Meet the Agents: a Writers at Large! Event

MEET THE AGENTS:  with SARAH BALLARD, UNITED AGENTS AND MEG DAVIS, MBA, moderated by CHRIS TAYLOR, DIRECTOR OF NEW WRITING SOUTH.  

WHAT DOES AN AGENT DO?
Career management.  Can I sell the work to a publisher?  It’s my job to know which publisher is appropriate and to find the best deal for the writer.  Negotiate the contract.  Manage the process of publishing the book, dealing with the book cover for example.  As well as managing the royalty process.  We are also thinking a lot about how the industry is changing digitally, and we try to keep those concerns off the writer’s desk, so that they can carry on with writing.

DOES EVERYONE NEED AN AGENT?
There are those who write for pleasure and do not judge the validation of their work through publication.  Agents do help writers see their work and their process, but agents do not work with writers on the writing.  They work to sell pieces that are finished, not to help finish an unfinished piece.  There is no point in having an agent unless you are willing to engage with the commercial process of publishing a book.

WHAT KIND OF WORK DO YOU LIKE?

SARAH BALLARD:  “I was at Hodder & Stoughton and then PFD.  I was an in-house development agent at PFD working on polishing manuscripts, as well as beginning to take on clients.  I have a small list now, but it is very broad.  I have a mixture of established agents inherited from Pat Kavanagh upon her death, as well as a crop of new writers of fiction and non-fiction.  I like urgent and passionate non-fiction that has a strong sense of narrative.  Fiction is harder to pin down.  I’m very fussy about fiction.  It must be elegant, accomplished.  I haven’t taken on a fiction writer in a year.”

MEG DAVIS: “I represent 60% script writers and 40% writers.  I also work managing film and TV rights for writers.  I do a lot of genre fiction, but I do not represent non-fiction.  I like quirky writing.  If the book could wear a cardigan, it wouldn’t be my cup of tea.”

WHAT HAPPENS TO SCRIPTS THAT COME IN?
SARAH:  We ask people to make a targeted, specific approach to a specific agent by email.  If it doesn’t look right, I reply quickly to say no.  We ask writers to submit the first 3 chapters to us and if I want to see more from the writer, I’ll get my assistant to speak with the writer.
I like writers to have finished the whole book before sending it in.  Non-fiction doesn’t need to be finished, but fiction should be.  It’s hard to write a synopsis before you have finished a book – you don’t know the arc of it until you finish it.  I wouldn’t take a writer on who hadn’t finished their book.

WHAT MAKES YOU PICK A BOOK OUT OF THE PILE?
MEG: It’s like anything.  It’s something you can’t put your finger on.  Anybody knows when you read something really special – no one knows what makes it special, but you can recognize it.
SARAH: A special book feels like chunks of honeycomb.  Tight, compact bits of writing that kind of crunch when you read them.

SELLING THE BOOK:
SARAH: I work with the writer to make the book the best I can.  Then I have a list in my head of people I know will like the book and people I know I want to approach and discuss the book with them.  I put a package together of the book and a publication document.  You might get an offer from a publisher, you might get feedback about changes they want, you might get a number of offers.

ARE YOU TAKING ON FEWER WRITERS NOW?
MEG: It is getting harder to launch yourself as a debut writer with no credits to your name.  But it’s much easier to get those credits now.  My boss talks about the days when you could send something very rough to a publisher and get feedback.  Tell the agent you’ve taken some courses, published some short stories etc. then that places you several rungs up the ladder.  It is tough.  Agents are very busy.  There is no end to the workload.  There is always more to learn about rights and the industry.  New clients mean more work, but all of us will make room for someone we think is exciting.

SARAH: We keep thinking we’ll say we’re closed to unsolicited manuscripts, but we can’t bring ourselves to do it.  And morally, I think you should keep the door open to new writing.  None of us got into this industry to make money.  But I really do only take on writers that I cannot bear not to take on.  Every email I hope I won’t be able to stop reading it.

HOW IMPORTANT ARE SYNOPSES?  WOULD A BAD SYNOPSIS PUT YOU OFF?
MEG: The only bad synopsis is one that sounds like the book blurb.  A synopsis just tells what the whole story is, like you would tell it in a pub.
SARAH: I’m not interested in the style of a synopsis.  The arc of the story is what’s most important to tell.  Literally, just say what happens in the book, beginning, middle and end.  Don’t get side-tracked down little tunnels of plot.  Synopses are broad and simple.  A synopsis should be no longer than a page and a half.

WHY ARE REJECTION LETTERS SO FORMULAIC?
We deliberately do not engage with writers we reject.  We need to save time. Keep your initial approach very short and punchy, and you'll have a better chance of your proposal being read.

DO YOU NEED AN AGENT?  WHAT'S THE BEST WAY TO GET ONE?  
At least using a contract vetting service, like the one provided through The Society of Authors.  Writers can be taken advantage of, because they will not be able to understand the contracts they are able to sign and the publishers want to get everything as cheaply as possible.  There is an advantage to having someone on your side.

If you have lots of work, just pitch your strongest thing, the thing you want the agent to work on.  Don’t cloud the issue with lots of other things that you have waiting or want to do.

Think about how you would apply for a job.  Good letters aren’t too long – a page, probably.  They are professional, courteous, well-informed:  maybe referencing other writers that the agent represents, showing why you are writing to the agent.  I’m writing – and state the genre.  Writers I admire are;  Previous publishing notes.  There is no code.  It has to do with the tone being professional.  You can include a CV.

The list of what not to do is much longer.  Address the letter correctly.  Avoid having a hostile tone.  “Hi there” as an opener shows that you have not targeted the agent, you could email it to anybody.  

Email is much easier now for agents.  The Sony e-reader is very useful.  It means we can carry around considerable amounts of reading easily.  In-boxes nag more than stacks of paper.

WHAT DO YOU ENJOY READING?
SARAH: On holiday I have a kind of programme of reading.  A thriller at the airport:  clean, simple, plot heavy.  Then I graduate to literary fiction, maybe something historical.  If I have a long holiday, I’ll get to the non-fiction by the end.
MEG: This is going to be shameful.  If I’m on holiday I want to catch up on best-sellers, so I’m on top of what the industry is doing.