Lucy Luck, Lorella Belli and Juliet Pickering: Agent Round-Up

Last week I went to a great talk by agent Lucy Luck at the London Writers' Club (if you're in the London area, you should check the club out; it's a great way to network with other writers and industry professionals). Over the past year, I've also been to talks by agents Juliet Pickering of AP Watt and Lorella Belli, so I thought I'd do a round-up here of all their great advice!

Lucy Luck, April 2010

• The publishing industry has always been tough; it hasn't really got any tougher
• Writers generally sign with the agent, not the agency
• Translation rights, American rights and film rights are the most important things for writers to hang onto, to maximise later
• There is a real disparity between the 'branded' authors and new authors in terms of what publishers are prepared to take risks on
• What makes her commit to a book? If she reads the first bit, then puts it away and still remembers it after a few weeks and wants to read more, then she'll take another look. For her, it's all about cadence and voice
• She works closely with authors to edit their MS but will usually only do three rounds of MS edits with them
• DON'T begin your MS with a character waking up from a hang-over -- clichéd and she sees this loads of times
• First person and present tense are incredibly hard to pull off
• You have to practise writing. You wouldn't expect a concert pianist etc to be great right away. You must write because you enjoy it, not just to get published.
• Personalise your approach to agents. Do research on their websites.
• Online presence and promotional skills are good (like the icing on the cake), but what's really important is the writing!

For more notes from the session, click here (if you scroll down, you can also read my guest post on organising your writing day).

Juliet Pickering, January 2010

• It's better to approach in hard copy than email (for her, anyway), as email is easily dismissed.
• As more editors are taking on more and more work (due to cuts etc), agents are increasingly acting as editors
• Agents in the UK typically take 15% commission
• Advances are usually split in three instalments: first instalment after the contract signed; second instalment upon delivery of MS; third instalment upon publication
• Ultimately, promotion is the publisher's responsibility, not the agent's
• Book launches happening less frequently now due to economic conditions
• Royalties generally paid twice a year
• If your book sold averagely, you can expect to see a return on sales within 12 to 18 months (must earn out your advance first)
• Most books are not published in hardback anymore: published first in trade paperback then paperback
• Publishing is changing rapidly due to eBooks - uncertainty as to how publishers are dealing with electronic rights

Lorella Belli, February 2009

• There are now more than 120,000 new titles published a year.
• Choosing to become a professional writer is a bit like starting a business and should be approached the same way.
• There are over 150 literary agents in the UK.
• Commission charges are pretty standard in the industry: 15% (UK sales); 20% (US sales)
• Lorella Belli Agency is interested in non fiction, women's fiction - strong memorable characters, original storyline, pace and good story-telling.
• Reading a novel is like watching a film: when you start watching it, if you think it's boring, you change the channel. That's what agents and publishers do if your work isn't strong enough to engage them

Getting Published - Seminar by Juliet Pickering of A P Watt

Sometimes I feel really lucky to live in London. Like when I cross Waterloo Bridge, with the dome of St Paul's Cathedral and the Gherkin in one direction and the pods of the London Eye rising in the other. Or when I run in Kensington Gardens, passing by Kensington Palace on my daily route. And, of course, when I hear there's a seminar being run by an agent from the oldest agency in the world -- and it's being held in my local library, a mere five-minute walk down the road. Even better, when I get there, they're serving wine. For free!

Well. Could it really get any better? Only if Juliet Pickering, the A P Watt agent running the seminar, reached down, plucked me up, and offered me a multi-million pound publishing contract. With the chances of that unlikely, I'd settle for listening to her views on publishing (whilst gulping - ahem, sipping - the wine, of course).

Some interesting points:

* It's better to approach in hard copy than email (for her, anyway), as email is easily dismissed.
* As more editors are taking on more and more work (due to cuts etc), agents are increasingly acting as editors
* Agents in the UK typically take 15% commission
* Advances are usually split in three instalments: first instalment after the contract signed; second instalment upon delivery of MS; third instalment upon publication
* Ultimately, promotion is the publisher's responsibility, not the agent's
* Book launches happening less frequently now due to economic conditions
* Royalties generally paid twice a year
* If your book sold averagely, you can expect to see a return on sales within 12 to 18 months (must earn out your advance first)
* Most books are not published in hardback anymore: published first in trade paperback then paperback
* Publishing is changing rapidly due to eBooks - uncertainty as to how publishers are dealing with electronic rights

Apart from a man claiming Isaac Newton decoded the Bible (or something along those lines), the session was informative and interesting. While most of the material wasn't news to me, it was good to get it straight from the source.

And did I mention there was free wine?

QueryFail? AgentFail

Last week, a group of agents participated in the now infamous 'QueryFail' on Twitter (search for #queryfail), generating an enormous amount of debate about the rights and wrongs of doing so. I intended to just go on my merry way and not wade into this debate, but I can't stop myself.

I realise the intent was to educate, not to mock. And I understand many of the snarky comments came not from agents themselves, but from others 'watching' the stream. My issue isn't with agents trying to educate potential clients on what or what not to do - that's actually a good thing, and there are lots of great blogs out there that do just that. My issue is with agents publicly trading samples of people's (ignorant or not) hard work - without their consent - and opening up a forum for them to be ridiculed.

In my previous life, I recruited teachers from Canada, the US, Australia and NZ to come teach in the UK. Every year, we visited job fairs all over those countries and fielded thousands of phone calls and questions. I answered at least 50 emails per day from potential teachers and made dozens of phone calls. I know what it's like to see your inbox go up with fruitless questions from ignorant people who could answer the questions themselves if they actually bothered to do a little research.

But at the forefront of my mind was this: as annoying as some of these people were, this was our potential client base. It was my job to respond to these questions, no matter how ill-informed I thought they might be, or how much I doubted their ability to teach 30 kids. Sure, my colleagues and I traded jokes and made snarky remarks sometimes. But all in the privacy of our office. We would never take examples of 'bad questions' and post them in a public forum. That would be like shooting ourselves in the foot. And very unprofessional.

QueryFail was well intended. But was it well thought out? I'd have to say no.

How to Get Published: Lorella Belli Seminar

Way back in June 2008, I pitched my first novel to Lorella Belli Literary Agency. A few days later, I heard the clunk of my package as it made its way back to me. Better than a rejection , though -- the agency just wasn't accepting any more clients at the time. I had a quick grumble about the £4 I'd just wasted, and put my submission aside.

Those £4 were actually well spent, since about a month ago Lorella Belli invited me to a free seminar she was running on how to get published. Even better, it was just a 15-minute walk from my house. I read a lot of agents blogs in the US, but the UK is still somewhat of a black hole for me, so I was really looking forward to meeting an agent face-to-face and getting some insight into the process from the ground up.

Unsure exactly what to expect, I traipsed down Portobello Road in my now-unfamiliar high-heeled boots, slightly nervous. As I entered the seminar room -- the roar of the Westway and the rumble of the Underground filling the air -- Lorella's friendly face instantly made me feel comfortable. An Italian who has been living the England for many years, she wasn't the 'scary agent' I'd worried about meeting. The small group of eight people -- from illustrators to screen-play writers -- was also welcoming. Most people, like me, were in the beginning stages of their writing careers.

While most of the session was quite basic, it was invaluable to hear the information straight from the horse's mouth. Listening to other people's questions about how to classify their writing, or the difference between publishers and agents, made me realize that I have learned a lot in the past year. Lorella's depth of industry knowledge also showed me that I have a lot more to understand!

Unfortunately, as I have come to learn, there are always one or two in every small group who behave to the detriment of the whole. I have to admit I was stunned at the confrontational attitude adopted by certain members. NOT a good way to get an agent! And one refused to even talk about what genre he was writing -- he was so worried people would steal his idea. Now, I can understand a little bit of artistic paranoia, but how on earth can you expect to get an agent when you can't even pitch your idea? It was a good lesson in how not to behave.

Some key points from the seminar:
(Copyright Lorella Belli 2007)

• There are now more than 120,000 new titles published a year.
• Choosing to become a professional writer is a bit like starting a business and should be approached the same way.
• There are over 150 literary agents in the UK.
• Commission charges are pretty standard in the industry: 15% (UK sales); 20% (US sales)
• Lorella Belli agency is interested in non fiction, women's fiction - strong memorable characters, original storyline, pace and good story-telling.
• Reading a novel is like watching a film: when you start watching it, if you think it's boring, you change the channel. That's what agents and publishers do if your work isn't strong enough to engage them.