IT'S NOT JUST THE WRITING

Jon received an email yesterday from an author he'd turned down at the partial stage. Jon told me that while he admired the author's writing, the content was simply too dark and troubling for Jon's taste.
Jon explained this to the author when he sent his rejection letter.
Yesterday the author wrote back telling Jon that he'd been picked up by another agent. He thanked Jon for his comments and said that, rather than discouraging him, the rejection gave him hope that another agent might see things differently.
This is not an unusual story. We often pass on projects that don't fit our own personal tastes because it's very hard to get behind a book that we don't find personally compelling.
So, when you receive rejections from agents like us think of them as stepping stones to your goal. If your writing is splendid, if the topic is unique and your voice is driving, your book will find a champion.

RULES OF BLOGGING--BROKEN!

The first rule of blogging is to be consistent--blog daily, if possible; weekly, for sure; bi-monthly, if that's the best you can do.

Sue me--I've broken all those rules. Time to get back in harness. Here are some topics I'd like to tackle:

• Zombies--Are they really still hot?
• Women's fiction--Is there a place for "grandma-lit?"
• Can anyone write a book--If "yes," SHOULD they?

Don't give up on this ignored blog--more to come!

RANDOM THOUGHTS

We spent a day in New York City last week visiting editors and cementing a new relationship with a Dutch publisher for whom we'll do publicity work.

Because we are not based in New York City, it's imperative that we regularly visit the publishers there to find out what they are looking for and how they prefer to work with agents. Simply stated, it's important to meet editors face-to-face.

Familiarizing oneself with a huge publisher like Random House could become a full-time occupation. Personally, I love the ambiance of the place. The lobby is a book-lover's dream with floor to ceiling glass-fronted book shelves lining the walls. The shelves are stocked with Random House "first editions." Actually, I don't think they are the real thing. An editor told us a couple of years ago that the original first editions are archived "off-campus" in a place friendly to aging paper and bindings. It doesn't matter if the books in the lobby are real or not. It feels wonderful to be surrounded by the classics that bookend our world. Jon advises every writer or would-be writer or anyone who loves books to step into the lobby, take a few deep breaths and spend time scanning the shelves. It's like visiting old friends in a museum of the written word.

We visited three Random editors. Here are a few things we learned:

• Nonfiction is "the way to go" for new agents. A Crown editor advised us to concentrate on this genre. "Fiction is a hard-sell," he said. Editors must defend their choices at editorial meetings and fiction is often extremely difficult to champion. It's a hard business fact and it's why we and other agents scour the queries for the gems that can survive the editorial trials.
• In nonfiction, superlatives sell--the best, the biggest, the greatest.
• Platform is everything. He advised us to look for journalists and hot bloggers for new book ideas.
• REAL GOOD WRITING is still the gold standard. (But we all know that, don't we?)
• Another editor is looking for "fiction that is believable as nonfiction and nonfiction that reads like fiction."
• Steampunk is still alive and well. (Yea! We have THE steampunk novel in the re-writing stage.)

It was a great day, complete with two hours at the Museum of Modern Art and lunch at the Carnegie Deli where the waitress kept interrupting our meeting with the Dutch publisher to talk about my bracelet! Gotta love New York.

THE ROMANCE OF AGENTING

I've blogged on the romance/agenting business before--it still works. Agenting involves unrequited (and requited) love, passion, rejection, abandonment and loss--and bliss. Bliss comes in many forms. When we started our literary agency, we thought we were pretty smart. After all, between us, we have over 30 years in various aspects of the publishing business. We are avid readers. We know the difference between good books and bad. How hard could it be to read queries, chapters, and manuscripts; find the "flowers"; pitch them to editors; sell them?

We were blissfully ignorant of just how hard it really is. We were in love with the work--success would follow!

We blissfully read the incoming material, falling in love too fast. Saying, "Yes! Send us the partial.....Sure, send us the manuscript!" Sometimes we even said, "Let's do it! Let's work together." We fell in love, in some cases too easily.

The reality of this romance is that it's a tough business, a business about SELLING. We may love a book, but if we can't find the right editor, we're all dead in the water.

But, we're learning. We know that the editors have to be totally convinced that our book can make a good showing or they won't take it on. Each house has its own formula for determining that, and it's up to us to learn those formulas and to learn what each editor wants. The result is that, like a disappointed lover, we aren't nearly as much fun as we used to be. Like you, we get rejected frequently by editors and it's awful. To prevent that, our goal is to become much more picky about what we take on and much more educated about who takes what at the publishing houses.

We are saying "yes," to authors very infrequently. And we're taking on new clients very slowly. Our mantra is, "It's better to reject a query than to reject a partial. It's better to reject a partial than to reject a manuscript. And, if we're rejecting manuscripts, we need to rethink our strategy."

So, what's the upshot of this romance? You need to work harder to write books that editors will want. We need to stop wasting your time and to bring on only those books we KNOW we can sell. After that? BLISS.