Questions? Come One, Come All!

Literary agent Mary Kole of the Andrea Brown Literary Agency will be answering questions for all us writers this coming Monday (April 12th) over on AgentQuery Connect. She’s a savvy agent who loves young adult and middle grade books. AND her agency is ranked numero uno in terms of sales for these kinds of books. So, if you are a writer who has questions about these categories, she’s your gal, and AQC is the place to be. If you aren’t into writing those kinds of books, but are curious about the world of publishing and what the future may hold… Ms. Kole can help you out there too! Or, if your questions are more basic, such as, what do agents really want in a query letter, that works too.

You may have also heard of Ms. Kole due to her awesome-McAwesomeVille blog, Kidlit.com, which simply rocks. I think I’ve mentioned it a time or two….

Don’t miss out on this one-of-a-kind opportunity to have your burning writerly questions answered by an industry pro. Go over to AQC and become a member if you aren’t already (it’s completely free) and ask away in the dedicated Ms. Kole group. (Lurking is also allowed….)

Enjoy!

P.S. If you enter a dialogue with Ms. Brown (i.e. ask a question over on AQC) this can, in some cases, work as a jumping off point in a future query to her. (You know, make it a bit more personalized to help you stand out in the massive pile of queries she gets on a daily basis.) For example, “Dear Ms. Kole: Last week I enjoyed reading all your replies to my fellow AgentQueryConnect members. You had mentioned that you are looking for novels that X, Y, and Z in response to my question about what is hot in middle grade novels right now. I believe my story BEST THING EVER fits what you are looking for.” Etc., etc….

New Awesome Agent Alert: Michael Carr

I don’t usually provide agent updates on my blog–I usually post them on the AQC (Agent Query Connect) discussion board called Agent Updates where all my querying AQC friends can find them. Or in this case, I find out about an awesome new literary agent via someone else’s post. However, I thought I’d give ol’ Michael a shout out as he is rockin’ the socks off some of my writer friends. (They are loving you, Mr. Carr!)

Michael Carr has joined the Veritas Agency and his timeliness is what is dazzling my writerly buddies. Granted, Mr. Carr is new to the scene, so he may have a bit more time at the moment than an agent who’s been around the block a few times and has a stable of writers, but his response time has been phenomenal!! We’re talking less than 24 hours in terms of replying to a query (and asking for a partial), reading that requested material and getting back to the writer. Sweet! (You can read the whole thread here.)

Here’s more on Mr. Carr and his professional preferences:

• In terms of fiction, he’s always looking for lucid writing and good old fashioned storytelling.
• He will consider paranormal and urban fantasy
• He loves to see anything with an unusual locale or historical setting.
• In terms on nonfiction, he’d like to get a couple of non-fiction writers in his stable who are experts on a particular subject, but write for a lay audience. Something with an interesting historical or scientific angle, for example.
  –From AgentQuery.com. Read his full profile here.

“I represent most genres except picture books, romance, and erotica.”

And yes, he reps YA. And yes, he’s done some trolling around on websites to find good writers. He’s got the time at the moment to go looking–help him find you and your well-crafted book. Query him! And good luck!

P.S. Want a little more? Check out this Q & A on Absolute Write.

Later note: AQCrew over on AQC has posted a list of 20 new literary agents open to your queries. They’re hot, they’re new, and they want you!

Update: Goals and Challenges

Okay, who stole last week? No, I’m serious. It vanished without even the typical whooshing sound it makes when a week goes flying by me!

I think it is about time for a little update from me. As you know, I have issued a few challenges to myself in the last year. Here are the goods:

Good news first? You betcha!

My romance group critique partners and I issued each other a challenge–get a literary agent by Christmas. Well, guess what? 2 of the 3 of us have! I would be in that statistic–due to a humongous leg-up from Calista Taylor–she put a well-timed word in for me. The third partner is doing edits requested by an agent that could very well lead to representation. Wow! Can all three of us meet that goal? I think so!

PASS!

(So, yes. I am now ‘agented’ and have been working on my proposal for my nonfiction Kid’s Play project. We hope to have that out on submission soon. Cross your fingers for me!)

Other good news:

My WEbook Page to Fame submission (Humorous women’s fiction) got elevated to round 3! I haven’t submitted it yet, but will soon. (More on that as time goes by.)

PASS

And then I’ve been letting other things slide…

Remember my challenge to myself to read 5 banned/challenged books in one year? Well, I didn’t quite make it. I blame all those other good books in my life and how they’ve weasled their way ahead in the To Be Read lineup. I do still plan to read those banned/challenged books. And I will.

FAIL

As for my Read Around the World Challenge which is an ongoing project… well, I haven’t posted anything in months, but I have been keeping tabs on what I read. I’ve gotten to the point where it is typically the same three or four countries being read over and over again. But, I do have a little something from France that I will post (one of these days).

Er… FAIL? Er…PASS? You decide.

And lastly, there is my tidy up and organize my life New Year’s plan. Yes, I am still working on that one. Decluttering, etc. I have shredded and recycled a whole pile of old manuscripts–don’t worry, I still have copies! But I still haven’t cured the problem of the tumbling items on the top shelf of the back door closet yet. Working on it though. Well, mentally. (I might mention that in the New Year’s Plan post I also mentioned getting an agent and also relaxing a bit–I’ve done both.)

Er… PASS? Mostly.

That’s all from me at the moment, any news updates from you?

Advice From Literary Agent Kevan Lyon

Last night, I moderated a live online chat over at AgentQuery Connect with literary agent Kevan Lyon of the Marsal Lyon Literary Agency in California. It was a full house with many new faces and Kevan answered around 30 questions in that short hour. In case you missed the chat, I will share a few tidbits, insights and advice from Kevan Lyon.

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On being located on the West Coast (instead of New York):

*Kevan mentions that West Coast agents often work longer hours as they start early in the day in order to be available to those working on the East coast. She says working in the Pacific timezone also works well for writers who are in other parts of the world. Plus, Eastern editors tend to start later in the day and work later–matching the West Coast workday. In today’s world where the majority of business is done electronically, it matters less and less where agents are physically located. (Especially when they are like Kevan and are willing to hop a plane to New York as needed.)

On e-books, and debuts in trade paperback (instead of hardcover):

*”I see the shift to trade paper as a positive for new authors — with a lower price point there is less reluctance on the part of readers to take a chance on a new reader. The $25+ hardcover price can be a difficult hurdle in this market, partic for a new author. On the e-book side I see those sales as primarily incremental. There is the potential to introduce your work to a whole new market of readers that may not have otherwise been exposed to your book. I encourage my authors to promote their availability on e-books to ensure they are casting a wide net.”

On female/male protagonists:

* “Generally there needs to be a female protagonist somewhere in the story. The majority of readers are women! I prefer a female main character, but will certainly consider a story that has male protagonists — try to include a woman tho!”

On word count:

* Yes, 200,000 words will make an agent skeptical. However, if the writing is uber intriguing, they may consider it. But remember, reading that many pages is a massive time commitment. On the flip side, if you are writing a story you want published in its own volume, try and get over the 60,000 word hump. (We’re talking about novels and adult non-fiction, here.)

On historicals:

* “European history — from King Henry’s time period forward to Victorian times — it is fairly UK centric, but France is also popular. If you are writing straight women’s fiction/historical they generally prefer a well known historical figure to be included in the story.” She also likes books done in the Civil war era, but cautions that other periods can  be tough to sell.

On YA (young adult novels):

* Male protagonists are fine (even though the majority of YA readers are female). Protagonists should be in about the 15-19 age range. A little romance in your YA is welcome, but any genre is okay as long as you have a good hook.

On series:

* Sell the first book, first. Then worry about getting the rest of your series on a bookshelf.

On writing in multiple genres:

* She feels that is a positive thing and would not turn down a writer because of it. (This was where I began professing my love in the middle of the chat!)

On being a young (high school age) writer seeking literary agent representation:

* “If the query is well written and the plot intriguing I will take a look. It is not necessarily something I would suggest you stress [referring to your age], but it is worth mentioning — there are marketing benefits sometimes for the publisher.”

On query writing:

* “Make sure you capture the essence of your plot in a succinct and descriptive way — you need to distinguish your story in the query — we read many queries at one sitting generally.”

* Comparing to other titles and pinpointing your market in your query: “The market is probably most key in my view for non-fiction. In fiction you need to tell a wonderful story. I don’t really need you to tell me the target market in your fiction query. But I do want you to be clear on what your plot and story line is for comparison to other titles it can be helpful for fiction, so that I get an idea of the narrative style or voice, but not absolutely key.”

Additional hints:

* Don’t call her ‘Mr. Lyon.’

* She prefers e-queries.

* Don’t tell her why she would be a perfect match, tell her what your story is about.

* If she asks for a short synopsis, she feels that 3-5 double spaced pages is fine.

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If you would like to meet Kevan or her partner Jill Marsal at a conference or workshop, check out their Facebook fan page. And if you would like to query Kevan, find out more about their submission guidelines here.

Desperation, Finding a Literary Agent and Perfect Matches

The other day a bunch of us aspiring authors were yaking it up in an AgentQuery.com chat room. Litgal, the studious, brilliant type had us read a blog post about writer firsts (first time getting an agent, first time getting a publisher, etc). It wasn’t the ‘first’ aspect of the article that got us talking, but the aspiring author desperation that can make us act in  ways that may not lead us to attain our career goals. (Yes, we aspiring authors can truly be a desperate lot. Note: not an attractive quality in dating, and also not an attractive quality in aspiring writers.)

While we aspiring authors are not desperate all the time, we do have those panic attack moments. That alone, isn’t the reason for concern. (Like dating, it’s when we act on our desperation that things go down a path that leads to nobody’s best interests.) For writers, desperation can lead us to sign with an agent who might not be The One.

To be honest, the idea of The One or a ‘perfect’ agent stresses me out. Why? Well, first of all, how do you know who that agent truly is when you send them a query letter? Yes, I research agents before querying and target ones that seems as though they might have The One potential. Yes, your research may gather a general sense of who the agent is as a professional, but the reality is, you won’t know who they truly are until you have talked to them and possibly even worked with them. So, who do you query? How do you know? What if there isn’t a The One out there for you?

Freaking out yet? Don’t worry, I have a theory. (Purely untested, of course, but I’m working on that.)

The questions is: Are there several The Ones when it comes to matching up with a literary agent?

My hypothesis: Yes. I believe so. This is a numbers game. A business deal. There are a certain number of agents out there that can help you make the most of your business (writing). The more queries you put out there, the more likely you are to reach the right agent. Some folks hit the right partner within 20 queries. Some need to send 200. (And yes, some never do.)

Because this is business and not some life-partner quest, I don’t think it’s fair to aspiring authors to think of finding a literary agent to represent them as The One. When finding the perfect mate, I was willing to wait as long as I needed. Decades, even. With finding a business partner, I am not willing to waiting that long. I am certain that there are at least a handful of agents out there that could connect with me and my work and vice versa (no desperation required to fog my vision). There could be a handful of The One agents that could help me bring my work to the world and help me reach my career goals.

I also think that the odds are in my favour–more than they would be if I were to go about finding a new, perfect mate. With dating, approximately 50% of the population is eligible for match ups. (I know, I know, there are men in that population who aren’t interested in women, who have already attached themselves to someone else, and men who aren’t going to be ‘t suitable. But you what I’m saying.) Of that 50% there is, say, one man in two thousand that you could see yourself marrying–happily–and being partners forever more. Not exactly the greatest odds. (Sorry to any singletons out there who now feel depressed.) With literary agents (around a 1000 in the U.S.A.), approximately 50% of the agents rep women’s fiction or romance (approximate guess, my favourite searchable agent database is down at the moment). Of that 50% (500), there are maybe five agents who would make a very good fit as a business partner and you could see yourself working happily ever after. Look at my odds: 1 in 100. That’s downright inspiring.

Next time you hear someone making an aspiring author hyperventilate by tossing around words like The One in the same sentence as literary agents, do me a favour, smack that person upside the head for me. Thanks.