AN INTERESTING QUESTION

In response to a recent post, a reader inquired:

"On a new subject, how would you, or do you, handle someone who submits a novel that he has already published on the Amazon Kindle, or similar e-reader device? I currently have three previously self-published titles listed on the Kindle and have just finished my third round of edits on a new novel and am considering sending that straight to the Kindle, with or without an ISBN. If I do would I be killing any chances of obtaining agent representation for it."

I'm not a Kindle expert--Jon and I are looking into this. It may be that if you publish with Amazon, they hold the rights (at least the e-rights) to your book. We'll find out and blog about this later.

I can't speak for other agents. But we have received several queries for novels that have been self-published or have been published as e-books. Right or wrong, we're never inclined to look too hard at these--perhaps to our peril. Unfortunately for self-published or e-published novelists who query us with their project, neither Jon nor I can muster the enthusiasm to give them much attention. Other agents may have a totally different view--that's just our bias and we can't even defend it at this point.

To answer the reader's question: We don't know if it would be killing your chances for obtaining agent representation. That's up to individual agents. But, it would not be a project we'd pursue with vigor.

On the other hand, before I was a "real" agent, I sold two self-published books (nonfiction) to big publishers. I would consider an excellent nonfiction self-published book today as long as it was uniquely wonderful and the author was a great spokesperson for the book and has "great platform." As for Jon, nonfiction seldom interests him, unless you happen to be a Formula One driver writing about your career.

WHY ISN'T IT RIGHT FOR YOUR AGENCY?

Another morning of query responses. I'm continually amazed by the number of queries you all send us--some great, some so-so, some just not for us, some awful. Each week we ask a few of you to send us more. But, most of these queries are rejected--a sad fact of this business. As I've written before on this blog, we've developed a pretty standard rejection email which states that the query simply does "not meet the needs of our agency." A few days ago a rejected author asked, "Why isn't it right for your agency?" I didn't answer his question because I simply can't get into that kind of dialogue.

But I can address questions like that here. So, without further ado, here are a few reasons your project is not right for our agency:

• We don't represent the genre--If it's a memoir (unless you're Hillary Clinton or Madonna), a business book, Christian fiction, or deals with child or animal abuse, it's not for us.
• The query is badly written--Face it, if you can't write a good query, you probably can't write a good book.
• I'm bored after the first two sentences--Nuff said.
• You've told me much too much in the first paragraph--Please, please, please, don't tell me about your husband, wife, children, education, parents, job, etc. I DON'T CARE! (at this point). Later on, when we're working together, I'll care--a lot.
• You've sent us attached material. We don't open unsolicited attachments.

I could go on and on--in fact I think I have gone on and on at some point!

But let me close with the "Pip of the Day." An author asked in his query if I was the right agent for his work and if not, if I could please recommend other agents who would be better for him.

Hello? That's not our job. Get thee to a bookstore and buy a copy of Jeff Herman's Guide to Book Publishers, Editors, & Literary Agents, www.jeffherman.com/guide/. The 2009 edition should be available soon.

NEW ENGLAND BOOK FESTIVAL

Busy time here at the agency. I wish we had more hours in the day!

Today, though, I have another question for you. It concerns the New England Book Festival. Have any of you heard of it? Have any of you published authors won the New England Book Festival award?

I ask because we regularly get notices from the JM Northern Media family of festivals encouraging us to enter our clients' books (at $50 a pop) for award consideration. In addition to the New England Book Festival, JM Northen Media sponsors the DIY Convention, Do It Yourself in Film, Music & Books, New York Book Festival and Hollywood Book Festival. They are sponsored by The Larimar St. Croix Writers Colony, The Hollywood Creative Directory, eDiffy, Shopanista and Westside Websites.

I Googled "The Larimar St. Croix Writers Colony" and was immediately bounced back to JM Northern Media. Hmmm. Now, I'm not saying this isn't on the level. I'm just asking: Which books have won awards? What wonderful things happened to winning authors? How significant are these awards? AND MOST IMPORTANT--Who the heck is JM Northern Media? Just curious.

THANKS FOR LETTING US KNOW

Three weeks ago Jon requested a manuscript from a promising writer. It arrived, was logged in and Jon looked forward to reading it in the near future.

This morning the "promising writer" emailed Jon to tell him the manuscript had been snapped up by another agent and that he (the author) was now under contract with that agent. Actually he said, and I quote, "Please be advised that I have accepted representation with a respected literary agency in NYC."

"Rats!" said Jon. (Well, perhaps not "rats" exactly, maybe it was a longer and much dirtier word.) "We missed a hot one," he grumbled. Then he wrote "promising author" a congratulatory email.

Miss a hot one we probably did, but kudos to "promising writer" for letting us know that he was in a serious relationship with another. Please, all you other promising writers, heed this writer's example. If you are fortunate enough to land an agent, tell all the other agents who are in the process of falling in love with you that your heart belongs to another. It's the right thing to do, even if it makes us sad.

THE INFORMAL SURVEY SAYS: REJECTION IS BETTER THAN SILENCE

It appears I hit a nerve with my question yesterday. I was whining about writing multiple "no thank you" notes to authors' queries and wondered if it was a worthy endeavor. I asked, "Would you rather have a form rejection from us, or would silence suffice?" All of you who responded said a word from an agent, even a discouraging word, is better than nothing.

I hate to admit Jon was right on this one, but you guys agree with him. So, we will continue to answer any and all queries. Thanks for taking the time to weigh in!

QUERIES: SHOULD I DELIVER THE BAD NEWS?

Jon and I have been working feverishly for the past few days, reading and responding to the snail-mailed and emailed queries that we've received this month. Like all agents, we are flooded with queries. We are so glad, because that means people are writing; even better, the writers know about us and are interested in working together.

That's the good news. The bad news is that we sometimes feel overwhelmed with the wealth of queries we receive. We try to treat each one with the respect and the attention it deserves; when we feel our attention lagging, we stop and move on to another project. Now, here's the part none of you want to hear about and I don't blame you. We reject most of the queries we receive for a variety of reasons: the topic does not interest us; we don't represent the genre; the query is poorly written and unfocused; or, in the worst-case scenario, the query is awful and so is the book idea.

With the exception of gang-queries (the ones with all the agents in the world listed in the "to" section), or the queries where the author specifies that we answer only if interested, WE RESPOND TO ALL QUERIES, usually within 6 weeks. But maybe we shouldn't. The truth is, our responses are pretty boring and are not unique. We've learned that we have to be cold and perfectly clear about the turn down. I used to say, "...your project does not meet our agency's needs at this time." I don't say that anymore. "...at this time..." acted like an open door through which many a hopeful author shoved in a foot asking, "If not now, when will you be interested?" Shades of meaning are nothing but trouble in a turn down response.

Jon and I are of two minds here. He feels very strongly that every query deserves an answer.

I am not so sure. If I delete queries that do not interest me, how would you feel? (Jon handles all snail-mail, so if that's how you query us, you'll get an answer for sure.) I know lots of other agents don't respond to any but the queries that they want to pursue. Maybe most authors assume that a non-response is a turn down. But I'm just not sure.

The responses to queries I don't want take up a lot of time--time that I could spend reading manuscripts and chapters, visiting and pitching editors, and writing this blog.

How do YOU feel about that the dreaded turn down? Would you rather get a standard "so sorry" response, or would you prefer silence from me when I'm not interested? I'm just askin'.

WHAT WE'RE LEARNING AS NEW LITERARY AGENTS

Jon and I launched our literary agency about two years ago. "How's it going?" friends and colleagues ask.

We smile and tell them it's slow. We tell them that we've been learning as we go and that we've made lots of mistakes. Then, if they are not glazing over, we tell them that we're getting better all the time and that we're in this for the long term.

We've learned (ahem, I'VE learned) that:

• I love too much too easily. Just because I love a book concept doesn't mean I can sell it. (On the other hand, I certainly can't sell something I don't love.) I'm vowing to think about publishing houses and editors first, then find the books I can get behind that will fit what the publishers are buying. It's simply putting the horse before the cart. If I can't envision a publisher's logo pasted squarely on the spine of a project I'm considering, I probably won't take it on. Within the past two years I've put the cart before the horse too often. I'm learning.
• Good nonfiction is hard to find.
• Most editors are overworked and sincere. They want to succeed. They want to find talented, hard-working authors. They want us to help them.

Jon has discovered that:

• Almost everyone wants to write a book, but few have the tenacity and talent required.
• Beginning authors think that a passion for writing will get them through. They are always surprised by the fact that this is a business. They must learn how the business works.
• He must continue to read voraciously and widely in order to be a good judge of the things that come his way.
• He can't read requested chapters and manuscripts fast enough and worries constantly that he's "sitting on" the next Great Gatsby and may lose it because he can't get to it in time.

We hope you're all having a wonderful summer.