A big heartfelt thank you to Kathleen Rushall for answering a few questions about her experience as a literary agent. Kathleen works for the Marsal Lyon Literary Agency located in Solana Beach, California. Her work is geared toward authors crafting tales for a younger audience, but she offers insight for all writers, especially new and debut voices. Thank you Kathleen!

To start, could you tell us how you landed in the publishing world? 

I loved English throughout high school. I majored in English in college and then I went for my master’s. Throughout those classes I was told, “You can teach or you can write” but neither felt like my calling. I knew I wanted to work with stories and was interested in working in publishing. It wasn’t until I was in grad school that I discovered what role an agent played. I snagged an internship at a literary agency and from there I was hooked. After my internship I found a job as an assistant at a different agency and worked there for a couple years. Then I joined Marsal Lyon Literary Agency as an agent three years ago.

I know how important “debut fiction” is to the industry; it gets its own category in Publishers Marketplace, agent bios still mention debut authors as a category they’re actively seeking. Could you speak to the need for new voices? 

It’s a thrill to work with debut authors. As an agent, it really feels like I get to see new voices emerge from ground zero: from a query letter in my inbox to hitting shelves in bookstores. There’s no better part of this job than getting to call a writer and tell her that she’s been offered a contract for her very first book. Readers will always need (and crave) new voices and different perspectives. It’s the heart of the reading experience.

Have you represented any first-time authors? 

Yes! Actually, I’d say that 90% of the authors I sign are debut voices.

Do you have any advice for writers in the querying stage? 

I do: Do your homework. For example, join a writing organization tailored to the genre in which you’re seeking to get published (such as RWA, SCBWI, or a local writers group). I think of groups like the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) as an author’s education in getting published. It really does give you an edge. A writers organization helps you perfect your craft: from connecting with critique partners to attending conferences and workshops to meeting agents and editors and becoming inspired by other authors—it’s paramount!

“Doing your homework” also applies to when you query agents. You’ll want to thoroughly research them and make sure you submit to those that are a good fit. Querytracker.com has a great (free!) catalogue of agents based on the types of books they represent.

Preditors and Editors is a stellar website where you can find out what agencies are legitimate and what to be wary of. And, if you’re able to pay for a subscription, Publishers Marketplace will keep you up-to-date with current book deals and enable you to research agents’ and editors’ past deals (and thus, what kind of books they work on).

Lastly, remember how subjective this industry is! It is incredibly subjective. What might not be right for one agent or editor may be another’s dream book. Never give up. Perseverance pays off. Sometimes it’s good to remember that every book in a bookstore has been rejected at some point.

Interviewed by Andrew Wetzel

Many thanks to Bree Ogden of D4EO Literary Agency for sitting down with us to talk about her experience as an agent. D4EO represents a broad range of writing with six agents and over 1000 books under contract. In addition to acting as an agent, Bree operates children’s magazine Underneath the Juniper Tree and teaches classes at Lit Reactor. She seemed like the perfect someone to inform us about an agent’s perspective on publishing.

How did you start working in the publishing industry?

Masters Review editor Andrew Wetzel is no longer an agent, but he has some seriously valuable experience acting as one (he was also a literary a scout for years in the field). Writers, you could learn a thing or two about what new writing looks like through the lens of an agent. Take a look at our Q/A below:

What did you enjoy/not enjoy about being an agent?

I loved that I was free to pick whichever manuscript I liked. I was picking projects according to my tastes and wanted to champion the type of books (literary fiction, pop nonfiction) that I would pick up at the bookstore. That freedom didn’t always help, though. It was clear a few months in that handbooks on modern feminism weren’t going to make me a millionaire and that any memoir-ists I signed had better be celebrities if I wanted anyone to return my emails. I also did not enjoy trying to start or maintain relationships with editors who were thousands of miles away.

I did enjoy getting to talk with so many authors (scouts have almost zero direct interactions with authors), especially at conferences, where you’re treated like a visiting dignitary.

What do you think is the most common mistake new writers make when looking for an agent?

I found that a lot of writers felt an urgency to start looking for an agent as soon as they finished their book. So they write a slapdash query letter and send it before their book has gone through another draft or two.

Take your time. You usually only get one chance with an agency, so you should be very careful not to send anything you think can be improved. And if that query letter doesn’t jump off the screen, it is unlikely that an agent will request to see the manuscript itself. There’s no shame in shelving a book that agents aren’t responding to. It is important to see your manuscript and the time you put into it as a stepping-stone to becoming a better writer. (more…)

I have always loved reading and working with people. When I finished college in the early 80’s I did not know much about the world of literary agencies, but knew I wanted to work in publishing with books and writers. So when I moved back to New York City and was looking for a job, I was fortunate to talk with someone who suggested I work at a literary agency and use my skills working with people and as a lover of books and reading. I applied for an assistant job at an literary agency, got the job, and after being an assistant for a couple of years, I became an agent. The firm was Russell & Volkening, and I had the pleasure of working with such amazing writers as Anne Tyler, Eudora Welty, Bernard Malamud, Barbara Tuchman, May Sarton and many others. The list goes on and it was an incredible introduction to both literature and the joys of working with such talented writers.

I love literary/commercial fiction and narrative nonfiction, and young adult and middle grade fiction. In fiction, the characters and voice are particularly important to me, as well as the writing. In nonfiction, I have come to see that all the nonfiction I represent has to have real heart. It needs to matter in some concrete way and help to make a difference. With children’s books, I want to read books that I wish I had when I was a child. The world of YA literature has opened up so much. I represent Walter Dean Myers (our National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature) and his books really touch his readers and make a difference in their lives. YA and middle grade can be sweet or edgy but it is the message and the heart that really makes a difference to me.

Yes, quite a number. I love finding new writers and selling their work. Working with first-time writers to help build their careers is a particular thrill for me. Many of the authors I work with are first-time authors (or were, when I took them on!).  I just sold an amazing debut novel by Maya Lang to Whitney Frick at Scribner, entitled The Sixteenth of June. It is the story of a young woman and her relationship to a wealthy Joyce-obsessed family living in Philadelphia.

This is a BIG topic and one I can go on and on about. I talk a lot about this at the writers’ conferences I attend. I will try to answer in a manageable length but this is an area that I wish new writers understood and paid more attention to. It would help them — and agents — a lot. First of all, email has allowed writers to send out queries much more easily and cheaply, and in larger numbers. I get somewhere around 300 queries a week. It is a full time job to go through these. It is inevitable that agents miss a lot because of the sheer number. It would help greatly if writers researched each agent before sending them a query. The number of queries would go down by at least a half (if not more) if I did not get queries for books it is clear from my query guidelines on my website that I do not represent.

Try to personalize your query. I promise this will help make you stand out in an agent’s eyes. Maybe you like a writer or book I represent, you heard me at a conference, I was recommended by another writer or editor, or you visited my website and researched the kinds of books I represent. Something to set you apart. I am definitely more willing to read a writer’s query (and hopefully their manuscript) if I know I am not a generic submission and they are coming to me for a reason.

Write a good and thoughtful query and PROOFREAD it. I know this sounds obvious to some, but so many queries and manuscripts come with so many mistakes. I think many agents shy away from letters that are not well written or have mistakes. If a writer cannot write a good query, then chances are their book will not be any better. All agents have limited reading time, and I am much more prone to read the manuscript of someone who can write a great and thought provoking query.  Another piece of important advice is that authors should check every agency’s website for their submission guidelines before submitting their work. Agencies have different guidelines for submitting queries and ask to see different materials, and it is best to follow each agency’s request precisely or agents may dismiss your query. For example, we ask for a cover letter and the first chapter of a manuscript pasted into the body of an email (many agents will not open attachments because of virus concerns). Agents may not want to have an email with a person to ask for material that person should have sent in the first place had they read through the guidelines.

I believe most agents will help on the editorial side, though some more than others, and this can be part of the discussion with an interested agent. Some books need more work than others, so it is important to bring this up early when talking with a prospective agent, and make sure you are both on the same page in terms of the work that needs to be done. Discuss with the agent how much work they expect and how involved the agent will be. It is important for writers to ask questions and understand how the relationship will work with an agent. Agents can work differently and it is important to understand the relationship before signing on with anyone.

Working with a writer is very important to me, but I need to know that they have realistic expectations of what is necessary. Sometimes a number of drafts are necessary and I want to make sure the author is willing to commit until the work is ready to be submitted, and I know they want to make sure that I share their vision for the work that needs to be done. A book, whether it is a novel, memoir, or a nonfiction proposal, needs to be as finished as possible to sell, so it is a very important part of the process and of the author/agent relationship.

To me the writing is and will always be the most important thing in taking on a writer, but with that said, a writer’s platform is very important, especially in nonfiction. A nonfiction writer has to have a platform in the field they are working and writing about, and social media is a must. With fiction it can help, but it is also very important that a new fiction writer has sold stories to reputable reviews and magazines and is working to build up a readership. If a writer does not have a social media presence or following, I do want to make sure they have the interest and understanding to begin the process and to have a presence as soon as possible. It is an integral part of the publishing process and I want to know they are willing to participate in it.