The #1 Question You Need to Ask When Offered Representation
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 23 มี.ค. 2021
- Creators! Are you being offered representation by a literary agent? There are lots of questions you can and should ask that person (which we've talked about on the channel and blog) but in this video, literary agents Jessica Faust and James McGowan are discussing what they feel is the #1 question to ask. Hint: vision!
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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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Since interning at BookEnds as an undergrad in the summer of 2015, James has (basically) never left. He's just continuously level-up-ed inside of BookEnds. Now he is the Literary Assistant and Social Media Manager for the team. He’s been a reader since his mom gave him the first A Series of Unfortunate Events book and ordered the sequels regularly through Scholastic book orders.
James is currently growing his own list and is actively seeking submissions in adult literary and upmarket fiction, mystery, thrillers, and suspense. He is also actively building his picture book list.
Connect with BookEnds!
Twitter: bookendslit
Instagram: bookends_literary
Website: www.bookendsliterary.com
Connect with Jessica: bookendsjessica
Connect with James: jmcgowanbks
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"And, if this book doesn't sell, what then?" If only I'd asked that question... I will know better next time.
What happened, your agent dropped you after it didn't sell?
Thanks for the video ! I think it’s a first time writer, a lot of people would just be happy with whatever offer that they get, but there is a lot to think about as far as the agent author relationship! Thank you
Very helpful about "vision" and multiple genres. You two help to remind me that agents are people navigating like everyone else.
....An agent requested my manuscript(from a SCBWI critique event)...loved it! Helped me with revisions....sent me a contracted agreement...BUT doesn’t want to sign me on UNTIL the manuscript is “perfect” ...I’ve sent a few revisions ...nothing is holding...😳
I hope it'll work out well.
I really connect with Jessica's approach to the business. When my time comes to query agents, I hope she is representing my genre.
Thanks! An agent I queried just asked for a meeting, so the info in this video will be helpful.
I hope this is a conversation I have with an agent someday! Thank you both for another great video. ❤️
Such good stuff! Thank you! Will be saving this video for when I'm further along in the process ☺️
What a blessing you two are. Thank you so much.
Again and again, thank you for these videos. It's like a peak behind the curtain. Sometimes, with pure common sense answers and others are, I had no idea about that. 💝
Super helpful. Thanks so much for this.
I hereby affirm that I'm gonna need to ask this question...soon!
I'd love a video going more in depth about termination clauses and also verbal agreements vs physical contracts.
We actually already have one scheduled for May called "What to Know About Your Author-Agent Agreement." Keep an eye out!
What rough percentage of debut books would you say sell when they go on submission? Is it something like 50%, more or less? Just curious of ballpark rough figure? I've never heard an agent answer this question and would love even a very ballpark figure.......
So helpful! Thanks!
Thanks guys! :D
Thank you so much.😊
I would hope a literary agent would be offering their vision and opinion and be willing to have this discussion willingly as opposed to the author having to ask it. You cant sell a car if you dont know how it works.
I hope that when I query James, he loves my book! He likes multi POV and timelines; I'm editing now and that's what mine is about!
Did you say an agent will do a verbal contract? How is that helpful to either party. Do you have a post-link on your channel that discusses an agents role, responsibility and pay? Something that sets a standard of best business practice? Or another suggested link?
I've been making a list of questions to ask when the time comes. I'll probably sound like a very bad actor, but better that than a gibbering idiot, or worse (just as bad?) bugging someone later with a slew of questions I should have asked the first time.
When I decide to pursue representation, I am worried about only getting a single offer and having to consider the risk of saying, 'no thanks'.
Also everytime Jessica yelled at James this episode I jumped (also a James) lol
There's nothing wrong with having to say no thanks if the agent is not right for you!
Ugh I made that mistake, my first time out. I was getting nervous and thinking, "Well, you know, bird in the hand, etc." (This offer was actually from a "small publisher" who actually turned out to be a bunch of women pushing manuscripts through KDP from their kitchen tables. Which would have been fine, if they'd been able to do anything I couldn't already do - and much better! - myself, aside from take part of the royalties!) So I politely told a couple other agents who were reading my manuscript that I needed to hear from them soon. Most of them just said "Well, fine, then, I don't have time to read it right now so congratulations!" (Though one of them was downright nasty about this, so at least I dodged that bullet!) Anyway I accepted the offer and I sure did end up regretting it - blew not just that book but the entire series I had planned! So yah. Trust your gut and OMG BE PATIENT!
@@maggiepfob This is a great experience to share Kim, so thank you. You're right on the 'bird in the hand' syndrome. The barrier to entry is already so high, its nerve racking to think of saying 'no'. I hope your 'story' had a happy ending!
@@maggiepfob yea, people have to understand that to get an agent's attention is extremely difficult (for most people that is) and to have even one agent reply to you with representation is a big deal. Someone who turns this down could very well never see another offer of representation ever again in their life based on simple probability / statistics, so definitely have to give it a lot of thought
@@kardsufur2966 Exactly. I mean, you see people who managed to finally land an agent after hundreds of submissions. To just throw that away.... unless the agent is dreadful or has a bad reputation, I don't think I could ever turn it down if it's to be the only offer.
I hope one day to have representation
It is the “gut”
In terms of vision and genre, aren't you capped with the publisher anyway? Are publishers likely to buy three or four books from you in the same year even if it's all in the same genre? If you're producing volume, it kinda seems like you'd have to do more than just one genre. The other thing that concerns me -- especially at the start of a career -- is just knowing your greatest level of potential is. How would you even test something like that without writing in multiple genres?
Granted, I can understand not wanting constant genre hopping, particularly when it's wildly different stuff.
Are you asking if the agent is capped or the author? Yes, usually a writer will have one title publish a year (a picture book writer might have 2+, but usually from different publishers)
An agent, not really capped
@@BookEndsLiterary I meant the author and that particular publisher. I assume that if an author has multiple saleable manuscripts per year, an agent would represent all of them (or as many as they felt they could feasibly represent). However, I wasn't sure how many a publisher might buy.
I’m considering traditionally publishing contemporary YA fiction/women’s fiction/coming of age novels. However, I have one YA paranormal series that I would self-publish (after traditionally publishing one or two novels). Would this be a conflict of interest or cause any problems between me and my agent? And should I bring this up with them on the initial call?
You should discuss this with the agent on the call!
you could always self pub it under a pseudonym and then it's none of the agent's business
@@kardsufur2966 That's true and I've considered that however, I've already posted about my progress on the work publicly. Even if I published it through a pen name, I'd market it through my channels with my real name.
@@IsabelleMarot when signing contract with publisher they almost always have clauses that will restrict your ability to 1. publish separate work under your name (it may say something like -- you cannot publish any work within 6 months or 1 year before or after publication of your book with them, reason being they feel your selfpub sales will leech their sales) 2. they usually will have clauses giving them the right for first look at any other projects of yours which presumably would require you to show them any other project you're working on and give them the opportunity to publish it under their imprint should they desire to do so, so it could get tricky in regard to that but that's why it's best to discuss it with agent as they could work with you in toning down such clauses possibly etc
@@kardsufur2966 thank you :) Now that you mention it, I do recall hearing some of that information.
Does anyone know if you should double space a poem within a fiction manuscript?
You can double space! This is something that might change dependent on each publisher's/editor's style!
@@BookEndsLiterary thank you!
Any advice for an author that finds them selves on the maybe list for three agents they queried. I queried 3 agents and the agents have rejected other authors that submitted before and after me but I still have not heard a yes or no from the agents. I received one rejection from a fourth agent that said they no longer represent the genre I write in but had not updated their query representation list so I actually wasted that query accidentally.
Did they request the manuscript? They could just be considering (agents don't always read submissions in order). If you're waiting for a response on the query, you can follow up, but only after their response guidelines have passed.
One asked for partial manuscript. And expressed interest in another book I am working on that they found out about on my social media.
I've been told it's polite to inform other agents who are currently reading your manuscript that you've had an offer, and that you're going to respond to it in X amount of time (you should give them at least a couple of weeks) if you don't hear from them first. That way they don't end up reading a manuscript that someone else is already repping and it's just professional courtesy.
@@maggiepfob thank you.
Number one question to ask: will woke activists attempt to butcher my manuscript?