What Happens When Your Agent Submits Your Book?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 มิ.ย. 2023
- Literary agents Jessica Faust and James McGowan talk about the process of submitting manuscripts to editors, how agents and authors decide when books are ready to go on sub, and how agents choose their submission lists and strategies.
BookEnds is dedicated to making publishing a book traditionally a more transparent process, and it starts with these videos!
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Jessica Faust’s love for books is what first brought her to open BookEnds Literary Agency. It is her desire to be an advocate for all authors that pushed her to create her blog, the BookEnds TH-cam channel and to maintain a vibrant presence on Twitter.
Jessica is proud to have grown BookEnds to an agency that represents authors of all genres for children and adults, allowing her to reach more readers and help more authors and illustrators achieve their dreams.
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James McGowan is a Literary Agent at BookEnds and writer for children. He began working with the agency as an intern in the summer of 2015, and basically never left. He represents a talented group of authors and illustrators working in everything from board books to middle grade graphic novels. He also works in adult nonfiction, and adult mystery and suspense projects. James is the author of GOOD NIGHT OPPY, which is available now.
Connect with BookEnds!
Twitter: bookendslit
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Website: www.bookendsliterary.com
Connect with Jessica: bookendsjessica
Connect with James: jmcgowanbks
For an author it is extremely enlightening to see how the book is pitched-on many levels. I would definitely want to see it, especially when the agent is very experienced.
Very much appreciated, James and Jessica. I have a full manuscript out, and I’m binge watching your videos while I’m editing the second book to make myself feel prepared for the next leg of the journey.
Yes!!! This is so helpful, thank you!
Great advice and information, as always! Love watching you two!!!
This channel is the best source of info on All Things Publishing on TH-cam.
Truth! ❤
Yay! I always feel validated watching these videos. I could listen to you both all day😊
Thank you for letting us know that you, Jessica, continually networks because it makes me feel so much better! I've been wanting to say something about Jessica but didn't have the opening until now! I just really think that it's important for an agent and author to have their own roles so love that you aren't a writer and have no aspirations to be an author! I purposefully selected beta readers that aren't writers because I didn't want my manuscripts rewritten! I'll take all the help I can get with editing my manuscripts though and with anything my agent offers me! I can't believe someone wouldn't trust their agent or go behind their back! I completely trust Bookend agents! That's crazy! TY PS: I was throw off by one of y'all saying to ask what the agent would be negotiating! I took it for granted that agents tried to sell, or whatever the right word, everything possible with every book!? TY
Thanks for your insights and info regarding pitching to editors.
JESSICA the NEGOTIATOR! Exactly the skill I need in an agent. What do you say when you end a conversation with an editor? "I'll be back."
Great information, as always.
Great video!
1. So this helps a lot! I would be more likely now to talk with a new (or "junior") agent. Asking what their in-office collaboration, etc is, could really make a difference.
2. Could you cover in another video -- What triggers an "auction" situation?
I would also love a video on how an "auction" happens, both internally in publishing houses in with the agent-writer relationship! Thank you!
Thanks for the idea! I'll put it on our list!
Thank you both so much for your insight! I really appreciate learning more about the business aspects of the industry from you. Question - what should authors expect from the revision process with agents, editors, etc.? How should authors negotiate revisions, especially if there are creative differences? How much creative control do authors actually have if a "big five" publisher offers them a book deal?
We actually have a video about revisions being a negotiation coming out next week that answers many of these questions! But we also have many videos about what to expect from revisions. You can search our channel for "Revisions" to find them!
Do y’all ever do a prompt?
Then do a sit down of the submissions. You kno kind of like a real submission to give us a feel for how the real thing go. Including pitch letter, blurb, etc etc.
Q: If an established agent agrees to representing a book, how would you characterise the eventual failure rate? (ie. the book eventually cant find a publisher).
Hi! Unfortunately, even with very established agents, plenty of books end up not selling. But the mark of a good agent is that they keep helping you hone your craft and get better at pitching you to editors so that you hopefully eventually sell!
I just assumed the big 5 would throw money at me 😎
Very informative. Could you explain how revision opportunities for nonfiction books arise?
Great video. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge with us. On the flip side of this question, what do you/most agents look for in a client, aside from loving the book? Jessica, you mentioned not being over persistent … what are some other no nos we writers do that we shouldn’t do during the whole process of getting our work published?
Hi! Glad you enjoyed our video! You can do a search on our channel for "what do agents look for" and find a bunch of videos about what agents look for in queries, during offer calls, etc. :)
Love how you broke this down! My agent and I went through the submission process for the 1st time last year with my graphic novel and it was really exciting! Multiple pre-empts and we almost went to auction which helped me realise I have a good thing 😁
I have a little question (or a big one) and totally off-topic but it's in my head so I gotto ask: With the rise of AI, are you as agents having people query you with part or all of their text written using AI (like ChatGPT)? Would you be able to tell? Do you think it will become a problem in time? How would you be able to weed out the genuine writers from those using AI to try to get ahead? (Same thing for if illustrators query you - how will you weed out a genuine artist from a, from lack of a better word, faker?) It's already such a huge issue, I can't see it going away any time soon. I'd love to know your stand as agents on the whole AI thing in relation to writing, art and publishing (although I know it's really polarising, so feel free to ignore haha!)
Congrats on your submission success! :) And I will add that to a list of potential video topics in the future. AI is definitely becoming a growing issue in the publishing industry, along several axes, so it's a big topic that's still obviously changing, and better suited for a video instead of a comment. Thanks for asking!
Ok, here's a question for you Jessica and James... when you get a request for more manuscripts, do you include all the pitches and comp titles as well? At the beginning or end of the submission packet? Any advice with this?
Great info! I want to ask about the pitched MS to editors. I noticed a few debut authors got signed up by publishers at the same time but the release date of the MS is somewhat short say Dec2023, long say Jan2025. What kind of factors that take into consideration? It reminds me to have a polished MS hoping to shorten the length of the release date.. please enlighten this topic. Thanx😊
Hi! How quickly the editor thinks the book can be polished is definitely a huge factor in it, but they also consider which books are already scheduled to be published when they're determining release times to make sure they aren't overloading their production schedule and aren't releasing a bunch of similarly competitive books at the same time, as well as any pertinent current events (like if they have reason to believe there might be slow-downs with printing, or shipping, etc. they might change up a release date to factor that in)
Thank you for this video ! I have a question as an un-agented author . I have not started querying yet, but I have written one full MS , and have a well outlined second story that I have started writing… as a non-agented author , I should write the second book right ?
The second book is not on brand, maybe only slightly. I do have an idea that would be an on brand continuation.
Could you please share with us what we're supposed to write on a "nudge" email to other agents when you get an offer of representation? Do you tell them who's offering? Can you have more than or less than 2 weeks to allow for them to read your manuscript? Can 2 agents end up co-sharing your representation (I've seen that one on reddit recently)? Thank you!
Hi! You can share as much info as you'd like in your nudge, but it's pretty standard to just say something along the lines of "I wanted to let you know that I've received an offer of representation, but still think we would be a good fit together. I told the other agent that I would respond by ___ so would love to hear from you about your interest by ___." The standard is to give at least 2 weeks for the agent to check out your manuscript and (potentially) set up an offer call.
Technically in some situations you might end up with 2 co-agents, but usually only under specific circumstances (two agents at your agency are working together, one agent reps you for YA and another for adult, etc.) and should only follow transparency and agreement between all parties!
My manuscript has been requested/currently under review by an independent publisher that is partnered with a Big Four. I don't have an agent. If offered a contract before securing agent what should my move be? Take time to interview agents or accept a suitcase full of cash?
Great question! You should definitely seek out an agent, as they will be familiar with contract language and can make sure you don't get the short end of the stick (there are a lot of clauses in publishing contracts that can really come back to bite an author when submitting their next project if they're not aware of them); they also know industry standards and can negotiate better royalty rates, subright splits, and advances for you.
We recommend either querying agents and letting them know you have an offer in hand and are looking for a business partner, or nudging agents who already have your query to let them know you have an offer in hand. In both cases, you still want to go through the process of having offer calls (even if it seems tempting to rush so that you can start negotiations on the contract) because this person will be your business partner, will be in charge of making sure you get what you deserve on your contract, and will be earning a commission off of your deal! Plus, they should be someone you're willing to work with even beyond this one contract. So make sure it's someone you like and communicate well with. Good luck!
@@BookEndsLiterary Thank you! Big help. I'm trying not to go down the rabbit hole while waiting to hear back (I'm deep in the rabbit hole 😅)
Went to a big name bookstore recently looking for comps. I asked where the NA section was and was told they didn’t have one. They have either YA, or Romance. That was it. When I questioned that, I was told publishers ONLY recognized YA and Romance, so that’s what the store did. Is that true? And if so, when querying, should I NOT mention it’s NA, and just say Romance? Because I see all these subgenres mentioned on an agent’s page, but now I’m questioning this.
Hi! In general, that's true; most publishers don't recognize new adult as its own age range at this point. When you say new adult, people in the industry will know what you're referring to, but things aren't really marketed as new adult by traditional publishers (although that could change, as self-pub new adult lit moves into the limelight).
If an agent's page specifically mentions that they're looking for new adult, you should mention that your book is NA. But if they don't, you might have an easier time querying with just romance! Once they start reading it, they'll probably know it's new adult anyways, but it's good to show that you understand that the trad market right now doesn't really recognize new adult widely.
@@BookEndsLiterary Thank you!
Do you have a video co-starring one of your clients?
we had a couple of videos with Ellery Adams 4 years ago!
If a book has been passed on does that mean that it can not be resubmitted later?
Hi! If you're talking about submitting to agents, you can usually resubmit after revising your book! If you're talking about when an agent is submitting to editors: unless the editor indicates they would like to see a revised version, you usually can't resubmit the same manuscript to them after they've passed.
Jamie? Are you watching?
I have a controversial question. And I know you have already talked about this, even in this video, and in others about the author agent relationship. But will ye be covering or talking about the New Leaf Drama that happened recently?
I doubt it