Current wish list

Liz Harris asked what genres I’m looking for at the moment. Short answer: I’m not looking for genres, I’m looking for great writing. Longer answer: …great writing, a brilliant book premise, marketing potential and a writer behind it I want to work with for 20 years.

Footnote. Actually there are a few things that, were I writing to Santa now (I know it’s April) I’d be asking to appear in my inbox:

1. A cosy mystery. What’s a cosy mystery? Think Midsomer Murders but different. Big genre over in the US. Small here but I love ‘em and think they are a growing genre. Does not have to be rural either. In fact bend the genre if you like…be creative… as long as it’s cosy.

2. Really intelligent women’s fiction. With characters so real that it does not feel like fiction but written with confidence and panache. A relationships story that works on several levels.

3. Adventure fiction with a superb leading character. This genre’s been around since the 19th century but don’t copy the classics. I want to see something written with the voice of a writer of today (even if it’s historical set).

4. Crime fiction with a superb leading character who is *not* a world-weary, divorced, whisky-swilling detective. And the darker, the better.

5. Fun, feisty and funny chick-lit but populated by likeable characters with real problems, not silly girls-about-town with nothing more to worry about in life than which handbag to buy.*

6. A novel so brilliant I can’t even conceive what it might be but I’ll know it when I see it. Yes, not helpful I know…

* Leave the handbag buying to the professionals.

What if “computer says no”?

Rejection is bad enough, but what about if you’ve sent your work out to numerous agents/editors with no joy?

This was the question asked by a writer listening to my radio interview last week (see previous post).

The most frustrating is, I think, when the rejections are merely form rejections, offering no feedback or clues as to why the work isn’t of interest. The most likely answer is “wrong place, wrong time” but then again, it could be something in the writing craft that is letting you down. Here’s a short checklist of questions to ask yourself:

• Have you actually “learned to write”? If you’ve never read a book about creative writing, never taken a course or joined a writer’s circle to share feedback, and just dashed your novel off on the computer as it came into your head it is most likely structurally unsound! Novel writing is a craft – you wouldn’t employ a builder who didn’t know how to lay a brick, would you?
• Is your story unique enough? Don’t try and be a poor copy of another author. Your work has to be driven by the strong, compelling voice of you, the writer.
• Have you self-edited? Once finished, put your manuscript away for a while so you’ve had the space and time to be able to look at it critically again.
• Do you know your market? Plenty of people tell you never to write for the market. They have good intentions, they don’t want your story to lose its uniqueness (see above). But write with an eye on the market. If you’re writing in the style of something that was big news 20 years ago, forget it. Look at the trends in the last 6-7 years only.

Want an auto-rejection?

Something that surprises me is when, on receiving news that I have passed on a query, some writers immediately, by return of email, query me with opening chapters from another manuscript of theirs.

Why is this the wrong thimg to do?

Well, firstly I expect you to send me your best (and most likely your most recent) work in the first place. And secondly, if I liked your original submission and wanted to find out what else you had written, I would ask. So when I receive a second submission immediately I am already primed to reject it. Of course, I will look at it, just in case, but I don’t believe I’ve ever requested further material from a situation like this.

So what if you do want to send me something else?

Leave it six months or more, by which time I am highly likely to have forgotten your previous submission and will be looking at your work with fresh eyes.

You never told me you were a writer…

A thoughtful blog post from Sam Ellis, a writer who did some work experience at a publisher.

Submissions update

Because of holidays and recent conferences, I’m running very behind in considering submissions. Please be aware that you may not have a response to your submission until mid to late August. Normal service should resume in September.

Probably the worst time in the world…

… to be sending agents submissions. I seem to have received a good half dozen over the Easter weekend. However, the London Book Fair is next week, and with preparations, the Fair itself and then the aftermath. I have the least time in the world to consider submissions.

Please bear with me until normal service resumes sometime after the Book Fair.

Reading day

I have been having a reading day today in an attempt to catch up. This involves, you guessed it, reading material all day, and especially requested fulls from The Pile and also from existing clients. Today I’ve finished two scripts and am half way through another which I hope to finish tonight although I admit I am going a little pie eyed so need a break.

I already read almost every evening, on train journeys once or twice a week, and then also during the day when I get the time but stuff has been piling up at a faster rate than I can read it. How many novel length manuscripts do you think I’ll read in a year?

How long should writers wait?

When I’ve given talks, I’ve often been asked about how long writers should expect to wait to hear back on submissions and whether and when it is ok to chase. If you disagree, I’d love to hear from you but I think the answers are:

1. Agents are normally quicker to get back to you than publishers.
2. Agents usually respond to a query within a couple of weeks. If you’ve waited a month, then its in order to give a quick chase (by email rather than by telephone). In the US the system is a little different as you typically first query agents without including a sample of your writing. Here in the UK, its usual to include sample chapters with your first approach. I am certainly aiming to respond to queries within 1-2 weeks.
3. If you have been asked to send in a full manuscript to an agent, the wait is likely to be longer. I’m aiming to respond to fulls within a month, but am aware I’ve already broken my own rule!
4. Publishers may respond to you quickly, but you may equally well be waiting months. A wait of six months is not unusual, and in some cases it may be even longer. I waited ten months on my last sale of my own work. I would say that if you’ve not heard anything, it is perfectly in order for a polite chase after six months. Naturally, as an agent I am highly likely to chase publishers well before this time, but a writer without a agent unfortunately has less scope to bypass the slush pile system.

Early days

I’ve decided to start the agency as a sole trader as my experience with a limited company is that it only makes sense if you have a certain turnover and the way the book trade works it’s going to be a while before that happens. An agent only gets paid when their clients get paid and preparing and selling scripts takes time.

Yesterday I gave an interview to a magazine about setting up the agency. Not sure when it will be out but I do want to get the word out and find great writers to work with. Submission guidelines are on the ‘About’ page here if you would like to submit or know anyone looking for representation.

In the meantime I have been putting the word out via word of mouth and have had numerous queries and currently have five full scripts waiting to be read. If yours is one of the five, sorry… I am hoping to get through them as quickly as possible but the ones I am really interested in I am reading with my editors hat on and making notes and this all takes time.