Rules for Agents Submitting to Editors
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 ก.ค. 2024
- Literary agents Jessica Faust and James McGowan talk about the rules they have to consider when it comes time to submit their clients' manuscripts to editors at publishing houses.
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
Instagram: bookends_literary
Website: www.bookendsliterary.com
Connect with Jessica: bookendsjessica
Connect with James: jmcgowanbks
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Great video, as usual! The sub process can seem so mysterious. Speaking of the sub process, I'd love to see a video about how a client's relationship with their agent and editors changes as their career progresses. For example, even if there aren't option clauses in play, I've heard of authors getting to a point where they present manuscripts directly to editors they've worked with before. When does that happen and how does it work? Is this how people like Beth Ferry can have a billion books coming out because they've been able to skip the sub process? You guys rock!!
As I'm watching/listening to y'all, I'm remembering y'all's other communications about agents working with editors and how similar it is to a querying writer! TY📚
Enjoy your podcast. A bright spot in the day! Thanks for what you do🙂
Insightful, and reiterates why agents perform such a crucial role in the publishing process-finding the right people to look at a book seems to me more art than science. You probably base your decisions on tons of factors. As James says, it’s a relationship business. You have to trust your agent’s instincts, knowledge of editors, and experience and not try to micromanage/interfere with the submission process.
Great insight. I love the inside look at agenting, editing, and publishing. So much of it is a judgment call.
Hello, love your videos! Long time watcher, second time question asker 😊
In instances where you sell a multiple book deal (and say at the time of the deal you’ve written the first book but not the second) how much time is generally granted for you to get that second book in to them? Is this timeline something which can be negotiated, or do you see pretty set times being offered? Can there a difference to this timeline when the second book is the next in the same series vs a completely separate standalone? Publishing timelines seem like they’re often 1-2 years long but I’m curious how much of that timeline is typically allotted to turning in that first draft. Many thanks!
Hi there! The contract will usually have the delivery date for the second book written in, but this can be negotiated! So it differs between publishers, genres, and also by author preferences. And even later, if the author determines they will have a hard time meeting their contracted delivery date, they can usually request an extension!
@@BookEndsLiterary Good to know. Thank you so much :)
Thank you both so much !!☺
Thank you!!
Another fun + informative vid from my #1 favorite channel ❤
Tnx for the great video! I've got a question on the comp titles. I've read that it's best to compare your book to titles, not older than 5 years or so. Yet in my genre (fantasy) books are quite often long series, so how do you comp there? Can you compare with the latest installements of the series or still with the first one, no matter how old it is?
Hi! You would usually just comp to the series as a whole :) If it's still being released, it should be fine!
What is the ideal word count for a mystery?
Most adult fiction genres (with some exceptions) should aim for between 80 and 100k!
I love your videos!! Question, what about submitting books for different audiences simultaneously? My agent explained in terms of middle grade and young adult. What about adult and middle grade? Would that work? 😅
This is definitely possible, but should definitely be strategized with your agent!
@@BookEndsLiterary that’s amazing!!
@@BookEndsLiterary can this be a video someday?😅
if an agent requests a full manuscript, and then opens up to queries a few weeks later without contacting me, does that mean she passed on mine...? I'm assuming it does, but I have no idea lol
Hi! If the agent was previously closed to queries, requests a full from you, and then reopens to queries, it probably just means they've caught up on their backlog of open queries! Full submissions are prioritized separately from queries (and in fact the agent QueryManager dashboard has a separate link just to an agent's waiting full submissions) so they could very well still be going through fulls even if they caught up on reading their open queries.
You shouldn't consider their query inbox opening an indicator of anything regarding your full, so keep treating it the way you did before their inbox opened: if it's an agent who replies to all queries eventually, you're still under consideration until you receive a response. If it's an agent who has a "no response means no" policy, then you can set a date in your mind where you'll consider the query closed and move on. Hope this clarifies!
@@BookEndsLiterary it absolutely does, thank you so much! It was from a Bookends agent, and I know your agency have a policy where everybody gets a response, so Im hoping she’ll sign with me yet 🤩