THIS IS NOT A CALL FOR ENTRIES! I'M JUST GIVING YOU A
HEADS-UP. THE CONTEST OPENS NEXT MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 17.
“An Agent's Inbox” is exactly what it sounds like--next week, I'm turning the
blog into an agent's inbox, a public one. We'll get to see 20 queries along
with their first pages, and we'll get to hear what a bona fide agent thinks of
each one.
The queries and first pages will be yours, of course. I'll accept your entries
this Monday, September 17, and then I'll post them next Wednesday, September 19.
The entrants and anyone else who wishes to review them may comment until the
following Monday, September 24, when I'll announce the winners.
Those winners will be chosen by The Agent, and this month, The Agent is Victoria Marini* of Gelfman Schneider Literary Agents, Inc!
The Rules
1. To enter, your manuscript must meet two conditions: First, it must be COMPLETE,
POLISHED, AND READY TO QUERY, and second, it must be in one of the genres The
Agent represents (which are listed at the bottom of this post).
2. IF YOU PARTICIPATED IN EITHER OF THE PREVIOUS 2012 ROUNDS OF “AN AGENT’S INBOX,”
please DO NOT participate in this one UNLESS YOUR HAVE A NEW MANUSCRIPT that
meets the criteria listed above. I have a pretty good memory, and I will
disqualify previous entries. If the entry slots don’t fill up by Tuesday,
September 18, I may allow previous participants to enter, but honestly, I don’t
expect them to last that long.
3. All entries must include A QUERY and THE FIRST 250 WORDS of your manuscript.
You must paste these items IN THE BODY OF YOUR E-MAIL; otherwise, I'll
disqualify it.
4. THE ENTRY WINDOW OPENS AT 1:00 P.M. EDT (OR 10:00 A.M. PDT). Please note that this is A DIFFERENT TIME
than normal, so plan accordingly! Once the entry window opens, I'll accept
the first 20 entries. I won't accept any entries sent before the entry window
opens or after the first 20 slots fill up.
5. If your entry makes it in, I'll send you a confirmation e-mail with a post
number. If your entry doesn't make it in, I'll still send you an e-mail, but it
won't have a post number.
6. If your entry makes it in, YOU MUST COMMENT ON AT LEAST 3 OTHER ENTRIES.
The Prizes The Agent will select both the winners and the
prizes. The Agent might pick 20 winners, or she might only pick one. The Agent
might offer full requests, or she might only ask to see another page. It all
depends on how good the entries are.
Please keep in mind that THIS CONTEST ISN'T FOR THE FAINT OF HEART. I've
encouraged The Agent to treat the entries exactly as she would a normal batch
of queries. Essentially, The Agent will be answering the question, "How
much of the entry did you read, and if you didn't read it all, why did you
stop?" I think this process will be instructive for all of us, but if you
enter, you need to be prepared to hear exactly what The Agent thinks of your
query and first page.
So get those queries and first pages polished up, then meet us back here on
Monday, September 17, at 1:00 p.m. EDT! At that time, you may send your entries
to kvandolzer(at)gmail(dot)com. Looking forward to it!
The Genres
MG fiction (all subgenres)
YA fiction (all subgenres)
Adult fiction (all subgenres except erotica)
If you have any questions, feel free to leave them in the comments below!
*I know this probably goes without saying, but if you’re thinking about entering,
you should probably treat this round a little differently than you would if you
didn’t already know The Agent’s identity. Feel free to do a little research and
include personalization in your queries. Also, if Ms. Marini has already
rejected your query, YOU PROBABLY DON’T WANT TO ENTER UNLESS YOU’VE MADE
SIGNIFICANT CHANGES TO YOUR QUERY AND/OR MANUSCRIPT. I’m not going to say you
can’t enter (mostly because I have no way to police it), but you--and she--are
going to get a lot more out of this contest if you enter something The Agent
hasn’t seen before.
Friday, September 14, 2012
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Thoughts on the US Open
If you follow me on Twitter, you might have noticed I'm a tennis fan. I stumbled onto Wimbledon while channel-surfing one lazy summer day right before I started high school, and I've been hooked ever since. (Wimbledon remains my favorite tournament, just in case you were wondering.)
On Monday, Andy Murray won the US Open, defeating Novak Djokovic in five grueling sets, and he won it in grand fashion. It's the first Grand Slam he's EVER won, even though he played in his first final back in 2008. And not only is he the first British man to win a Major title in more than seventy years, but he's also the first man EVER to win Olympic gold and the US Open in the same summer.
I had a feeling this US Open was going to be Andy Murray's breakthrough tournament, and he didn't disappoint. Murray's path to the championship match wasn't nearly as smooth as Djokovic's (he dropped multiple sets against multiple opponents), but in the end, he pulled it out. And he taught me a few things about writing along the way:
1. Murray's semifinal match was a tricky, less-than-ideal affair, but I'd go so far as to say that it was the adversity he faced that day that gave him the experience he needed later. It was easily the windiest match I've ever seen, but Murray managed the wind and even figured out how to use it to his advantage. When he faced Djokovic on Monday, the wind was a factor again, and Djokovic, who just a year ago won three Major titles and went on a forty-three-match winning streak, looked much less certain on the court. Murray had already taken on the wind and won, and that gave him the confidence to take it on again. In short, he took what might have been a setback and turned it into a stepping stone.
2. Murray was simply hungrier than Djokovic, and it showed. For years, sports writers have criticized Murray for choking, for not getting the job done when it counted, for not standing up to the one-two-three punch that is Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic (at least two of whom will probably go down in history as some of the best, if not THE best, men ever to play the game of tennis). But not so on Monday. Murray looked like a man balancing on the razor's edge between surgical precision and reckless abandon. He looked like a man playing for his life.
And in a way, he was. His tennis life, at least.
I want to write like that. I want to LIVE like that. And I never want to look back.
On Monday, Andy Murray won the US Open, defeating Novak Djokovic in five grueling sets, and he won it in grand fashion. It's the first Grand Slam he's EVER won, even though he played in his first final back in 2008. And not only is he the first British man to win a Major title in more than seventy years, but he's also the first man EVER to win Olympic gold and the US Open in the same summer.
I had a feeling this US Open was going to be Andy Murray's breakthrough tournament, and he didn't disappoint. Murray's path to the championship match wasn't nearly as smooth as Djokovic's (he dropped multiple sets against multiple opponents), but in the end, he pulled it out. And he taught me a few things about writing along the way:
1. Murray's semifinal match was a tricky, less-than-ideal affair, but I'd go so far as to say that it was the adversity he faced that day that gave him the experience he needed later. It was easily the windiest match I've ever seen, but Murray managed the wind and even figured out how to use it to his advantage. When he faced Djokovic on Monday, the wind was a factor again, and Djokovic, who just a year ago won three Major titles and went on a forty-three-match winning streak, looked much less certain on the court. Murray had already taken on the wind and won, and that gave him the confidence to take it on again. In short, he took what might have been a setback and turned it into a stepping stone.
2. Murray was simply hungrier than Djokovic, and it showed. For years, sports writers have criticized Murray for choking, for not getting the job done when it counted, for not standing up to the one-two-three punch that is Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic (at least two of whom will probably go down in history as some of the best, if not THE best, men ever to play the game of tennis). But not so on Monday. Murray looked like a man balancing on the razor's edge between surgical precision and reckless abandon. He looked like a man playing for his life.
And in a way, he was. His tennis life, at least.
I want to write like that. I want to LIVE like that. And I never want to look back.
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
RUMP Winner!
A huge thank-you to everyone who entered and everyone who helped spread the word. Alas, I only have one ARC, but RUMP's release is only seven months ago, and in the publishing world, that's practically tomorrow:)
Anyway, the winner is Christine Sarmel!
Christine, please e-mail me at kvandolzer(at)gmail(dot)com so I can get your address. I'll get that ARC off to you as quickly as possible!
Lastly (but certainly not leastly), check out Liesl's latest blog post in honor of September 11th. You can also check out the September 11th post I wrote three years ago when I first started blogging. May you have a thoughtful, reflective day.
Anyway, the winner is Christine Sarmel!
Christine, please e-mail me at kvandolzer(at)gmail(dot)com so I can get your address. I'll get that ARC off to you as quickly as possible!
Lastly (but certainly not leastly), check out Liesl's latest blog post in honor of September 11th. You can also check out the September 11th post I wrote three years ago when I first started blogging. May you have a thoughtful, reflective day.
Thursday, September 6, 2012
From Submission to Offer with Shauna Fay Rossano
A couple of months ago, I got a hankering to interview an
editor. You know how much I like interviews, and it occurred to me that a lot of writers, even a lot of agented ones, don’t really know what happens after an editor
receives a submission. It took me a few weeks
to work up the courage to ask Kate to set me up (since editors’ e-mail
addresses are virtually impossible to find online, and for good reason), but
once I did, she graciously agreed (of course). And Shauna Fay Rossano of G.P. Putnam’s Sons/Penguin Group graciously accepted.
To make things more interesting, I asked my questions in the context of a manuscript she recently acquired, Wesley King’s THE VINDICO (which you may remember from my interview with Brianne Johnson). Ms. Rossano acquired it about two years ago, so we are flashing back a bit, but somehow, I don’t think you’ll mind. Enjoy!
KV: First off, tell us a bit about THE VINDICO. What is it about, and what did you love about it?
SR: THE VINDICO is an action/adventure YA novel about a group of super villains who are starting to feel too old to fight the League of Heroes, so they decide to kidnap five teenagers and teach them to be the next generation of evil. The captured teens are each taught a specific super-power--from super-strength, to telekinesis, to advanced computer hacking skills. While at first the decision to escape at any cost seems like a no-brainer, the teens soon question which side of the war they should fight for. Brianne Johnson, Wesley’s agent, first pitched the project as “X-Men meets the Breakfast Club,” which is an amazingly perfect description that I’ve clung to and used in selling copy as the book has evolved!
What I immediately loved about Wesley’s writing was that it didn’t take itself too seriously--he has a very dark sense of humor that is pitch-perfect for this type of story. While the plot is about super heroes, I felt immediately invested in the story because the characters are so complex--you don’t just have to be a super hero fan to like the book. Also, pacing is extremely important to me (I get bored easily if a book is not moving at a fast-enough clip!), and Wesley’s scenes unfold like they were written for a movie. Fast-paced battle scenes, punchy/authentic teen dialogue, and sarcastic humor all make this such a fun read!
KV: Jumping in to say I finished THE VINDICO a couple of weeks ago, and the cinematic nature of the story immediately struck me. I thought so many of the scenes would work ever better in a summer blockbuster; I wanted to see them on the big screen! But I digress…
How quickly did you read Mr. King’s manuscript? Is that pretty typical of your response times on agented submissions, or do those vary?
SR: Uncharacteristic of my slow-paced reading, I read this manuscript in one sitting! I was home sick from work that day and could not put it down.
This is NOT typical of my response time. While I try my hardest to get to things quickly, I often take at least a month (or two if things are particularly busy) to respond to agented submissions. Unless I really Love Love something--but even then, it’s often at least a week (see: “slow-paced reading” above).
KV: After you finished THE VINDICO, did you pass it on to a colleague for a second read?
SR: Initially, Brianne had sent this project to Putnam's publisher, Jen Besser, who offered to let me read it first. I was intrigued by the premise since I do like comic book adventure movies, etc., but I was also a little skeptical because I am not a comic super-fan. But as I said above, I really connected to the voice and humor in Wesley's writing right away, so after reading, I told Jen how great it was--and after reading herself, she agreed! She knew how much I loved it and suggested I take the project on to edit myself. And I'm so grateful to her for that!
KV: How did you prepare to bring THE VINDICO to your acquisitions meeting/editorial board?
SR: We are pretty lucky at Penguin: each imprint handles its own acquisitions. It varies slightly each time--if a project looks like it will go to auction, we’ll all move very quickly to read it. But if there seems to be more time and a Putnam editor loves a manuscript, she’ll send it out to discuss at our weekly department meeting.
It’s on a much smaller scale than some of the other large companies, I think (there are only six of us, total). I really like our system, and imagine it’s much less intimidating than presenting a project in front of a formal board, but I started my career at Putnam, so I’ve never experienced it any other way!
KV: What happened at that meeting? And what might have happened? What are all the possible outcomes?
SR: Luckily, when other editors in the department read this manuscript, they felt the same way I did, and could see potential in this young writer.
The outcome of these meetings can go several ways, but we always have great discussions. If everyone in the group has problems with a manuscript, the editor will go back to the agent/author for a revision. Or, if the editor was on the fence about it to begin with and everyone else had issues as well, she might decide not to offer on the project at all. We all have slightly different tastes at Putnam, which is great, because we can offer each other valuable feedback--everything from validation of our own love for a manuscript, to valid concerns about something that we might have missed. It’s so important to get other opinions!
KV: How did you present your offer to Mr. King’s agent, and what was that conversation like?
SR: I think this project (and process) was particularly special to both of us, because it was my first acquisition and her first sale! So we were both very excited, enthusiastic, probably nervous (I was, at least!).
I know some editors prefer to offer over the phone, but I actually e-mailed Brianne the offer--I find it easier to have a written trail while negotiating. I think the first time we spoke on the phone was right after we came to an agreement, and we were both so thrilled to get to work together with Wesley. We’re probably his two biggest cheerleaders!
KV: Of course, making the offer wasn’t the end of the road. What sorts of things did you and Mr. King’s agent discuss before everyone signed the contract?
SR: An agent’s not doing their job if they don’t come back with a few retorts/sticking points during the negotiations, but Brianne was lovely to work with. We went back and forth on a few things (like territories, royalty splits, subsidiary rights percentages, etc.), and came to an agreement that worked for both parties.
KV: Any last words of advice or encouragement you’d like to share with us?
SR: Again, every publishing company’s acquisition process is unique, but we are all looking for the same thing: a great manuscript! When an editor loves a manuscript, they become cheerleaders almost immediately--whether it’s telling other editors in their department or a larger acquisition board about their love for something they’ve read. Luckily, every editor is different, so if someone is not interested in your project, that doesn’t mean there is not another editor out there who will love it!
Thank you, Ms. Rossano, for sharing THE VINDICO and your editor’s-eye view with us! And thank you for reminding us how subjective this business is. It’s easy to lose sight of that.
As you may have surmised, THE VINDICO came out a couple of months ago, so definitely give it a look-see. (I think it would especially appeal to any reluctant and/or male readers in your life.) Its sequel, THE FEROS, is due out next summer, so make sure to mark your calendars!
Have a great weekend!
To make things more interesting, I asked my questions in the context of a manuscript she recently acquired, Wesley King’s THE VINDICO (which you may remember from my interview with Brianne Johnson). Ms. Rossano acquired it about two years ago, so we are flashing back a bit, but somehow, I don’t think you’ll mind. Enjoy!
KV: First off, tell us a bit about THE VINDICO. What is it about, and what did you love about it?
SR: THE VINDICO is an action/adventure YA novel about a group of super villains who are starting to feel too old to fight the League of Heroes, so they decide to kidnap five teenagers and teach them to be the next generation of evil. The captured teens are each taught a specific super-power--from super-strength, to telekinesis, to advanced computer hacking skills. While at first the decision to escape at any cost seems like a no-brainer, the teens soon question which side of the war they should fight for. Brianne Johnson, Wesley’s agent, first pitched the project as “X-Men meets the Breakfast Club,” which is an amazingly perfect description that I’ve clung to and used in selling copy as the book has evolved!
What I immediately loved about Wesley’s writing was that it didn’t take itself too seriously--he has a very dark sense of humor that is pitch-perfect for this type of story. While the plot is about super heroes, I felt immediately invested in the story because the characters are so complex--you don’t just have to be a super hero fan to like the book. Also, pacing is extremely important to me (I get bored easily if a book is not moving at a fast-enough clip!), and Wesley’s scenes unfold like they were written for a movie. Fast-paced battle scenes, punchy/authentic teen dialogue, and sarcastic humor all make this such a fun read!
KV: Jumping in to say I finished THE VINDICO a couple of weeks ago, and the cinematic nature of the story immediately struck me. I thought so many of the scenes would work ever better in a summer blockbuster; I wanted to see them on the big screen! But I digress…
How quickly did you read Mr. King’s manuscript? Is that pretty typical of your response times on agented submissions, or do those vary?
SR: Uncharacteristic of my slow-paced reading, I read this manuscript in one sitting! I was home sick from work that day and could not put it down.
This is NOT typical of my response time. While I try my hardest to get to things quickly, I often take at least a month (or two if things are particularly busy) to respond to agented submissions. Unless I really Love Love something--but even then, it’s often at least a week (see: “slow-paced reading” above).
KV: After you finished THE VINDICO, did you pass it on to a colleague for a second read?
SR: Initially, Brianne had sent this project to Putnam's publisher, Jen Besser, who offered to let me read it first. I was intrigued by the premise since I do like comic book adventure movies, etc., but I was also a little skeptical because I am not a comic super-fan. But as I said above, I really connected to the voice and humor in Wesley's writing right away, so after reading, I told Jen how great it was--and after reading herself, she agreed! She knew how much I loved it and suggested I take the project on to edit myself. And I'm so grateful to her for that!
KV: How did you prepare to bring THE VINDICO to your acquisitions meeting/editorial board?
SR: We are pretty lucky at Penguin: each imprint handles its own acquisitions. It varies slightly each time--if a project looks like it will go to auction, we’ll all move very quickly to read it. But if there seems to be more time and a Putnam editor loves a manuscript, she’ll send it out to discuss at our weekly department meeting.
It’s on a much smaller scale than some of the other large companies, I think (there are only six of us, total). I really like our system, and imagine it’s much less intimidating than presenting a project in front of a formal board, but I started my career at Putnam, so I’ve never experienced it any other way!
KV: What happened at that meeting? And what might have happened? What are all the possible outcomes?
SR: Luckily, when other editors in the department read this manuscript, they felt the same way I did, and could see potential in this young writer.
The outcome of these meetings can go several ways, but we always have great discussions. If everyone in the group has problems with a manuscript, the editor will go back to the agent/author for a revision. Or, if the editor was on the fence about it to begin with and everyone else had issues as well, she might decide not to offer on the project at all. We all have slightly different tastes at Putnam, which is great, because we can offer each other valuable feedback--everything from validation of our own love for a manuscript, to valid concerns about something that we might have missed. It’s so important to get other opinions!
KV: How did you present your offer to Mr. King’s agent, and what was that conversation like?
SR: I think this project (and process) was particularly special to both of us, because it was my first acquisition and her first sale! So we were both very excited, enthusiastic, probably nervous (I was, at least!).
I know some editors prefer to offer over the phone, but I actually e-mailed Brianne the offer--I find it easier to have a written trail while negotiating. I think the first time we spoke on the phone was right after we came to an agreement, and we were both so thrilled to get to work together with Wesley. We’re probably his two biggest cheerleaders!
KV: Of course, making the offer wasn’t the end of the road. What sorts of things did you and Mr. King’s agent discuss before everyone signed the contract?
SR: An agent’s not doing their job if they don’t come back with a few retorts/sticking points during the negotiations, but Brianne was lovely to work with. We went back and forth on a few things (like territories, royalty splits, subsidiary rights percentages, etc.), and came to an agreement that worked for both parties.
KV: Any last words of advice or encouragement you’d like to share with us?
SR: Again, every publishing company’s acquisition process is unique, but we are all looking for the same thing: a great manuscript! When an editor loves a manuscript, they become cheerleaders almost immediately--whether it’s telling other editors in their department or a larger acquisition board about their love for something they’ve read. Luckily, every editor is different, so if someone is not interested in your project, that doesn’t mean there is not another editor out there who will love it!
Thank you, Ms. Rossano, for sharing THE VINDICO and your editor’s-eye view with us! And thank you for reminding us how subjective this business is. It’s easy to lose sight of that.
As you may have surmised, THE VINDICO came out a couple of months ago, so definitely give it a look-see. (I think it would especially appeal to any reluctant and/or male readers in your life.) Its sequel, THE FEROS, is due out next summer, so make sure to mark your calendars!
Have a great weekend!
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
(Work-in-) Progress Reports: Bonnie and Clyde
Word count (to the nearest thousand): 41,000 for Bonnie,
45,000 for Clyde
Clyde ’s latest draft
Attitude: Meh
Here’s how my month went down: I added almost 30,000 words to Bonnie in the first few weeks of August, then turned my attention back toClyde once my readers’ notes came in. They gave me some
great big-picture stuff to fix, so I spent about a week and a half working
through their suggestions. Since I was a little ahead of schedule, I thought
I’d give the manuscript one last read-through and start cleaning up the
prose.
Worst. Idea. Ever.
I don’t know why I think that last read-through will make me like the story more, because it never does. Nothing short of silky smoothness will satisfy me when it comes to wordsmithing, and that’s a hard standard to meet over the course of an entire manuscript. Mind you, no manuscript--and not even any published book--is perfect, but I usually feel pretty good about ninety-five percent of the sentences by the time I’m finally done.
Clyde ’s hovering
somewhere around fifty percent at the moment. Yuck.
Anyway, I’m trying not to think about it while I wait to hear back from Amy and Jeni (and Kelly, too, of course!). Instead, I’m devoting all my subconscious thought to Bonnie. I wasn’t quite sure where to go with her a few weeks ago, but now the gears are churning again. I’ve already had a few ideas that should give me more to write, so that’s something, at least.
How are things going for you?
Attitude: Meh
Here’s how my month went down: I added almost 30,000 words to Bonnie in the first few weeks of August, then turned my attention back to
Worst. Idea. Ever.
I don’t know why I think that last read-through will make me like the story more, because it never does. Nothing short of silky smoothness will satisfy me when it comes to wordsmithing, and that’s a hard standard to meet over the course of an entire manuscript. Mind you, no manuscript--and not even any published book--is perfect, but I usually feel pretty good about ninety-five percent of the sentences by the time I’m finally done.
Anyway, I’m trying not to think about it while I wait to hear back from Amy and Jeni (and Kelly, too, of course!). Instead, I’m devoting all my subconscious thought to Bonnie. I wasn’t quite sure where to go with her a few weeks ago, but now the gears are churning again. I’ve already had a few ideas that should give me more to write, so that’s something, at least.
How are things going for you?
Friday, August 31, 2012
Agent-Author Chat: Laura Bradford and Melinda Williams
Thrilled to welcome agent Laura Bradford of Bradford Literary Agency and author Melinda Williams to the blog. I’ve been trying to get Ms. Williams to stop by for a
while, because she is AWESOME. Honestly, someday, you’re going to come to me and
say, “Krista, Melinda is AWESOME,” and I’m going to say, “I already told you
that, remember?” :)
As always, Ms. Williams’s query and responses will appear in orange, Ms. Bradford’s in blue. Enjoy!
Ms. Williams’s Query I enjoyed your spotlight on the Literary Rambles blog and absolutely love following you on Twitter. You are always so helpful and kind to answer our questions during the #askagent sessions. You stated you were interested in suspense, so I am thrilled to be querying you and believe you'd enjoy my YA novel, ADRENALINE.
No drinking. No drugs. No hooking up. Clean body. Clear head.
That’s what Ali hears at her first Adrenaline Junkie meeting. On top of that, good grades, too. Say what? Simone and the other recruits don’t think that sounds like much fun.
But they’re wrong. The fun is just beginning.
Adrenaline Junkies, properly named The Liberty Ring, is an elite, secret society that meets in a hidden cavern under the locker rooms, and only the strongest are invited to join during their sophomore year. With Ali’s tendencies to stress over straightened refrigerator magnets and alphabetized bathroom creams, it’s no jaw-drop she barely makes it in after punching head cheerleader, snob extraordinaire, in the nose during their last halftime show. Which she so deserved, btw.
Ali should be looking for the fastest escape, which just happens to be a human-sized drain in the wall leading toward theColumbia River . She definitely shouldn’t be crazy-head
enough to wanna stay.
But she does.
There are three sectors, and Ali wants the highest. When the Assessment period begins, she repeatedly puts herself in danger while pushing her strength, survival skills, and determination to their limits. Not to mention, adrenaline is totally addicting. Almost as much as the Lead, Treston. But she’s a fool because Treston is rude, unforgiving, and most likely wishing she’d never been invited to join.
Now Ali's got until Spring Break to release the grips of her social “Placement” and a parasitic jock so she can prove herself worthy, get her rank up, and grow stronger--mind and body. But Adrenaline Junkies is so much bigger than she first realized, and once you’re in, you’re in. She’s got the brand burned under her collarbone to prove it.
Now staying alive? That will be a whole other feat.
ADRENALINE is a YA romantic suspense complete at 95,000 words with series potential. Thank you for your time and consideration.
KV: Ms. Williams, how did you first come up with the idea for ADRENALINE?
MW: ADRENALINE is basically about a secret society of adrenaline junkie teens (but with a good cause). Almost like a The-Skulls-meets-Fear-Factor sort of deal.
Before I go any further, let me admit that I am not the person you want to take with you on extreme water slides or to amusement parks because I am so NOT an adrenaline junkie. I’m kind of a baby when it comes to being daring. But I enjoyed the UGLIES series, and some of the crazy things the characters did in that series made me wish I was…well, tougher. So the next time I go to that amusement park I MIGHT try the kiddie coasters. Heh. Um, yeah, so total fail, but that sparked the idea that maybe I would never be an adrenaline junkie but that didn’t mean my characters couldn’t be. That began the story of ADRENALINE and the creation of characters that do things I could never do.
KV: Tell us a little bit about your query-writing process. Did you work on it here and there as you were writing the manuscript, or before, or after? How many times did you revise it? And how did you decide what order to put things in?
MW: I feel a little weird saying this, but I wrote my query in about 15 minutes when I was bored one afternoon. I was almost done with the manuscript at that point. Just so you all know, this was totally not the case with my first manuscript. I wrote and rewrote that query about 17 gazillion times. With this one, I don’t know how it happened, but it all just poured out of me almost faster than I could write. And surprisingly, I liked it! Other than a few tiny changes here and there as I went, it was the query I used until I received my offer, and I had a very high request rate off of it.
But like I said, with my first manuscript I’d written my query over and over and during that process I really targeted what kind of queries I liked and how to make them stand out. So I guess my experience helped me get to that point on this second one.
But I think the biggest tips I can give is to keep the query focused on the very beginning of the book and then give an idea of where the book is going to go without giving all those bogging details of where it does go. I feel that my query hints at what the book is about, but most of it is based on the first 20 pages. Ask yourself, “Who is my character, what happens to him/her, and what must (s)he do about it?” That worked for me, anyway:)
KV: What was the hardest thing about writing your query? What was the easiest?
MW: Based on ALL of my query writing experience, I’d say the hardest thing is figuring out what you should include and what you shouldn’t. How much detail is too much? How much is too little? What clears things up, and what just makes it more confusing? That part is always rough.
I wouldn’t say any of it is easy. But if I had to choose what is easiest, I guess I’d say describing my character and showing her voice. But like I said, that’s definitely not easy either.
KV: Ms. Bradford, when you first read Ms. Williams’s query, what caught your attention?
LB: This is kind of a hard question to answer because the first time the query came to my attention, it was with a note that Melinda already had an offer of representation. Agents are like sharks and we always swim to where we smell blood. A pending offer of representation = blood in the water and we’ll always swim over to see what the fuss is.
I often ask for a full ms right away when there is a pending rep offer because there isn’t any time to do anything other than that (if we are even a little bit interested). There will usually be a very short period to review the ms because that author will need to make a decision (often within a week or so) and give a response to the original offering agent.
Usually I do get a full week to make my decision about material in these cases though sometimes an author will only give me a couple of days. We kind of have to drop everything we are doing to read material when there is an offer pending because of the timeline and sometimes we can work within the timeline parameters and sometimes we can’t.
I received the material on a Monday and asked if I could have through the weekend to give her my answer and she agreed. Now I don’t always ask for material when I get notified of an offer. Sometimes the material is just not the right fit for me and I can tell in the query so I just congratulate the author and decline to throw my hat in the ring. But ADRENALINE happened to be EXACTLY the kind of ms I would have asked for even without a pending offer of rep. She called it YA romantic suspense and that sounded like a wonderfully NON-SATURATED area of YA. The query mentioned secret societies (cool!) and there were strong indications that the ms would have plenty of romance and adventure. Sold!
KV: Obviously, the manuscript met--or exceeded--your expectations. What did you love about ADRENALINE?
LB: It was just straight up cool. The ms had gobs of action and adventure and I loved the romance thread. The hero and heroine were totally likeable, the hook was exciting and easy pitch-able and it wasn’t a theme or subgenre that I’d seen 7 billion times already. ADRENALINE was pure fun and the romance was yummy. Romance in a manuscript is often a key element for me and Melinda did a great job with it.
KV: How quickly did you read Ms. Williams’s manuscript? Is that pretty typical of your response times on requested material, or do those vary?
LB: The experience I had with reviewing Melinda’s work was totally ATYPICAL because as I said, when I first saw the query, it already had an offer attached to it. I’ll give you the timeline:
1/2/12 Received an e-mail from Melinda notifying us that she had received an offer of representation. We’d only had the query for a short period of time and we’d not reviewed it yet.
1/3/12 I liked the query and asked for a full ms and synopsis. I asked her for a week to give her my answer.
1/3/12 Melinda agreed to give me a week and e-mailed the material.
1/6/12 Melinda followed up with me to make sure I’d received the material. As a side note this week my website host had been hacked and it crashed about 100 websites, mine included. The crash had affected my e-mail and website which were only periodically working until I was able to transfer hosts. It ended up being super time-consuming which is AWESOME when you are trying to read quickly, not work on website and e-mail technical issues, LOL.
1/7/12 I responded to her follow up e-mail and let her know that I had read the material and had sent it to a colleague to read as well. I asked if she had received any additional agent offers in the meantime.
1/7/12 Melinda e-mailed to thank me for the follow up, commiserate that crashed websites suck and said she wondered if the heroine whose name I loathed was hers. That week I had been tweeting about reading a ms I really liked where I thought the heroine’s name was completely wrong. (Yes, it totally WAS her ms I’d been referring to)
1/8/12 My assistant got back to me about ADRENALINE. We discussed the material and any concerns we had about it. I’d loved the material when I read it but there were some noteworthy implausibility concerns that needed to be shored up. I already knew that I wanted to offer rep to Melinda but I wanted to talk to my colleague about the ms’s fixability. We agreed that it was fresh and cool and though it needed some revision, I’d be nuts not to try to snap it up and work on it with Melinda. Provided she passed the not-a-wing-nut test, of course.
1/9/12 I called to talk to Melinda. Good news! She turned out NOT to be a wing-nut, and she was totally amenable to my editorial suggestions so I knew we could work well together. I offered representation.
1/11/12 Melinda signed my agency agreement and we were off and running. Wheeee!
This was a super weird and fast timeline. I’ll note that over the 9 days it took from the day Melinda sent me the ms until she dropped the signed agency agreement in the mail I pitched 5 books which is also completely atypical for me. But this was the first week after the holiday break and all the editors were back, rested and raring to go. Those pitches had been scheduled for weeks and they had to happen despite the fact that I had a website that crashed about 6 times, intermittent e-mail and 2 rep offers to consider (I had gotten word of a pending offer for another ms I was considering as well that week). I remember being harried and frustrated and exhausted that whole week, LOL. Then thrilled when Melinda said yes, of course.
Typically we respond to queries within about 2 weeks and if we request partials/full mss, I usually get back to the author within 4 to 6 weeks. I think it used to state a longer response time on my website--6 to 8 weeks--because things come up (Rep offers! Crashed websites! Emergency edits!). I rarely take 2 months to respond these days, though.
KV: Ms. Williams, what tips do you have for fellow writers as they work on their queries?
MW: Nothing you all probably haven’t read before, but here goes…Read, read, read other examples! Not just the blurbs of other books in your genre, but also other successful queries. Figure out what it is about them that works.
Now how do you do this? Well, some agents post queries they’ve liked on their blogs, and you can also stalk different contests (like the awesome “An Agent’s Inbox” here on Krista’s blog) and see which queries are working and which ones aren’t. Check out the queries agents are flocking to and requesting from, and try to figure out why. I feel like doing this really helped me to figure out SO MUCH. Like how to intertwine my character’s voice, and how to keep the query with an interesting/intense tone rather than boring detail after boring detail.
Also, get critique from LOTS of other people, but don’t take EVERYTHING they say so seriously. I feel like I did this a lot with my first manuscript’s query. Every time someone said something, I felt like I had to make a change. It quickly got to the point where I didn’t know what was up and what was down anymore. Everyone will have different ideas. Just try to focus on problem areas. Meaning take the advice that resonates with you or resonates with several others, too. Not just one person. Don’t please everyone! It’s impossible and will only hold you back.
KV: Same question to you, Ms. Bradford. What query-writing suggestions do you have?
LB: Just be professional and do your research when querying. Know what the agents you are querying represent. Know the standard parameters for the genre you write i.e. don’t send a query for a 300k word middle grade ms or a 42k word single title historical romance ms.
DO mention genre, DO mention word count, DO mention if it is a stand alone or planned as a series. DO query one ms at a time. DO follow posted submission guidelines for each agent. If you are allowed to send sample pages in your query according to the posted guidelines, DO take advantage of that.
Make sure you actually talk about the material in your query. You’d be surprised how many people take up all of the real estate in their queries talking about how they have wanted to be a writer since they were 5 years old and talking about their husbands, hometowns, kids, day jobs and only mention the material as a virtual afterthought.
KV: Any last words of advice or encouragement you’d like to share with us?
MW: Hmmm…I guess just to keep your head and spirits up and be prepared for anything. Work really hard but also try to enjoy the whole process. You never know what can happen and when. It can actually be quite fun and thrilling!
When I started sending queries over the 3-day New Year’s weekend I had no idea how quickly things could happen! I had an offer before most agents were even back to work yet! You just never know what is ahead for you. And every step has stress and doubt, so learn how to handle it and have fun at the same time! And remember, NEVER GIVE UP!
Also, get to know the agents the best you can. Obviously, you can’t become their BFF or anything, but follow them on twitter, read their blogs/websites, and participate in #askagent sessions. It’s amazing how much you can learn about them and everything else at the same time! And it helps you to have a reason why you’re querying THAT specific agent, like they always say you should. I queried Laura right after she’d mentioned she was interested in suspense. And I already knew she loves the romance part of it, so I really thought my manuscript might be a good fit for her.
LB: Do what you can to educate yourself about the publishing business…there is a wealth of knowledge out there to be found. Many agents and editors blog and tweet and the information they share can be quite insightful.
There are lots of writing communities that do very good work educating their members about the rules of the road.
Find a good critique partner or beta reader or both. This is a MUST. You absolutely must have someone other than yourself read your material before you send it out on submission.
Know going into it that this is a tough, sometimes soul-sucking business full of endless WAITING and decide to have fun anyway. Good luck!
And there you have it, the most informative, jam-packed installment of “Agent-Author Chat” ever! Have a great Labor Day weekend!
As always, Ms. Williams’s query and responses will appear in orange, Ms. Bradford’s in blue. Enjoy!
Ms. Williams’s Query I enjoyed your spotlight on the Literary Rambles blog and absolutely love following you on Twitter. You are always so helpful and kind to answer our questions during the #askagent sessions. You stated you were interested in suspense, so I am thrilled to be querying you and believe you'd enjoy my YA novel, ADRENALINE.
No drinking. No drugs. No hooking up. Clean body. Clear head.
That’s what Ali hears at her first Adrenaline Junkie meeting. On top of that, good grades, too. Say what? Simone and the other recruits don’t think that sounds like much fun.
But they’re wrong. The fun is just beginning.
Adrenaline Junkies, properly named The Liberty Ring, is an elite, secret society that meets in a hidden cavern under the locker rooms, and only the strongest are invited to join during their sophomore year. With Ali’s tendencies to stress over straightened refrigerator magnets and alphabetized bathroom creams, it’s no jaw-drop she barely makes it in after punching head cheerleader, snob extraordinaire, in the nose during their last halftime show. Which she so deserved, btw.
Ali should be looking for the fastest escape, which just happens to be a human-sized drain in the wall leading toward the
But she does.
There are three sectors, and Ali wants the highest. When the Assessment period begins, she repeatedly puts herself in danger while pushing her strength, survival skills, and determination to their limits. Not to mention, adrenaline is totally addicting. Almost as much as the Lead, Treston. But she’s a fool because Treston is rude, unforgiving, and most likely wishing she’d never been invited to join.
Now Ali's got until Spring Break to release the grips of her social “Placement” and a parasitic jock so she can prove herself worthy, get her rank up, and grow stronger--mind and body. But Adrenaline Junkies is so much bigger than she first realized, and once you’re in, you’re in. She’s got the brand burned under her collarbone to prove it.
Now staying alive? That will be a whole other feat.
ADRENALINE is a YA romantic suspense complete at 95,000 words with series potential. Thank you for your time and consideration.
KV: Ms. Williams, how did you first come up with the idea for ADRENALINE?
MW: ADRENALINE is basically about a secret society of adrenaline junkie teens (but with a good cause). Almost like a The-Skulls-meets-Fear-Factor sort of deal.
Before I go any further, let me admit that I am not the person you want to take with you on extreme water slides or to amusement parks because I am so NOT an adrenaline junkie. I’m kind of a baby when it comes to being daring. But I enjoyed the UGLIES series, and some of the crazy things the characters did in that series made me wish I was…well, tougher. So the next time I go to that amusement park I MIGHT try the kiddie coasters. Heh. Um, yeah, so total fail, but that sparked the idea that maybe I would never be an adrenaline junkie but that didn’t mean my characters couldn’t be. That began the story of ADRENALINE and the creation of characters that do things I could never do.
KV: Tell us a little bit about your query-writing process. Did you work on it here and there as you were writing the manuscript, or before, or after? How many times did you revise it? And how did you decide what order to put things in?
MW: I feel a little weird saying this, but I wrote my query in about 15 minutes when I was bored one afternoon. I was almost done with the manuscript at that point. Just so you all know, this was totally not the case with my first manuscript. I wrote and rewrote that query about 17 gazillion times. With this one, I don’t know how it happened, but it all just poured out of me almost faster than I could write. And surprisingly, I liked it! Other than a few tiny changes here and there as I went, it was the query I used until I received my offer, and I had a very high request rate off of it.
But like I said, with my first manuscript I’d written my query over and over and during that process I really targeted what kind of queries I liked and how to make them stand out. So I guess my experience helped me get to that point on this second one.
But I think the biggest tips I can give is to keep the query focused on the very beginning of the book and then give an idea of where the book is going to go without giving all those bogging details of where it does go. I feel that my query hints at what the book is about, but most of it is based on the first 20 pages. Ask yourself, “Who is my character, what happens to him/her, and what must (s)he do about it?” That worked for me, anyway:)
KV: What was the hardest thing about writing your query? What was the easiest?
MW: Based on ALL of my query writing experience, I’d say the hardest thing is figuring out what you should include and what you shouldn’t. How much detail is too much? How much is too little? What clears things up, and what just makes it more confusing? That part is always rough.
I wouldn’t say any of it is easy. But if I had to choose what is easiest, I guess I’d say describing my character and showing her voice. But like I said, that’s definitely not easy either.
KV: Ms. Bradford, when you first read Ms. Williams’s query, what caught your attention?
LB: This is kind of a hard question to answer because the first time the query came to my attention, it was with a note that Melinda already had an offer of representation. Agents are like sharks and we always swim to where we smell blood. A pending offer of representation = blood in the water and we’ll always swim over to see what the fuss is.
I often ask for a full ms right away when there is a pending rep offer because there isn’t any time to do anything other than that (if we are even a little bit interested). There will usually be a very short period to review the ms because that author will need to make a decision (often within a week or so) and give a response to the original offering agent.
Usually I do get a full week to make my decision about material in these cases though sometimes an author will only give me a couple of days. We kind of have to drop everything we are doing to read material when there is an offer pending because of the timeline and sometimes we can work within the timeline parameters and sometimes we can’t.
I received the material on a Monday and asked if I could have through the weekend to give her my answer and she agreed. Now I don’t always ask for material when I get notified of an offer. Sometimes the material is just not the right fit for me and I can tell in the query so I just congratulate the author and decline to throw my hat in the ring. But ADRENALINE happened to be EXACTLY the kind of ms I would have asked for even without a pending offer of rep. She called it YA romantic suspense and that sounded like a wonderfully NON-SATURATED area of YA. The query mentioned secret societies (cool!) and there were strong indications that the ms would have plenty of romance and adventure. Sold!
KV: Obviously, the manuscript met--or exceeded--your expectations. What did you love about ADRENALINE?
LB: It was just straight up cool. The ms had gobs of action and adventure and I loved the romance thread. The hero and heroine were totally likeable, the hook was exciting and easy pitch-able and it wasn’t a theme or subgenre that I’d seen 7 billion times already. ADRENALINE was pure fun and the romance was yummy. Romance in a manuscript is often a key element for me and Melinda did a great job with it.
KV: How quickly did you read Ms. Williams’s manuscript? Is that pretty typical of your response times on requested material, or do those vary?
LB: The experience I had with reviewing Melinda’s work was totally ATYPICAL because as I said, when I first saw the query, it already had an offer attached to it. I’ll give you the timeline:
1/2/12 Received an e-mail from Melinda notifying us that she had received an offer of representation. We’d only had the query for a short period of time and we’d not reviewed it yet.
1/3/12 I liked the query and asked for a full ms and synopsis. I asked her for a week to give her my answer.
1/3/12 Melinda agreed to give me a week and e-mailed the material.
1/6/12 Melinda followed up with me to make sure I’d received the material. As a side note this week my website host had been hacked and it crashed about 100 websites, mine included. The crash had affected my e-mail and website which were only periodically working until I was able to transfer hosts. It ended up being super time-consuming which is AWESOME when you are trying to read quickly, not work on website and e-mail technical issues, LOL.
1/7/12 I responded to her follow up e-mail and let her know that I had read the material and had sent it to a colleague to read as well. I asked if she had received any additional agent offers in the meantime.
1/7/12 Melinda e-mailed to thank me for the follow up, commiserate that crashed websites suck and said she wondered if the heroine whose name I loathed was hers. That week I had been tweeting about reading a ms I really liked where I thought the heroine’s name was completely wrong. (Yes, it totally WAS her ms I’d been referring to)
1/8/12 My assistant got back to me about ADRENALINE. We discussed the material and any concerns we had about it. I’d loved the material when I read it but there were some noteworthy implausibility concerns that needed to be shored up. I already knew that I wanted to offer rep to Melinda but I wanted to talk to my colleague about the ms’s fixability. We agreed that it was fresh and cool and though it needed some revision, I’d be nuts not to try to snap it up and work on it with Melinda. Provided she passed the not-a-wing-nut test, of course.
1/9/12 I called to talk to Melinda. Good news! She turned out NOT to be a wing-nut, and she was totally amenable to my editorial suggestions so I knew we could work well together. I offered representation.
1/11/12 Melinda signed my agency agreement and we were off and running. Wheeee!
This was a super weird and fast timeline. I’ll note that over the 9 days it took from the day Melinda sent me the ms until she dropped the signed agency agreement in the mail I pitched 5 books which is also completely atypical for me. But this was the first week after the holiday break and all the editors were back, rested and raring to go. Those pitches had been scheduled for weeks and they had to happen despite the fact that I had a website that crashed about 6 times, intermittent e-mail and 2 rep offers to consider (I had gotten word of a pending offer for another ms I was considering as well that week). I remember being harried and frustrated and exhausted that whole week, LOL. Then thrilled when Melinda said yes, of course.
Typically we respond to queries within about 2 weeks and if we request partials/full mss, I usually get back to the author within 4 to 6 weeks. I think it used to state a longer response time on my website--6 to 8 weeks--because things come up (Rep offers! Crashed websites! Emergency edits!). I rarely take 2 months to respond these days, though.
KV: Ms. Williams, what tips do you have for fellow writers as they work on their queries?
MW: Nothing you all probably haven’t read before, but here goes…Read, read, read other examples! Not just the blurbs of other books in your genre, but also other successful queries. Figure out what it is about them that works.
Now how do you do this? Well, some agents post queries they’ve liked on their blogs, and you can also stalk different contests (like the awesome “An Agent’s Inbox” here on Krista’s blog) and see which queries are working and which ones aren’t. Check out the queries agents are flocking to and requesting from, and try to figure out why. I feel like doing this really helped me to figure out SO MUCH. Like how to intertwine my character’s voice, and how to keep the query with an interesting/intense tone rather than boring detail after boring detail.
Also, get critique from LOTS of other people, but don’t take EVERYTHING they say so seriously. I feel like I did this a lot with my first manuscript’s query. Every time someone said something, I felt like I had to make a change. It quickly got to the point where I didn’t know what was up and what was down anymore. Everyone will have different ideas. Just try to focus on problem areas. Meaning take the advice that resonates with you or resonates with several others, too. Not just one person. Don’t please everyone! It’s impossible and will only hold you back.
KV: Same question to you, Ms. Bradford. What query-writing suggestions do you have?
LB: Just be professional and do your research when querying. Know what the agents you are querying represent. Know the standard parameters for the genre you write i.e. don’t send a query for a 300k word middle grade ms or a 42k word single title historical romance ms.
DO mention genre, DO mention word count, DO mention if it is a stand alone or planned as a series. DO query one ms at a time. DO follow posted submission guidelines for each agent. If you are allowed to send sample pages in your query according to the posted guidelines, DO take advantage of that.
Make sure you actually talk about the material in your query. You’d be surprised how many people take up all of the real estate in their queries talking about how they have wanted to be a writer since they were 5 years old and talking about their husbands, hometowns, kids, day jobs and only mention the material as a virtual afterthought.
KV: Any last words of advice or encouragement you’d like to share with us?
MW: Hmmm…I guess just to keep your head and spirits up and be prepared for anything. Work really hard but also try to enjoy the whole process. You never know what can happen and when. It can actually be quite fun and thrilling!
When I started sending queries over the 3-day New Year’s weekend I had no idea how quickly things could happen! I had an offer before most agents were even back to work yet! You just never know what is ahead for you. And every step has stress and doubt, so learn how to handle it and have fun at the same time! And remember, NEVER GIVE UP!
Also, get to know the agents the best you can. Obviously, you can’t become their BFF or anything, but follow them on twitter, read their blogs/websites, and participate in #askagent sessions. It’s amazing how much you can learn about them and everything else at the same time! And it helps you to have a reason why you’re querying THAT specific agent, like they always say you should. I queried Laura right after she’d mentioned she was interested in suspense. And I already knew she loves the romance part of it, so I really thought my manuscript might be a good fit for her.
LB: Do what you can to educate yourself about the publishing business…there is a wealth of knowledge out there to be found. Many agents and editors blog and tweet and the information they share can be quite insightful.
There are lots of writing communities that do very good work educating their members about the rules of the road.
Find a good critique partner or beta reader or both. This is a MUST. You absolutely must have someone other than yourself read your material before you send it out on submission.
Know going into it that this is a tough, sometimes soul-sucking business full of endless WAITING and decide to have fun anyway. Good luck!
And there you have it, the most informative, jam-packed installment of “Agent-Author Chat” ever! Have a great Labor Day weekend!
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Book Recommendation and ARC Giveaway: RUMP by Liesl Shurtliff
RUMP and I have had a lot of firsts together. RUMP is the first MG manuscript I critiqued. (Shh, don't tell Liesl she was my guinea pig.) It's the first manuscript I critiqued that landed an agent. It's also the first manuscript I critiqued that sold. So RUMP and I have a lot of history. But that's not the reason I'm recommending it.RUMP tells the less-than-fairy tale of a boy cursed with half a name. In The Kingdom, names are your destiny, and Rump's destiny stinks. Because his mother died before she had a chance to finish naming him, Rump is doomed to spend the rest of his days digging specks of gold out of The Mountain so he can trade them for cups of flour and, if he's lucky, a handful of shriveled carrots. Then Rump discovers he has magic, magic that will spin straw into gold. But magic always costs something, and as he and the miller's daughter are about to find out, that cost is rarely worth it.
Like THE TRUE STORY OF THE THREE LITTLE PIGS, RUMP turns a classic story on its head by turning the bad guy into a good guy, and that's what I loved about it. Liesl took one of the Grimm brothers' most treacherous villains and rewrote him as a hero. In fact, Rump is one of the sweetest, most sympathetic characters I've read in a long time.
RUMP doesn't come out until next year (April 9, to be exact, so mark your calendars now!), but if you'd like a chance to win my ARC*, just tell me in the comments which fairy tale you think Liesl should rewrite next. Contest closes at 11:59 p.m. EDT (or 8:59 p.m. PDT) on Monday, September 10. I'll announce the winner the next day!
*I should have mentioned that this giveaway is only open to people with mailing addresses in the United States. I apologize for not specifying. If you left a comment before 2:30 p.m. EDT today (which is 11:30 a.m. PDT), you're still in, but I'm going to have to ask the rest of our international friends to sit this one out. Once again, I apologize!
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Interactive Interview with an Agent: Brianne Johnson
Welcome to this interactive installment of “Interview with
an Agent” with Brianne Johnson of Writers House! Check out Ms. Johnson’s
answers to the usual questions, then meet me at the bottom for details on the
interactive part. Hope you enjoy!
KV: How long have you been agenting, and how did you get into it?
BJ: I started at Writers House as an intern in 2007 and absolutely loved it. I originally thought of the internship as a stepping stone to an editorial position in a publishing house, but once I got a load of what agents get to do, I was hooked.
A few months after my internship ended I was hired as an assistant, and, after a few years of learning the ropes and acquiring contacts, started selling my own projects under the excellent mentorship of my bosses. I was promoted to Junior Agent last year and have continued to build my list, focusing mainly on children’s literature--although I’d love to find more great adult fiction.
KV: How would you summarize your personal agenting philosophy? What do you expect from an agent-author relationship?
BJ: I think of it as a kind of creative partnership, and that’s my favorite part of the job. I do expect the ability to keep an open mind and a workman-like approach regarding revisions, and so far that hasn’t been a problem. I choose my clients for personality as well as talent, and adore all of them--I really love brainstorming together on ways to tighten plotlines and deepen character development and am always in awe of their ability to breathe life into these imagined worlds. Great writing is its own kind of magic.
KV: What client work do you have coming out soon? What drew you to those writers and/or projects?
BJ: Wesley King’s THE VINDICO just came out in June, and the launch has been great. Wesley, who is SO much fun to work with (and very, very funny) made the coolest book trailer I’ve ever seen, sort of documentary-style, about hiring a consultant to help him with his book trailer, who turns out to be this abusive evil genius--and an eleven-year-old.
I found Wesley’s query letter in the slush when I was still an assistant and loved both the idea (teenage supervillain protégées who go berserk, a funny, morally-complex tale I pitched as The Breakfast Club meets the X-Men) and the tone of his letter--hilarious, humble, and smart. We worked on it for ages before we submitted it, and Wesley was just wonderful throughout the whole process--energetic, optimistic, and willing to work hard to get it right. I think I was as thrilled as he was when we sold it!
KV: What genres do you represent? What genres do you definitely NOT represent?
BJ: Children’s lit--picture books through YA--are my main focus, although I’m working on developing a select adult list. I’d love to find literary women’s fiction, historical fiction, or even satirical, slightly diabolical contemporary fiction (I love Vonnegut and Palahniuk).
I have a pretty open mind, although I don’t think I’d be a great representative for genre thrillers.
More about my taste preferences can be found at publishersmarketplace.com/members/bjohnson, which I update pretty frequently.
KV: What query pet peeves and/or pitfalls should writers avoid when querying you?
BJ: I ask that writers send a query letter, bio, and the first five pages of the their work in an e-mail. I can tell when a letter isn’t personalized, and usually pass on those.
If I make it to the writing sample, I get turned off quickly if I’m plunged into an action sequence immediately. I like gentler and more creative approaches to a new world. I recommend that requestors go to a bookstore and read just the first chapter of ten of their favorite books to remind them of the best ways to ease into a story--an intense, complex chase or fight scene isn’t it!
KV: What are you looking for in a manuscript right now? What are you tired of seeing at the moment?
BJ: I’d love to find more humorous MG projects. As Roald Dahl says (in Matilda) “Children aren’t so serious as adults, and love to laugh.” And I’m always looking for beautiful, witchy adult fiction with an elegant touch of magical realism--a modern follow-up to Practical Magic or Garden Spells.
As to what I’m finding slightly fatiguing--much as I truly love the whole “16-year-old discovers they have the magical ability to _____” plotline, it needs a really creative spin (or truly fantastic writing) to set it apart from what’s already out there.
KV: What’s the best way to query you?
BJ: A truly kickass e-mailed query letter! And five pages that don’t include a crazy action scene.
Thanks, Ms. Johnson, for these answers. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who nodded eagerly after that line about great writing and magic:)
And now for the exciting part! If you have a question for Ms. Johnson, feel free to leave it in the comments below. She’ll pop in a few times throughout the day to answer any questions she finds down there, leaving her answers in the comments, too. We’ll wrap things up at 5:00 p.m. EDT (or 2:00 p.m. PDT), but until then, ask away!
KV: How long have you been agenting, and how did you get into it?
BJ: I started at Writers House as an intern in 2007 and absolutely loved it. I originally thought of the internship as a stepping stone to an editorial position in a publishing house, but once I got a load of what agents get to do, I was hooked.
A few months after my internship ended I was hired as an assistant, and, after a few years of learning the ropes and acquiring contacts, started selling my own projects under the excellent mentorship of my bosses. I was promoted to Junior Agent last year and have continued to build my list, focusing mainly on children’s literature--although I’d love to find more great adult fiction.
KV: How would you summarize your personal agenting philosophy? What do you expect from an agent-author relationship?
BJ: I think of it as a kind of creative partnership, and that’s my favorite part of the job. I do expect the ability to keep an open mind and a workman-like approach regarding revisions, and so far that hasn’t been a problem. I choose my clients for personality as well as talent, and adore all of them--I really love brainstorming together on ways to tighten plotlines and deepen character development and am always in awe of their ability to breathe life into these imagined worlds. Great writing is its own kind of magic.
KV: What client work do you have coming out soon? What drew you to those writers and/or projects?
BJ: Wesley King’s THE VINDICO just came out in June, and the launch has been great. Wesley, who is SO much fun to work with (and very, very funny) made the coolest book trailer I’ve ever seen, sort of documentary-style, about hiring a consultant to help him with his book trailer, who turns out to be this abusive evil genius--and an eleven-year-old.
I found Wesley’s query letter in the slush when I was still an assistant and loved both the idea (teenage supervillain protégées who go berserk, a funny, morally-complex tale I pitched as The Breakfast Club meets the X-Men) and the tone of his letter--hilarious, humble, and smart. We worked on it for ages before we submitted it, and Wesley was just wonderful throughout the whole process--energetic, optimistic, and willing to work hard to get it right. I think I was as thrilled as he was when we sold it!
KV: What genres do you represent? What genres do you definitely NOT represent?
BJ: Children’s lit--picture books through YA--are my main focus, although I’m working on developing a select adult list. I’d love to find literary women’s fiction, historical fiction, or even satirical, slightly diabolical contemporary fiction (I love Vonnegut and Palahniuk).
I have a pretty open mind, although I don’t think I’d be a great representative for genre thrillers.
More about my taste preferences can be found at publishersmarketplace.com/members/bjohnson, which I update pretty frequently.
KV: What query pet peeves and/or pitfalls should writers avoid when querying you?
BJ: I ask that writers send a query letter, bio, and the first five pages of the their work in an e-mail. I can tell when a letter isn’t personalized, and usually pass on those.
If I make it to the writing sample, I get turned off quickly if I’m plunged into an action sequence immediately. I like gentler and more creative approaches to a new world. I recommend that requestors go to a bookstore and read just the first chapter of ten of their favorite books to remind them of the best ways to ease into a story--an intense, complex chase or fight scene isn’t it!
KV: What are you looking for in a manuscript right now? What are you tired of seeing at the moment?
BJ: I’d love to find more humorous MG projects. As Roald Dahl says (in Matilda) “Children aren’t so serious as adults, and love to laugh.” And I’m always looking for beautiful, witchy adult fiction with an elegant touch of magical realism--a modern follow-up to Practical Magic or Garden Spells.
As to what I’m finding slightly fatiguing--much as I truly love the whole “16-year-old discovers they have the magical ability to _____” plotline, it needs a really creative spin (or truly fantastic writing) to set it apart from what’s already out there.
KV: What’s the best way to query you?
BJ: A truly kickass e-mailed query letter! And five pages that don’t include a crazy action scene.
Thanks, Ms. Johnson, for these answers. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who nodded eagerly after that line about great writing and magic:)
And now for the exciting part! If you have a question for Ms. Johnson, feel free to leave it in the comments below. She’ll pop in a few times throughout the day to answer any questions she finds down there, leaving her answers in the comments, too. We’ll wrap things up at 5:00 p.m. EDT (or 2:00 p.m. PDT), but until then, ask away!
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