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Friday, March 22, 2013

Agent Advice from Twitter (and an internship announcement and a book winner!)

INTERNSHIP AVAILABLE!

Earlier this week, agent Carly Watters announced that P.S. Literary is accepting applications for two internships: Digital & Social Media Intern and Editorial Intern. Read her post HERE

BOOK WINNER

Random.org has spoken and the winner of Linda Urban's The Center of Everything (see my post/interview with Linda HERE) is...Kirsten Lopresti! Kirsten, please shoot me an email with your address and I'll get that shipped to you.


#askagent

Every once in awhile an agent takes to Twitter to answer questions about publishing. This past Sunday, agent  Jennifer Laughran (Andrea Brown Literary Agency) was nice enough to do just that. You can follow her at @literaticatHere are some of the questions/answers from the session:

QUESTION: #askagent I see in the AR book finder that they use "LG" for lower grade. Can I query with this or should I say young MG or chapter book?
ANSWER: yes, I'd say chapter book/ young mg. "lower grade" is AR specific methinks, never heard a publishing person use it. #askagent

QUESTION: If an author has Self-pubbed on a small scale, does that affect your consideration of them for future MSs? Thoughts? #askagent
ANSWER: nah, just as long this is a fresh ms. #askagent

QUESTION: do publishers favor agents who are in NY, who they have a relationship with? #askagent
ANSWER: Relationships matter... BUT, some of the best agents in the country don't live in NY. #askagent

QUESTION: once a book gets bought by a publisher, what is the turn around time for print? #askagent
ANSWER: usually one to two years. Unless it is illustrated... Then longer.

QUESTION: does age matter? Would you offer rep to a college student if you had complete confidence in his/her work? Thnks!
ANSWER: sure... college students are adults. Why not. #askagent

QUESTION: real q: when did you know you wanted to be an agent?
ANSWER: when I met an agent and realized what they do. Which is a extension of what I already did, but moreso. :-)

QUESTION: what do you think of the digital only imprints like hydra? #askagent
ANSWER:  I'm interested in imprints that PAY and ARE FAIR TO authors. So. #askagent

QUESTION: What do you think will be the biggest change/shift in the next 5 years in publishing & book selling/consumption? #askagent
ANSWER: That's a thinky question! I think in many ways business has never been better... so. I'm not doom-and-gloomy. :-) #askagent

QUESTION: I'm writing a YA ms in diary form. Some entries r short. What's the preferred format when submitting 2 an agent? Page breaks? Thx! #askagent
ANSWER: presumably you'll have some indications of a new entry -- dates, or asterisks or something? Don't sweat it. #askagent

QUESTION: How does an author's website or social media presence affect your interest in a manuscript? #askagent Thanks!
ANSWER: I'd rather have a kickass book and an author with no social media presence, than a so-so book/great presence. #askagent









31 comments:

  1. Loved that last one--very informative. I'd imagine having a great book/author who is also well-connected in social media is best. That's probably why we all work so hard at both! :) (But maybe we shouldn't worry about social media so much...)

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    1. I know--I get paranoid when I take a big social media break, but I should be way more worried about writing a great book :)

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  2. Thanks for sharing this, especially since I'm not on Twitter. I agree on the last one that the book is most important but probably best to already be working on platform.

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  3. I missed this one on Twitter. Thanks for posting.

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  4. I don't have the patience for the twittah's. I'm on their occasionally if someone tweets me and that's it. Good stuff here. I'm glad you rounded it up for those of us adverse to twitter:)

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    1. I was afraid of Twitter for a very long time. Now I like the ability to follow what Bubba Watson's up to on the PGA tour :) But it still intimidates me.

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  5. I agree with the last one. Quality tops all!

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  6. Nice recap! Thanks for sharing. I've always wondered what it would be like to intern for an agent... *ponders*

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  7. Always love your info, Jess! Thanks.

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  8. I saw that last point retweeted today! A very informative list - thanks for sharing.

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  9. That agent Q&A was a lot more helpful that I realized. It's often nice to get things directly from an agent's perspective.

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    1. Yup, I could spend a whole week just reading agent tweets :)

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  10. I can always count on you for quality information! Thank you once again! :)

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  11. I love your twitter roundups! Always so much fun to read - and INFORMATIVE! So great you do this!

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  12. Thanks Jess for all the great info! And congrats to Kirsten!

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  13. I try to follow ask agent when I'm on twitter but some always fall through cracks. Thanks for compiling them here. :)

    ~Akoss

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    1. Things are always falling through the cracks in my life~ having kids tend to increase the fall-age :)

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