Dear Daphne,
Since you mentioned the LA SCBWI conference Friday on your blog, I was wondering if you could answer a question about conferences for me.

As an agent, if you’re interested in a novel’s premise while at a conference, what kinds of materials do you expect the writer to have available? I’m wondering if I need to make hard copies of my first chapter to have on hand, or if it’s more a case of trading contact info with the agent and sending the material at a later date.

I don’t want to arrive at the conference unprepared.

Thanks so much for your help!

Amy

Amy, I’m going to make your packing easier. Don’t worry about bringing hard copies of your material. Make sure you have business cards with your name and contact information, and try to get something similar from an agent if they’re interested in your book. Note also that if you’ve signed up for a critique, the agent already may have a copy of your contact information, and if they’re interested, may already have taken note of your details.

But no, if you’re chatting in a hallway or elevator, and the agent asks for your pitch and is interested, all you need to do is trade information and follow up afterwards. In fact, sometimes not even that. The onus will be on you, the author, to follow up (in most cases), and the agent’s contact details will likely be in the conference materials provided to all attendees.

The week after the conference, send an email to the agent’s publicly-provided email address, reminding them when and where you met, recapping your elevator pitch, and sending the material they requested.

I’ve been to my fair share of conferences, and I can tell you, I’d rather leave with less material than I walked in with, rather than more. Especially now when most agents read submissions electronically, paper is just unnecessary baggage.

Hope that helps, and good luck!

@Brattyhack writes: “My question is about the biz itself. Why do book stores make 50% of the sale and agents and authors and pub’s so much less?” I’m not quite sure where that 50% figures comes from, actually. On a book which an author gets 10% of the price for every copy sold, the publisher actually gets 90%, covering costs of production, salaries, shipping, design, etc. So the bulk of the money on a book sale goes to the publisher, not a book store. Any bookstore owners able to answer more clearly than I?

@filamena asks: “How do you propose multi format books? (Novel with some comic elements, photography with short stories.)” By comic elements, I assume you mean graphic novel, yes? Not just that some parts of the plot are funny? I go with the easiest, most well-known way of describing a project, and let the unusual or unknown be the hook of my pitch. Now, novel with graphic elements isn’t all that unusual anymore, but for something like a collection of short stories with photographs, if short stories were doing well, I would try to pitch the quality of the writing, and let the photographs be an extra, almost.

@MsPinkSlip_Blog writes: “How should one approach the follow up process once a query is submitted to an agent?” First of all, make sure you know the agent’s usual timeframe for responses. On my site, for instance, I say that I’ll get back to query letters within two weeks. If you haven’t heard from me within that period, you can send a follow-up email — note: this is not THE SAME QUERY resent. This is an email just checking in to confirm I received the original. That being said, once you’ve submitted to an agent, I would think you might also be following their blog/twitter/etc. in which case you may hear they’re running behind, or suddenly caught up, as I posted earlier this week, and you can use that info as an opportunity to follow up. Key to a successful follow-up: be polite and provide all necessary information (your name, the book’s title, genre, and when you sent it — which you should have easily accessible, because OF COURSE you track all your submissions, rights?)

@kimchatel asks: “Do self publish credits or POD pub credits neg/positively affect a query to an agent?” For me, neither. Being self-published doesn’t tell me anything about your writing, even if you’ve sold thousands of copies. It may tell me you thought the traditional publishing route wasn’t for you (in which case, why are you querying me now?), but I look at self-published or POB queries with the same perspective as every other query.

@jjochwat writes: “Guy submits first 10 pp. Agent likes them, immediately asks for complete. Guy rereads mss, finds he could cut & improve. Now what?” Send what you have already. I’d rather you’d have waited to query in the first place until you’d done the rereading and the revising, but now that you’ve sent it out and someone wants to see more, you should send the rest, and let them make their decision. If they say no, then revise, and go out with a stronger manuscript elsewhere.

@sdficklin asks: “When querying a new project, should you mention if you already sold one to a small house w/o an agent?” Yes, absolutely! Any publishing credits are noteworthy, so long as they involve an actual paid acquisition and an editorial process.

@bethrevis and @driftsmoke ask about “unpublished writers and blogs? i.e. do’s/don’ts, mention in query?, what to post on, whether u check em out?” Speed round response: yes, you should have a blog/website. No, you should NOT be posting your entire manuscript, or writing about the details of your query process on said blog, and certainly not bad-mouthing or even excessively praising any of the specific agents you’re querying, because yes, we DO sometimes look at your sites, and do you want us to know we’re we fall on your wish list for an agent? Or (true story) that I requested a manuscript at the same time as another agent, and you decided to wait three months to respond to my request while waiting to hear from your more preferred choice? For answers from editors, check out my series of posts from last year here, here, and here. Use them to talk about yourself, particularly what you enjoy about writing and reading, and build a community around your site for the purpose of communication and camaraderie, not blatant marketing.

@anniekawaii asks: “My brother-in-law & fam are coming to visit us in Louisiana where the heat & humidity are oppressive. Are they crazy?” Yes, unless you live in New Orleans, which is an awesome vacation destination. And if you live somewhere else in Louisiana — are YOU crazy?

@LorelieBrown writes: “Just how many inches of snow did y’all get this year?” According to KKTV, recorded snowfall for the Colorado Springs area, about an hour south of me, was 17.9″, over 6 inches of which fell in March and April. Why? How much did YOU get?

@JulieWeathers writes: “Fashion and conferences. Tips on what not to wear.” Shoes you can walk in, and stand in for hours. (I’m allowed not to take my own advice — people expect certain things from my shoes!) Otherwise, business casual is usually the best way to go. Do not dress like a character from your unpublished novel.

@ktkm asks: “I am a Canuck but hoping to attract US agent. How do I deal with book rights when different for each countries?” If you’re looking for a US agent, I assume that’s because you want a US sale. If another sale is primarily your focus, you should seek out another agent. Most of the deals I do for US rights also include Canada — i.e., I do deals for North American English language rights. I also sell translation rights, as do most of my colleagues, in one way or another, so we would work with you on the rights in all countries. Very few authors have different agents for different territories, although as we use subagents, sometimes it may seem that they do, but in truth, all deals go through a central agent.

@bythebrooks writes: “How does a writer actually *find* an agent?” Step one through twenty: write a brilliant book and revise it until it’s even better. Step The Next: research, research, research.

I may answer more later, either on Twitter or here, so keep checking back!

Hey look, more answers!

@mp3mad asks: “What is the perspective in which you look at queries?” Mostly, some variation of “Does this interest me?”. Actually, no, I suppose first it’s “Do I represent this?” which I have to ask to get rid of the folks who clog my inbox with cozy mysteries, political thrillers, and self-help books, etc. Then “Does this interest me?”, followed by “Is it well-written?”, with “Is this unique enough?” tagging along, bringing up the rear. But sometimes, sometimes, all it takes is one good line. As I said to a writer the other day in my request for her manuscript, “You had me at ‘Cheer Boot Camp.’”

@tommymccormack writes: “How about this: considering a career change to get into publishing biz. How the hell do I get a job, and where do I look first?” The phrase “rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic” comes to mind, but would never actually be uttered by an optimist such as myself. So, first question back to you — do you live in or around NYC? Would you consider a move there? If not, how about San Francisco, Denver, or Austin? Publishing exists elsewhere, but the opportunities are fewer. If you’re the schooling sort, there’s publishing programs like the University of Denver’s Publishing Institute, as well as Columbia University’s Publishing Course. You may be able to find others by searching online. If that’s not a route you wish to choose, then I suggest finding a way in through tangential means — book publishing may be your ultimate goal, but maybe you can get a job at a newspaper or magazine, or work on your editing skills polishing company reports for big business. It’s not an easy industry to break into, and the monetary rewards for doing so aren’t much, but I have to say, I love what I’m doing, and don’t know many in this industry who would disagree.

@jimnduncan asks: “When looking at a ms you love, how do handle the decision between thinking it could sell versus thinking it will sell?” It’s a hard line to draw, and honestly, I think I err on the side of thinking it could sell, and should sell — there’s very little guarantee that something WILL sell, especially in this economy. But (see the “optimist” comment above) when I have a manuscript that I love, that I want other people to read and fall in love with, too, I have to believe it will sell. Otherwise, I’m going to do a lot of work for nothing. Remember, I don’t get paid unless my authors get paid, so it really is a labor of love for me.

Ok, I think that’s it for me today. I’m heading off to Date Night with my sweetie, and a movie at the local art theatre. Until tomorrow!

A month ago an agent requested my manuscript. I’ll be meeting with this same agent for a pitch session at a writer’s conference this weekend. Should I send the agent an email checking up on the status of my manuscript and mention the up coming meeting? Or should I just go to the pitch session and remind the agent about my manuscript at that time.

I’m gonna say no, although others may disagree with me. You have a perfect opportunity this coming weekend for a face-to-face discussion with the agent. Now, that doesn’t mean you should accost her for her response to your manuscript — in just a month’s time, she very well may not have gotten to it yet. But you can mention it, say you’re looking forward to her reaction, and talk about what else you have going on. I mean, that is why you signed up for a pitch session, right? To talk about your books?
If you send an email in advance, recognizing that there’s not a huge amount of time between now and this weekend, the agent is either going to find your manuscript for a quick review — possibly not giving your manuscript the full attention she might give it without a time crunch — or she might feel stalked, and try to get rid of you as quickly as possible. And yes, there is a third option — you send that reminder, she remembers having read and loved your manuscript but just hasn’t gotten that offer letter off to you yet, and she plans to offer representation in person. You know this is unlikely, right? I mean, yes, there’s a slim chance it could happen, but I say, stick with turning your pitch session into a short, professional interview, wherein you can prove to this agent you have plans for future titles and a sense of professionalism that will take you far.
Good luck!

I have a dilemma that’s new to me, regarding when (or whether) to make a status query about a submission. Many moons ago, I sent a query to an editor at a major house, and 14 months later, I got a nice note saying I should send the manuscript, and apologizing for the delay in responding.
That was in March (2008), and I turned it around more or less immediately and sent the manuscript on April 1st. I have heard nothing since, and am starting to itch a little — I’m sure you know the feeling. Now if this were a novel, I don’t think I’d worry yet. But it was an easy reader of about 250 words. I know the decision making process can be complicated, regardless of how short a piece is, but still, I worry about things like: Might there have been a piece of chewed gum on the envelope next to mine, and did my submission get permanently stuck to a really crappy manuscript that she scrambled into a ball and lobbed into her garbage can, shouting “SCORE!” Well? It could happen…
OK, what do I do — make a status query now? wait a couple more months? Since it was requested, I don’t have any sense of an “appropriate” wait time.

So basically, it’s been five months since you sent a requested manuscript, and you already know that this editor may be slow, but she does eventually get to her pile of reading (as evidenced by the 14 months it took her to respond to your query).
I know the impetus to imagine the worst is a common one, but the truth is, we’re all just snowed under by the amount of reading to be done. I would send her a short little note (or email) with the gist of “I’m just checking to confirm you received my requested submission of April 1st of ______(title). I look forward to hearing your reaction.” And then get back to work writing your next book. Good luck!