pitching tips

Recent #AskAgent Sessions

Hi Folks,

It’s been a while since I’ve posted any of the transcripts from #AskAgent on Twitter. And the reason is probably because many that cross into the Romance genre are at RWA 2011 in New York, so they are not necessarily going to have the time to answer all the questions. But here are the ones that they have answered.

NOTE: This time various agents have answered the question, so I didn’t list everyone. And the text is just how it came from Twitter, no corrections or changes made to them, so don’t blame me for any missed spaces or spellings. 🙂

Q: Are vampire romance novels still hot? How about Zombies?

A: It’s hard to break in as a newbie. There’s already plenty avail 4 readers to buy so pubs aren’t starving for more

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Q: How does one submit a completed series? Do you submit for the first book only or as a whole?

A: most agents seem to be consistent that they only want the first book. Sell it and the series will sell itself.

Q: There just seems to be a lot of series books lately. Word count is at 200,000 and is too large for a single book. But thanks for the help.

A: bring it to a nice conclusion and try to sell it as that first.

Q: That’s the hard part because it all leads to a final conflict. Will have to mull this over. Thanks.

A: as long as there is some kind of climax you can break it there. I can’t speak for agents but from what I have read 200k 2 long

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Great Questions that no agent has answered yet:

–         When a writer is sent their file for revisions, what do you feel is a reasonable amount of time for turn around?

–         Should you put writing experience in a query if it’s not book-writing experience? (ex: magazine, poetry, short story)

–         If one query/MS is rejected, is it a good idea to query again w/ a different project?

–         So what does it take to become an agent? Like college major, job experience, etc.?

–         Some writers post excerpts from their WIPs on their websites/blogs hoping agents will visit. I’ve done it myself. Silly? Too risky

–         How often do agents engage in publicity and editing? Are authors on their own more or less once the manuscript is sold

If I do read any of the answers, I’ll post them here. If you have heard of any answers to these, please feel free to post as well.

Thanks,

Suzy Kue

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Pitching Notes from editor Debs Werksman of Sourcebooks

NOTE: I have a chaptermate – Linda Wisdom who publishes with Sourcebooks. They are phenomenal, a house that really works for the authors that they bring on and the largest independent women-owned publishing company.

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Deb Werksman

From Deb Werksman of Sourcebooks (Sourcebooks.com)

Here’s what I’d like to see in the [in-person] pitches:

1)       First, tell me what the book is (example: single title light paranormal romance OR historical fiction set in Civil War Texas OR commercial women’s fiction)

2)    Give me a hook that I can sell the book with in 2-3 sentences  (example: A light paranormal romance series; each one has a witch sister as a heroine, and a preternatural hero who’s the perfect foil for her witchy powers. Fun, funny, sexy and a refreshingly entertaining cast of secondary characters.)

3) Give me a very short plot summary (Example: Our feisty witch heroine and hunky shapeshifter hero can’t seem to
get it together, in spite of their red hot mutual attraction. Then his pack leader does something terrible, and expects him to pay the price. No way is our witch going to let anyone mess with her soon-to-be boyfriend, even if he does shed on the furniture!)

4) Tell me about any previous publishing history and your future career arc.

5) Ask me questions!