How I Got My Literary Agent--Part II

In my previous post, I shared the part of my journey that led to receiving an offer of representation. Before I finish the story, let me first say—and I cannot stress this enough—take your cue from the Boy Scouts and BE PREPARED (figure out why you want an agent and what you’re looking for in an agent before you start submitting).
 
If you recall, I left off with three agents holding multiple manuscripts (Agents B and C, plus Tricia Lawrence). This made me become rather “OC” (obsessive-compulsive) about checking my email. So, around 6:00 one Friday morning, still blurry-eyed and half-asleep, I checked my phone for any news. There was a message from Agent C.

 

I slumped. “Darn it! I got my first rejection from one of the three agencies,” I said to my husband. He asked me what it said and I told him I didn’t know, that I hadn’t read it yet.
 

“Well, read it! Don’t assume the worst!” he said. 

But remember, I’d received 69 rejections prior to this so I’d gotten used to bad news. I was convinced it was a “No.” But of course, I opened it.  And I was stunned to see it was an offer of representation!

 Have you ever seen someone win at Wimbledon? You know, when the best tennis player in the world wins match point; then falls to her knees, face in her hands, sobbing uncontrollably? 

Yep, that was me! Words couldn’t express the overwhelming joy and relief I felt, that finally, FINALLY, someone made me an offer. That someone really liked my work. It truly was surreal.

 

Agent C wanted to talk! I wrote her back right away and then stressed all day waiting for a response. By late that afternoon, I was convinced it was a mistake and that she’d accidentally written to the wrong Terry; that she meant to write another Terry who had subbed work to her (I know that sounds neurotic but this business can seriously mess with your mind). Finally, that evening, she wrote me back and we set up a time to talk.

 

I spoke with her by phone two days later* and we hit it off well. I was excited about the prospects of working with the agency. Even though it was a new one, it sounded wonderful and I personally connected with them. And there were benefits to working with a new agency (eager to sell my work, being a showcase author). She wanted to email me a contract that day but I told her I had two other agencies that had requested my work and I needed to give them a chance to respond.  

* Note: Before the phone call, I did my homework and was prepared. AgentQuery.com has a fabulous article on what to do when an agent offers representation. Not only did I understand how to handle multiple offers, but for the phone call I had the prepared questions in front of me, two pens, water, and I dressed as if I was going to an in-person interview just to keep me on my “professional toes.”
 
As soon as I got off the phone with Agent C, I emailed Tricia and Agent B to let them know I had an offer. Agent B wrote back that afternoon with a pass but wished me well. The next morning, Tricia wrote me and thanked me for letting her know. She asked for a week to review my work. I let Agent C know this right away and thanked her for her patience as I considered this highly important career decision.
 

Five days later, Tricia emailed me that she loved what I’d sent her and wanted to talk (more tears, but since I was eating breakfast at a restaurant at the time, I managed to contain myself). Tricia and I spoke two days later and she was amazing too. I was so impressed with her professional yet personable and friendly manner. Best of all, she was so enthusiastic about my work! My work! Nobody had ever seemed that excited about my stories. It truly felt like a dream. But--she wanted me to think on it a while, since I had another offer, so I would be certain to make the right decision.

So there I was, spinning in circles in my office, about to burst! Never in my life did I EVER think I’d have to choose between two fabulous agencies with agents whom I’d connected with personally and professionally. Needless to say, I did not sleep well for two nights (you would be amazed at how many things can happen that prevent a contract from being signed—at least in my dreams!).

I knew what I wanted in an agent going into my search—someone who offered editorial input, gave career guidance, communicated regularly and was accessible, and someone with a track record. Both of these agents satisfied the first three criteria, but Agent C was new and didn’t have a track record. Also, Tricia’s agency, Erin Murphy Literary Agency, brought a lot to the table that I hadn’t anticipated (their own client forum and their own annual retreat—it sounded similar to the Vermont College community). In my heart, which I had now learned to trust, I knew Tricia would be a perfect fit for me. So, even though it was painfully saddening to have decline Agent C’s offer, I was elated to accept Tricia’s offer and sign on with her and the Erin Murphy Literary Agency. Talk about the yin and yang of life!  

 

Now, I’m anticipating getting to work with Tricia. I love feeling that I have a partner in my career and I will do everything in my power not to disappoint her. Onward ho!

So that’s my journey to finding an agent, which was more like a trek across the Himalayas… 

For anyone who is looking for an agent, here are some of my favorite online resources: 

AgentQuery.com

QueryTracker.com

SCBWI’s “TheBook” (Agent Market) 

Verla Kay’s Blue Boards (now merged with SCBWI Blue Boards)

Publisher’sMarketplace ($25 per month membership or you can subscribe to the Publishers’ Lunch, a free daily newsletter sent by Publishers’ Marketplace  

ChuckSambuchino’s Guide to Literary Agents Blog   

LiteraryRambles   

Frolicking Through Cyberspace Blog  

How I Got My Literary Agent—Part I

I recently announced that I’m thrilled to have signed on with Tricia Lawrence of the Erin Murphy Literary Agency. Tricia is a fabulous agent and I cannot express how excited I am to work with her! I truly feel honored and can’t wait to roll up our sleeves and get started. 

Many “How I Got My Agent” blog posts exist on the web but because each person’s journey is a little different (and many of my writer friends want to know the details), I’ve decided to launch one more “agent journey” story out into cyberspace.

Before I get into these past few weeks, a whirling dervish of events, I wanted to share what led up to getting an offer. Let me start with some numbers. 

12. I started submitting my work to agents twelve years ago. And I had no business doing so! I had only been writing for two years so I hadn’t had enough time to fully develop my skills, learn the craft, or even find myself as a writer. Oy! What was I thinking?  

69. This is the number of agent submissions I made before receiving an offer of representation. I had subbed to 22 agents prior to getting my MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts, and subbed to another 47 after I had graduated in July 2011. Did I mention how persistent I can be? 

Yep, it had been a very, very long journey. I had so many “downs” that I can’t begin to explain how I kept going, other than to say I didn’t see any other option. What was I going to do? Not write? Also, I couldn’t disappoint my family and friends but most of all I could not disappoint myself and give up on doing something I love so much. 

What did I learn along the way? 

1)   Do not listen to “them.” “They” (those voices that claim to understand how things work in this business) are not always right. General guidelines and opinions are helpful but not meant for everyone. For example, after I graduated “they” kept saying that picture books were a hard sell and that the only way I could get an agent was to sell a novel and then later approach my agent about my picture books.  

So, I spent almost a year and a half subbing my novel (I would submit it in spurts, letting my ego heal after each wave of rejections). The biggest problem with this plan was that my novel wasn’t my strongest writing. Picture books were my strength.  

The other problem was that while at VCFA, I found myself as a writer. I discovered that my true passion lies with picture books and easy readers. I knew this to my core. So, for that year and half I was trying to sell my novel, in a sense I was betraying who I truly was as a writer. I should have blocked out what “they” were saying and followed my heart.  

2)   The second thing I learned was to submit smarter. Because I had multiple picture book manuscripts, I made two sets of mss to submit—those that went to agents and those that went to editors. Admittedly, I focused most of my energy on agent submissions, so agents got “my best stuff” but I did use a couple of mss for editorial submissions (the idea behind subbing to editors was that if I got a contract offer I could use it obtain an agent). Also, if an agent requested to see more of my work (because that’s what they do with picture book writers), I would have other polished mss to send them. 

3)   The third thing I learned is to BEND THE RULES. This was hard for me because I’m a rule-follower. Always have been. I squirm and sweat if I know I’m breaking a rule. My heart rate increases. I become physically uncomfortable. So in a business where making even one mistake can be cause for immediate rejection, breaking rules was out of the question for me. But I did learn to bend them. 

So, after a year and a half of novel rejections, I decided to do something different—not break a rule, but bend a rule. I’d read somewhere that Tricia Lawrence (of the Erin Murphy Literary Agency) was building her picture book client list. The problem was EMLA was a closed agency and I’d never met or heard Tricia speak. I decided to write Erin Murphy (whom I’d met in person at two SCBWI events) and ask her if I could send a picture book manuscript to Tricia. Erin kindly wrote back and said yes. You see, this is why I call this “bending a rule.” I didn’t just send an unsolicited manuscript to Tricia (that would be breaking a rule); I approached Erin first (out of respect) and hoped like heck that she would grant me permission. I’m so glad she did! (Thanks, Erin!) 

The next rule I bent came when Tricia asked to send more of my work. She wrote me a few months after my initial submission and asked to see 3-4 picture books. Little did she know that I had fifteen completed manuscripts! Choosing which ones to send was so hard, so I bent a rule (the rule being, do exactly what an agent requests) and I sent her six manuscripts. Okay, please don’t take that as meaning you should flood an agent with all your manuscripts! I had a full body of completed work from my MFA, plus I had written and revised more stories since I graduated in 2011. These were all highly-polished stories. I researched Tricia online even more and sent her the six I thought would appeal to her the most. 

The next day, I sent a status query to another agent who had been holding a manuscript for three months, whom I will call Agent B. I mentioned that another agent had requested to see more of my work (not an offer, just a request to see more). He wrote me back the next day and asked if he could see two more PB mss. Instead (there I went again, bending another rule), I sent him an “elevator pitch sheet” I’d created that listed all my mss with a 1-2 sentence description of each. That afternoon, he let me know which two mss he wanted to see. 

A few days later, another agency (I’ll call them Agent C) asked to see more of my work. They wanted a couple more picture book manuscripts so once more I bent the rule and sent them five. The reason I bent this rule so much was that I thought it was critical to show my range (because I write fiction, nonfiction, verse, and prose picture books).  

At that point, I had three agents holding multiple mss. I didn’t get my hopes up too much (because this business loves to chew up writers and spit them out!), but I had a feeling something big was about to happen. And boy did it!

 

Stay tuned for Part II…

Big News!

I am now represented by Tricia Lawrence of the Erin Murphy Literary Agency. I am thrilled at the prospects of working with Tricia. I feel as if I now have a climbing partner on my writing journey! Woohoooo!!!

More details to follow...

MINI-VIEW: JILL CORCORAN

MINI-VIEWS:
Pint-sized interviews that leave you smiling.

JILL CORCORAN is an Associate Agent at the Herman Agency representing MG and YA authors, as well as being a children's book author. Lee Bennett Hopkins will be including her poem PIRATES in his upcoming Holiday House MG collection, I AM THE BOOK.

Jill has a terrific blog, Jill Corcoran Books. I’ve known Jill for years—she’s funny, smart, hard-working and persistent! I was so happy for her when she told me of her recent move into her new role as a children’s literary agent.

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
I am an Associate Agent at Herman Agency representing Chapter Book, Middle Grade and Young Adult authors.

I have a BA in English from Stanford University and an MBA in Finance and Marketing from The University of Chicago. I've marketed everything from cereal to sneakers at Leo Burnett Advertising, Mattel, LA Gear and my own company, Launch! New Product Marketing.

I am also a children's book writer and poet. Lee Bennett Hopkins will be including my poem PIRATES in his upcoming Holiday House middle grade collection, I AM THE BOOK. My poem will be one of only l4 in this fully illustrated picture/poetry book.

I've won an SCBWI Los Angeles Writer's Day Poetry Award for my humorous picture book collection, SINK YOUR TEETH INTO POETRY and an SCBWI Work-in-Progress Letter of Merit for my YA novel, TWIN SISTER: I AM NOT YOU. Plus, an article about me and my writing workshops has been syndicated in parenting magazines nationwide by Kathy Sena (http://www.kathysena.com/).

Could you please summarize your specific taste in books and which kinds of stories usually catch your attention (or would be an automatic "No, thanks")?
I am a huge fan of humor. If you can make me laugh or crack a smile, you are my kind of writer. Even in a serious literary book, there is room for humor.

Some of my favorite books are Frindle, Stargirl, Speak, Stuck in Neutral, How I Live Now, Millicent Min, Good Enough, Seeing Emily, Things Left Unsaid, Flipped and Because of Winn Dixie.
I would also love to find funny boy books that are mixed prose and graphic novel a la Wimpy Kid, Bruce Hale's Prince of Underwhere, and even full graphic novels like Bone. BTW, Ronnie Ann Herman is also looking for Graphic Novels and I will be passing on illustrator-driven GN to her attention.

What catches my attention is great writing. As I said in my blog post HOW I READ SUBMISSIONS, a great idea can only get a book so far. It is the execution, the writing that brings a plot, a cast of characters, the soul of a book alive. A quick side note here--When I go into classrooms to teach, I'll give 30 students one prompt, but I get 30 different versions of a story. That is how it is with manuscript submissions. I get a fair share of similar plots outlined in query letters, but the executions of those plots are what determines if I ask for a full or not.

I want a book that I can't put down. That I have to read in one sitting because I have to know what happens next. I want to close your book and keep living with your characters in my head.

An automatic "No Thanks"... forced dialog, flabby prose, mixed metaphors, expected plot turns and endings, etc.

What will your role be at the Herman Agency? (How will you work together, will you both read all genres, how would you handle authors who write across multiple genres, etc.--anything you feel readers should know)
Ronnie Ann Herman started Herman Agency in 1999 and represents many of the leading illustrators and author/illustrators in today's children's book market. As a former Art Director at Random House and Associate Publisher at Penguin Books' Grosset & Dunlap, Ronnie art directed thousands of children's books during her more than 20 year publishing career. Ronnie is also the author of 8 picture books with 1,000,000 books in print.

Most of Ronnie's clients are PB author/illustrators or illustrators. Ronnie has sold CB, MG, YA and adult over the years but her heart is in picture books and that is why she brought me in to expand the company.

For a single author who writes YA and PB, for instance, I will rep the author's YA and Ronnie will rep his/her PB. When an author signs with me they are signing with the Herman Agency and they will benefit from both Ronnie and my expertise, dedication and effort.

For my clients, Ronnie and I will work together to create a submission lists. While Ronnie is very familiar with different houses' and different editors' preferences, I also have editors contacting me, telling me their preferences so that I can direct the right books to their attention. Ronnie will handle all contract negotiations until I know contracts inside and out.

What's your favorite children's joke?
I never remember punch lines so I am a bad joke-teller. But I'm a huge fan of riddle poems. Here is one that I wrote a few years ago:

I love to eat green moldy cheese,
Chewed up meat and smashed down peas,
Clippings from your puppy’s nails,
Squashed-shelled squished-up garden snails,
Gooey tissues, chicken fat,
Droppings from your fur-ball cat.
Lumpy milk, month-old trout,
Fill me up…
Throw me out!

What am I?

(answer: a garbage can)

Hilarious poem, Jill~ and thanks for the interview!

Agent Flood

It seems like there's been a recent flood of new agents in the field of children's literature. I'm sure the large number of publishing layoffs have contributed to this, amongst other things, but whatever the cause, it's made me stop and wonder...is this a good thing or a bad thing for children's writers and illustrators?

On one hand, there are new, hungry agents out there just looking for terrific stories and art to sell. Their doors are open, as are their minds. They WANT people to send them queries and samples. It might actually become a *little* easier to get an agent now. And all this is good, if you're looking for an agent.

But what if you're not. What would an agent glut do to the market? Assuming there's a limited number of manuscripts to be acquired in a given period of time, wouldn't editors tend to read agented work before even considering diving into the slush pile? Will this make it even harder to get your work read if you don't have an agent? Is this the universe's way of "cleaning up" the submission process so that unagented work must be so outstandingly-sparkly-clean that anything less will be given up on? Will this weed out writers and illustrators who aren't willing to do what it takes to make it in this business? Is this the beginning of the children's market becoming more like the adult market, where agents are a necessity to selling your work?

Those are a lot of questions. I'd love to hear others' thoughts on this! Let me know what you think~ please, leave a comment.

New Children's Agent

Ugh...I just got over a four-day migraine. The only good thing that came of it was that one day I was so dopey from my migraine meds that while I talking to my husband, I messed up my wording and accidentally said something quite funny that I think will make for a funny children's book. Sorry, I can't share exactly what I said (I never talk about story ideas before I write them because when I do, I lose the enthusiasm for the project before I even put pencil to paper), but suffice it to say that since it was born from a semi-medicated state, it's gotta be on the humorous side ;-).

Okay, onto more relevant things. Last week, my writer friend
Jill Corcoran announced that she has joined the Ronnie Herman Agency, as Ronnie's new associate agent. CONGRATULATIONS, JILL!!! Jill is the type of person who is a natural at schmoozing, striking up conversations, and totally in her element in professional situations. And she's downright nice. Yes, she's a true extrovert and loves it. As an introvert, I'd feel my air flow expire and want to just curl up in the corner and die if I had to do the job of an literary agent, but I DO admire those who can do it--and Jill is one of them. I wish her the best of luck in her new endeavor >^..^<