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.

Online Chat With Literary Agent Kevan Lyon Tonight!

That’s right, AgentQuery.com is holding another literary agent chat and it is tonight!

Our agent guest is Kevan Lyon of the West coast agency Marsal Lyon Literary Agency. Kevan has twenty plus years in the publishing business, many of them in retail and distribution, making her a force to contend with when it comes to figuring out which books will sell and how to market them.

Curious about what Kevan is seeking in her submission pile?:

“Kevan Lyon works primarily with women’s fiction, with an emphasis on commercial women’s fiction and all genres of romantic fiction and young adult. Her particular interest is historical fiction of all types. She is also interested in non-fiction representing authors in the areas of memoir, pets, environment, parenting and current events.” As well, “Her authors in women’s fiction span a broad range of genres from more literary, commercial projects to all genres of romance including historical, contemporary, suspense and paranormal. With non-fiction projects she looks for topics that she is passionate about or that speak to issues of particular concern to women and families.” –From her AQ cafe chat area bio.

Join us tonight at 8PM Eastern! I will be serving as moderator so feel free to ask me chat related questions in the comment area. As well, there are more details posted in Kevan’s Chat thread on AQ Connect about the chat’s ins and outs as well as some handy timezone gadget links for those (like me) who find themselves in other timezones. The chat will be held in the AgentQuery Connect chat area and is free for all members. (Membership is free, but you do have to sign in to participate). The chat starts at 8PM Eastern and will last for one hour. If you have a question you’d like to ask Kevan, here’s your chance!

See you there.

“Write because you must, because it is your passion. Write for yourself, not to be published or for monetary gain.” Kevan Lyon.

Online Chat With Literary Agent Michelle Brower

That was a fantastic chat over on Agent Query with literary agent Michelle Brower. It was nice, homey and cozy. As chat moderator there wasn’t any juggling cats, turtles or even anything flaming last night. Just straight forward good ol’ information about queries, genres, young writers, older writers, killer titles and so much more. Yeah, you missed it. But yes, you can check out the transcripts right here.

Half the scoop: Yes, you need to polish your writing before getting it out there. Generally the setting can distinguish the genre, but many some twists on a story such as a story set in elfland, NOT being about elves would be good. (The ideas are endless when you think like that! Wahoo!) Some titles rock more than others and yes, a killer title can help set your query apart. Yes, Michelle likes the one sentence hook, but definitely the story hook to be obvious in your query. There was so much great info, you need to read the transcripts yourself. It won’t take long and I promise you will learn a lot.

And did you know that landing an agent and getting the book sold and printed can be compared to having a baby? I kid you not. (Another reason to check out the transcript–I wouldn’t want to spoil the reason for the comparison for you. It surprised me. It might surprise you too.)

Michelle Brower, literary agent with Wendy Sherman Associates.

(A big thanks to Michelle for spending time with us over on AQ.)

Michelle is also blogging over at her agency website. Go check it out.

Michelle Brower is Coming to Chat on AQ

Agent Query‘s literary agent guest for May is Michelle Brower of Wendy Sherman and Associates in New York. Michelle will be chatting to Agent Query’s members tomorrow night (May 12th) at 9 pm Eastern.

A bit about Michelle:

Michelle Brower has been with Wendy Sherman Associates since 2004, and has also previously worked with Joelle Delbourgo Associates. She enjoys working directly with emerging writers and is interested in representing literary and commercial fiction, memoir, pop culture, humor, crafting, graphic novels, popular science and narrative non-fiction. Books that capture elements of the strange and wonderful will always pique her interest, and she also looks for those that offer a unique perspective of the world. She has a MA in Literature from New York University. (From the Wendy Sherman and Associates website.)

She will also be attending the following conferences this year: Thrillerfest, New York, NY ( July 10)
Sewanee Writer’s Conference, Sewanee, TN ( July 18-20).

Join me (I’ll be chat moderator) over on AQ tomorrow night to chat with Michelle. It’s sure to be an educationally good time.

Fantastic Chat with Literary Agent Jamie Brenner

Last night literary agent Jamie Brenner replied to close to 40 questions over on AQ. There were 60 members from all across the world popping in and out of the chat. Whew! It was a busy place.

And what did I learn? A brief synopsis is anywhere from two paragraphs to two pages. Women’s Fiction can be considered to cover Chick Lit, Hen Lit, Granny Lit and the like. Agents don’t really like writers who’ve gone and self-published, they prefer a ‘fresh’ face and a ‘true’ debut writer. There are tons of great nuggets including word count and specific writing tips over in the transcripts. You will have to be a member to read them, but seeing as membership is free, what is there to lose?

There is a chat with author Tommy Newberry over on The Knight Agency website tonight.  I think I’ll check that one out too.

Enjoy!