How I Got My Agent: The Accidental Encounters

In the final edition of How I Got My Agent, here is my story. I met my agent by accident - twice. But first, a little background about my writing history.

Several years ago, my first book did very well in contests and racked up lots of requests, but it didn't sell. After a trip back to college and a few years establishing my marketing career, I started my second Regency historical romance. By now, I'd learned far more about craft and the business of writing, but I traveled 70% of the time in the US and Europe. The constant jet lag was a significant barrier to my writing goals. So I negotiated with my manager to cut out most of the travel. Then I took a vacation. Three weeks later, I finished my second book, which was then titled, THE DUCHESS COMPETITION.

My second book also did very well in contests. My goal was to get a great agent, so when friends invited me to tag along to a conference, I decided to go. I signed up for appointments, but was unable to get one with Lucienne Diver because her slots were filled. That night, the conference held a dinner at a local restaurant. My buddy Jo Anne Banker & I got lost. Needless to say, we arrived late. The keynote speaker met us and then realized she'd only saved one seat for Jo Anne. The speaker was horrified, but I told her not to worry. I don't know a stranger, so I strode off in search of new best friends.

There was only one vacant chair next to an agent. I'm an extrovert, but even I was a bit nervous when I approached Lucienne Diver. She gave me a warm welcome. To my surprise, Lucienne asked me what I wrote. I said Regency historical romance and shut my mouth. I believed she only asked to be polite. Then she asked me what my book was about. I gave her a sheepish look and said, "Oh, it's the bachelor in Regency England, minus the hot tub and camera crew." She whipped out her card and requested a partial. I couldn't believe my good fortune. Then we started chatting and hit it off. We’d traveled to some of the same places in Europe and swapped funny stories. After the conference, I sent her the partial and not long afterwards, she requested the complete.

Fast forward to another conference. While riding an escalator, I heard someone call out my name. I looked back and saw a familiar face. Yes, it was Lucienne. She asked about the manuscript, and I told her I was doing revisions. I'd found a flaw in the book. With my first book, I’d learned a lot because I’d done revisions for an editor without promise of contract. That first time, I was too inexperienced to do justice to the revisions (I’d only been writing for a little over a year). This time around, I was armed with far more knowledge, and I was determined to get it right. I believed too much in my story to send out anything but my very best work. Lucienne and I talked for a bit, and I wondered if this was some kind of sign (cue eerie music). What are the odds of meeting an agent accidentally - twice?

I returned home energized and finished those revisions. Then I sent the book off to requesting agents, including Lucienne. Soon afterwards, something unexpected happened. Three agents offered representation.

Of course, I was excited and flattered. It's a good problem to have, but it's also terrifying because you have to choose. I knew this was one of the most important career decisions I would ever make. How did I do it? I compared and contrasted each of them. I also did additional research. Here are some of the key points I investigated:

• Their styles of communication. I wanted an agent who replied in a timely manner and also someone who listened to my goals.
• How and to whom they envisioned submitting my manuscript.
• Their editorial feedback and whether or not it resonated with me immediately.
• The agency contracts, especially termination clauses.
• Their agent experience, including the number of years in business.
• Promotional efforts for their authors.
• Their deals on Publisher's Marketplace (# of deals, which publishers, etc.).
• Most importantly, I spoke to at least one of their authors.

In the case of the two other agents, I knew authors they represented. I didn't know any of Lucienne's authors. So I called published authors to find out if they knew any of Lucienne's clients. None of them did, but more than one admitted they were seriously considering querying her. Finally, I asked Lucienne if I could speak to one of her clients. She referred me to her wonderful author, Michele Lang. As it turns out, Michele had also gotten multiple offers of representation and understood what a difficult decision I had to make. She gave me a thorough and objective description of how Lucienne works with her authors.

So what differentiated Lucienne and why did I choose her? She has 16 years of experience as an agent. Lucienne has a stellar reputation in the business. Her move to The Knight Agency also swayed my decision because the agency is very well established and really promotes their authors. Plus, Lucienne promotes her authors on her blog. Speaking of promo, I'd learned from Michele that Lucienne went above and beyond at one conference by making a promotional opportunity available to her authors. And remember my one-sentence pitch to Lucienne? She got me at hello.

In addition to these tangible factors, I listened to my instincts. You see, I believe things happen for a reason.

Lucienne has exceeded my expectations over and over again. Working with her is a true partnership. She listens to my goals, provides guidance, and makes sure I'm involved/informed about all aspects of my career. I am so pleased with how quickly she responds. She emphasizes there is no such thing as too many questions. So I never hesitate to call or email. And she’s great at brainstorming ideas. In particular, I like that she's a creative thinker and makes opportunities happen. Not a day goes by that I don’t pinch myself at my good fortune. She’s the perfect agent for me.

Best of all, we sold that book in a three-book deal to Grand Central in June 2009!

Merci beaucoup, Agent Awesome Sauce!

May the magic romance fairies be with all of you!

How I Got My Agent: Guest Blog with Lara Chapman

Welcome to another edition of How I Got My Agent. Lara Chapman, a fellow member of the West Houston chapter, recently signed with an agent and graciously agreed to guest blog today.

Welcome, Lara. Tell us a bit about yourself, your book, and your agent.
This is my first guest-blog and I'm very excited. I write Young Adult Contemporary Fiction. My agent is Holly Root with the Waxman Literay Agency. The title of my book is FLAWLESS (a Cyrano love story with a modern-day twist).

How long have you been writing?
Three years.

Along the way to representation, did you change subgenres?

Yes! I began writing adult contemporary romantic suspense because that’s what I liked to read. What I found, though, was that my voice was too immature for an adult heroine (as pointed out on several occasions by contest judges) so I did some research and read a ton of YA books before making the switch. There’s been no turning back since!

How many books did you write before signing with your agent?
Two adult contemporary romances, then two YA novels. The third YA novel was FLAWLESS.

What steps did you take to find your agent?
I actually queried pretty widely in the beginning. I made a list of the agents who repped my favorite YA authors and started with them. One of those agents was Jenny Bent (agent to tres extraordinaire YA authors, Tera Lynn Childs and Stephanie Hale). Jenny liked my writing, but didn’t have time to give it the attention she thought it deserved, so she referred me to Holly, who had previously worked as Jenny’s assistant and had recently moved to the Waxman Agency as an agent.

How did you go about researching agents?
While I definitely spent plenty of time trolling the internet for information – especially Agent Query and Publisher’s Marketplace. I found the most useful research was identifying agents that repped authors I enjoyed reading and thought my writing resembled. Once you see the list of authors an agent has signed and later sold, you get a feel of their interests and the type of voice that catches their attention.

What were some of the most important characteristics you were seeking in an agent?
Communicative – I really wanted an agent that stayed in communication and was accessible. Because I teach full time, it was imperative that my agent be email friendly as most of my communication takes place after working hours. I knew from the communication I’d had with Holly when I’d queried her with my first two YA novels that she was that kind of communicator.

Credibility – We all want an agent that has credibility within the industry. I knew I wanted an agent that was actively selling books in my genre because that meant she had contacts in the YA publishing market. It also meant she knew what editors were looking for!

Did you have more than one offer of representation?
Holly was my only offer of representation, and it was truly the only one I wanted. I just “knew” she was the one. Our personalities clicked, she was easy to talk to, and I trusted her advice implicitly. The backstory on my relationship with Holly is long… as in 2 ½ years long. I would query her, she’d ask for the partial, then the full. Twice she rejected me, but you could tell it just pained her to pass, even though it was the right thing to do (much as I hate to admit it). She’d offer some advice about how to make the next manuscript bigger and better. The term “high concept” was mentioned frequently, and we all know how elusive that term can be! During those 2 ½ years, I’d make pitch appointments with Holly when we were at the same conference and just talk about the industry. Keeping in touch was key to developing our relationship.

Now tell us about the day you got the call saying I'd love to represent you!
Holly emailed me on Monday afternoon (on the first day of school, which is crazy for teachers everywhere!) and asked if I’d be available to chat the following afternoon with the note that she was “so happy with the work” I’d done on the manuscript. I quickly replied with a manic YES and spent the next 24 hours obsessing if this would be “the call” or if she was planning to let me down gently. When she called the following day, 20 fifth graders had just returned to my classroom from PE, sweaty, stinky, and well… generally just icky! I grabbed the phone off my desk, left the sweaty preteens to make wild guesses about who I was talking to, and took the call in the hallway.

There’s nothing quite like hearing an agent talk about your writing using phrases like “really hit it out of the ballpark” and “high concept” (I finally got it!) and “I’m really excited about this!” When she finally asked, “So, what do you think? You want to do this deal?” I nearly screamed! Instead, I just gushed effusively and think I got a “yes” in there somewhere. When she sent me the contract via email an hour later (See? Good communicator!), I read it at least a thousand times, making sure it was MY NAME on the paper. A copy of it is still sitting on my nightstand so I can look at it every single day! I’ve decided that August 25th is a new family holiday… aka Holly-Day… to be celebrated for many years to come!

Who was the first person you called/emailed after getting the agent call? How did you celebrate?
I texted my husband and my critique partners first thing! Next up were my sisters! Honestly, the only people that really “get” what an accomplishment signing with an agent is are other writers. Husbands, sisters, and friends are happy for you and proud of you, but your writing circle explodes in celebration! My personal celebration was pretty low key… my only requirement was that I not be required to cook or clean for 24 hours and I got what I wanted.

Finally, do you have any words of wisdom for writers?
It sounds so trite and I’ve read the same words while stifling an eye roll more than once, but it’s so true… NEVER QUIT WRITING! You can’t sell what you don’t write and that’s just the plain and simple truth. I had all but decided to toss in the towel on writing, deciding instead that maybe I should consider it a hobby, not a career. But just listen to this story… the manuscript Holly actually signed me on had been lost in her email for nearly a year! When she never responded to my partial submission, I took her silence as a polite “don’t call me, I’ll call you” brush off. Regardless, I kept tweaking the story, loving it more and more with each revision, but never querying another agent. Fast forward a year… when Holly was cleaning out her email, she saw it, loved what she read, and asked for the full. Six weeks later, she offered representation! You never know what’s just around the corner. Believe in yourself, in your story… and never, ever quit! Oh, and you might want to follow up when an agent doesn’t respond to your submission.

What a great story, Lara!

Lara's website and blog are under construction, but be sure to bookmark the sites:
http://www.larachapman.com/ and http://writingwithscissors.wordpress.com/

How I Got My Agent: Guest Blog with Lark Howard

As promised, here is the next installment of How I Got My Agent featuring my West Houston chapter buddy, Lark Howard.

Welcome, Lark. Thanks for agreeing to guest blog. Please tell us a bit about yourself, what you write, and about your agent.
I've written a contemporary paranormal romance set in Paris entitled DEYROLLE. The title is the name of a real place--an elegant townhouse full of taxidermied animals. The hero, Adrien Deyrolle, is a French aristocrat with vast psychic powers including the ability to bring the animals to life. Needless to say, the frequent trips to France for research were a blast. I recently signed with Becca Stumpf, of the Prospect Agency.

Have you been previously published?
I’ve published a lot of magazine articles over the years, mostly ghost writing for architects or engineers. No novels so far……

How long have you been writing?
I’ve been writing fiction since junior high when I made myself the heroine of a West Side Story inspired saga. The hero was a boy I worshipped from afar because he was actually taller than me. Most of my colorful jobs involved lots of marketing and PR writing. Then about five years ago I wrote a woman’s fiction tome to entertain myself and found my way to RWA. Writing seriously for publication? About 4 years.

Along the way to representation, did you change subgenres?
Are we counting the sci-fi fantasy I wrote right out of college? Let’s not. Since getting serious I’ve written in two genres, suspense and paranormal romance. I love suspense and have not given up on that manuscript. Frankly I'd probably be on my 3rd suspense if my critique partners, Sarah Andre and Fleury Sommers, hadn't bullied me into writing Deyrolle after the first 25 pages--the only pages I had--won a contest. I loved my premise but thought the story would be a marketing challenge because it involves psychic powers rather than the vampire/werewolf/witch/demon characters paranormal readers love. My CPs insisted the story was fresh and original and I should finish. I think it was a good change and now I have a spin-off WIP and three more stories in the series I’m dying to write.

How many books did you write before signing with your agent?
Three including the 200,000+ word woman’s fiction tucked under the bed where it will forever remain.

What steps did you take to find your agent?
I soaked up every piece of knowledge and advice I got from the wonderful authors at West Houston RWA--especially Sharie Kohler, Tera Lynn Childs and Colleen Thompson. I entered contests hoping to be discovered, attended conferences where agents talked about what they were looking for and how to submit. I pitched whenever I could—local conferences, out of town conferences, RWA National—and cold queried via email. As it turned out, the face-to-face seemed to work best for me. Several agents I met informally requested fulls and followed-up with interest in possible representation. I met Becca at a conference in Houston last fall, chatted with her at the Friday evening reception, sat at the agents' table at lunch (hey, they asked for volunteers!) then pitched in the afternoon. All three agents at the conference requested Deyrolle and I ended up sending fulls to two of the three. All that and a great program for $100!!!

What were some of the most important characteristics you were seeking in an agent?
I wanted an agent with a good agency who loved my writing and wanted to be part of my career. The business is too tough to risk your career on an agent who's less than totally gung-ho about your work. Contacts, industry savvy, understanding the business were basic requirements, of course. As was professionalism. It was also important to me that she/he represented authors outside the romance genre as well as within. My work tends to break a lot of the romance genre conventions which was an issue for some of the very romance oriented agents.

Did you have more than one offer of representation?
I had serious interest from other agents but no offers on the table…the dating with no ring sitch. Some of those I'd eliminated from consideration before I made my decision.

Now tell us about the day you got the call saying I'd love to represent you!
We'd been in contact and an email proceeded the call—an are-you-available-to-talk email—so I suspected the offer might be coming. I had my questions ready for her and we talked about the story—what she loved about it and what I was in the midst of revising. Her excitement and enthusiasm was exactly what I'd been hoping for. My decision to say yes came about halfway through the call although I had many more questions. After accepting, it struck me that I’d made a commitment to my writing in committing to my agent. From then on, writing was my career, not a hobby I hoped to turn into a career.

Who was the first person you called/emailed after getting the agent call? How did you celebrate?
I was in Pennsylvania visiting my sister/beta-reader, Cheryl, so she heard my half of the conversation. I called my husband then Sarah Andre and Fleury Sommers, my CPs who midwifed the book. I’m not sure when the Grey Goose made its appearance.

Finally, do you have any words of wisdom for writers seeking representation?
I can only repeat advice I got from some fabulous and generous authors. Write the very best book you can. While you’re agent hunting, write the next one, and the next. You never know which will catch someone’s attention. Try everything. What works for one person might not work for someone else. A lot of people get their agent through queries, some through contests, some through pitching. Unless you get your work out there, you won’t get an agent, so just do it. Submit to a lot of agents. Some will be very slow in responding, some won’t respond at all and other will send rejections. And a few agents will show interest. It’s business for them, not a personal thing, so toughen up and keep submitting.

Thanks so much for sharing your story, Lark!