortable with talking about what you’ve written. For those of you who write fiction, you should be able to rattle off a brief synopsis–beginning, middle, and end–covering all the important twists and turns in your story. If you can talk easily and with enthusiasm about a manuscript you’ve written, I’ll be much more likely to catch the vision. I can hear much more than an elevator pitch in a 15-minute meeting.

#2 is somewhat related:

2) Don’t just memorize your one-sheet and recite it. You’re handing that paper to me, so I’m able to read it on my own. I want to hear details from you because you, the writer, are sitting with me for 15 minutes. It’s exciting for me to get to meet with the creator of the work! I’d love to hear why you are passionate about the project, and that’s so much more than a brief paragraph. The personal meeting should be more for both of us than a query letter-type experience. You can email me a query without coming to a conference, and I can offer you immediate feedback on your idea if you share more with me than a short paragraph.

It’s a lot of fun to meet with you in person, and I look forward to serving on faculty at conferences in the future.

Do you get nervous before conference appointments? What kind of preparation do you do before your meetings?

What do you think is important to include in that 15-minute conversation?

Blogger: Wendy Lawton

Location: Meetings in the beautiful Pacific Northwest

Disclaimer: These observations are based largely on my own practices and those I’ve observed from the many agents I know and admire. But each agent is different (just like each writer) and has different strengths and weaknesses. When it comes to your experience with agents YMMV. (Your mileage may vary.)

Scenario–Writer’s POV: You met an agent at your recent writer’s conference and she requested a full proposal and three chapters. Over the moon!  So you emailed or mailed in the requested material. You’re trying not to get your hopes up. You’re not allowing yourself to go to the mailbox more than once a day, nor are you going to jump each time the phone rings. You get out your calendar and cross off the days. Day after day goes by. Soon whole weeks are passing. You try not to get discouraged. How hard is it to read a proposal for goodness’ sake? All it takes is a simple yea or nay, right? Months are passing. You talk with other writers. Is this normal? You are shocked by what they tell you. That can’t be right. When you hit a year, you give up. Maybe you were never meant to be a writer anyway.

Sound familiar?

Let me tell the story from the agent’s point of view.

Scenario– Agent’s POV: I meet a promising writer, Jane Q, at the dinner table at a writer’s conference. She’s fun, interesting, a great conversationalist but also a great listener. I like how she makes sure everyone at the table is heard. I like her book concept but even more I like this writer as a person. I’m impressed with how she moves through the conference. I see her interacting with editors and like what I see. I’m delighted when she sits down to have a one-on-one appointment with me. When she tells me more about her book I can see that she’s well-organized and understands the commercial aspect of books as well as the art of writing. I know I’m very near my self-imposed client limit but I can’t help myself, I ask to see the full proposal and three chapters. I continue to observe this writer throughout the conference. I’m intrigued.

When I arrive home I have 300+ emails and all the work I had to leave in order to attend the conference. Plus while I was there I pitched some projects to my editor friends and need to get those out STAT. Will I ever catch up? In the midst of the email deluge and thank you notes that begin to pour in from those who attended the conference, Jane Q sends the requested material. Oh good. I liked her a lot. I hope the book is as interesting as she is. I don’t have time to deal with it so I pull the file out of the download folder and put it in the To-Be-Read-Potential-Clients file. And now to deal with that cover disaster. . .

Time passes and I wake up in the middle of the night and think about Jane Q. Is she praying and I’ve just gotten a heavenly nudge? Eek! How long is it since I’ve been able to read non-client work. Aaaarrrgggh! The guilt floods in but I finally tell myself to put it aside. If I don’t find my way back to sleep I’ll never get anything accomplished tomorrow. And tomorrow is a day that brings problem after problem as well as some exciting opportunities. I can’t believe the number of clients coming out of contract—I need to put them at the top of the list. Plus all the editors who’ve requested projects– top of the list. Plus those three contracts sitting on my desk. Top of the list. This is one top heavy list and the time just keeps on ticking. . .

——————

I could go on and on and it would take up as much time as Jane Q has actually been waiting, but hopefully you see the problem from both points of view.

I hate the reality that we are so slow to respond but wishing doesn’t change things. And it’s not that I wasn’t interested. I am. I think about Jane Q and feel awful about the inability to evaluate the manuscript. From my initial perusal, I know she’s a good writer and I know I’m running the risk of losing her but there’s no help for it. I have three client manuscripts that have come in and I need to read and evaluate them first.

The sad truth is, it’s a buyer’s market. There are more writers out there than agents and more importantly far more writers than publishing slots. I’ve heard people suggest that the answer is more agents. Unfortunately that would just move the logjam onto the desks of editors since there’s been no appreciable growth in the numbers of books being published. More agents, representing more clients, would just lower the chance of eventually selling the book to a publisher.

So what’s a writer to do? What’s an agent to do for that matter?

Writer: Don’t think that because you haven’t heard it’s an automatic no. It’s probably not. It’s just a sign that the agent is pretty close to full. And that’s a good thing. It indicates the agent is a well-respected, active agent– busy moving and shaking. When a couple of months have passed send a personable email, touching base and asking if the agent needs anything further. The agent may not reply, flagging the email to go back to, but believe me, the agent will take note. <guilt begins to grow> In another couple of months nudge again. Humor is always appropriate. Hopefully the agent will pull the material out and put it at the top of the pile. <even more guilt> When you finally reach your breaking point let the agent know. What do you have to lose? Of course, all this time you are continuing to query other agents and attend writer’s conferences so you have lots of other possibilities in the works. And just think how depressed the errant agent is going to be when you hit the bestseller lists and the agent knows he could have had you. (I could so name names of the ones I’ve missed. . . )

Agent: As the errant agent all I can do is to work as hard as I can, keeping my priorities straight. Clients always come first. Potential clients have to respect that and understand that when they become a client an agent will not be setting them aside to “play the field.” I keep saying it’s a broken system but in the midst of it writers find wonderful agents and we agents  sign exciting clients and great books are being published. All because ultimately, we are not in control. The truth is, it’s all in God’s hands.

Comment: Is there a solution we’re not seeing? Are you amazed that writers keep finding agents and agents keep selling books. If you’re not yet published how do you keep from getting discouraged? Got any good advice for an errant agent to lessen guilt?

Location: Books & Such Central Valley Office, CA

A couple of weeks ago one of my clients wrote to ask the following of me:

“As I’ve observed and visited with many unpublished authors who attend conferences, I find that the trend increasingly leans toward an editor and/or agent asking them to send their mss or additional work for review. No matter what else they may be told during that appointment, they hear NOTHING but the fact that someone has asked for their manuscript and they believe they are now going to be published.”

“Weeks, months, and sometimes more than a year will pass and they hear nothing. They don’t know whether to send to someone else, ‘bother’ the agent/editor they’ve sent it to for they fear that will anger them, or continue to pray and believe it’s going to all happen in God’s time.”

“During my earlier years at conferences, editors and agents frequently sat people down and said, ‘You show some promise, but you need more work.’ Or ‘Your writing skills aren’t quite up to snuff—how about considering some additional classes and mentoring.’  Anyway, you get the idea—they took it as their responsibility to tell these hopeful authors the truth. And, believe me, I know that’s a hard thing to say to someone. But is it not better to speak the truth in love than to let these folks sit for months on end thinking they’ve just been given a golden ticket?”

Gulp!

That’s a tough indictment, but nonetheless valid. I decided to try to decode some of these unspoken agent signals this week. Let me first offer a disclaimer which I will repeat each day of this series. Disclaimer: These observations are based largely on my own practices and those I’ve observed from the many agents I know and admire. But each agent is different (just like writers) and has different strengths and weaknesses. When it comes to your experience with agents YMMV. (Your mileage may vary.)

So. . . what does it mean when you’ve emailed a query to an agent– or mailed it, depending on their stated preference– and you get a response that says “send the proposal,” or even “send the whole manuscript?”

Here’s how I would decode that request: The agent is sincerely interested, based on your query. When an agent works through his or her queries, he has set time aside, is focused on finding excellence and is in peak analysis mode. He doesn’t do this when he is stressed, tired or overwhelmed; which is why it sometimes takes a while to hear back. So if you get a request for further material, consider it a sign of solid interest.

Many agencies, like Books & Such, do not reply if uninterested. Those agencies usually give a specific timeframe. “If you don’t hear back from us by [date] you’ll know we are not interested.” Books & Such, for one, makes sure to honor the stated date. All queries are read so, if the time frame passes without word, the writer knows. Why do agencies do this? It’s because of the sheer volume of queries. It is not possible to get back to everyone who queries. Few of us have sufficient staff to accomplish that task, even if we only used a form response which would tell the writer nothing anyway.

Writers often bemoan the fact that they never get any feedback. “How do we know why our query didn’t interest you if we never get any feedback?” If you’ve been in this industry– reading blogs and attending conferences– you already know the answer.  It’s a limited resource issue– agents simply do not have the time or staff to give feedback. Those of us who love to interact and mentor hate that aspect of this system but it’s reality. Besides that, we’ve been trained by the few bad apples who don’t understand the realities. In our early years as agents many of us tried to give a little bit of feedback which invariably opened a stream of dialogue– either vitriolic anger, prolonged argument or request for clarification. We’re fast learners. It didn’t take long to realize it was safer to refrain from any specific comment.

So what does it mean if I don’t hear back? It could mean the agent is saying:

• “Scary! Really scary. Make sure to block sender.”
• “Writing doesn’t seem to be quite there yet.”
• “Umm, nope. I don’t think so.”
• “Good idea. If only I weren’t so full.”
• “Good idea, but, unfortunately, the writer doesn’t have the platform to interest publishers these days.” (nonfiction)
• “Good idea, but I have [client's name] who is already filling this slot.”
• “Good idea, but not for right now. Sadly, the market’s not there at this time.”
• “Interesting writer but not a fresh idea. I’ve seen this same idea/plot too many times recently.

I know, I know. That doesn’t help you decode a no or a non-response. You’ll have to look for other clues. I’ll talk about what it means when an agent begins to informally communicate with you on Thursday which addresses some of those clues.Tomorrow we’ll answer my client’s initial concern when we talk about what it means when an agent requests your proposal or manuscript at a conference. Wednesday we’ll discuss what it means when you never hear back. And on Friday we’ll talk about what it means when an agent offers representation.

VENT WEEK: This is vent week in the comment section. The process of finding representation is so exasperating that it frustrates us all– writers and agents alike. Here is your opportunity to vent and be heard with no repercussions. What makes you hate this system. Any suggestions for fixing it? Let’s talk about it together.