Honest Answers to the Questions New Clients Ask on the First Call
It's both 👍 and 👎
Hi friends,
I’ve been sticking my toe into TikTok waters (10 years late I know) and I’m teaching the algorithm to send me nothing by publishing and literary agent content. We’ll see if this a good idea!!!! But I did see something recently that I wanted to respond to and no, I’m not going to do it in the way you’d expect—i.e. a Stitch or whatever on the platform itself. I’m going to write about it here like any good Gen Xer would.
So, the post I saw was not all that important. It went over a bunch of questions authors can ask agents when they get The Call, i.e. that first call you have with a prospective agent where you get to know each other. Lots has been written on this topic, including in these pages, and these pages, and the writer whose TikTok I saw was giving totally fine, normal, useful advice. It was a little more detailed in terms of questions to ask than I normally recommend, but I chalked that up to filling airtime and also probably some very understandable author-anxiety, their own or others’. No one taking this advice was in trouble of making any huge missteps.
But. There were some questions on these lists that I know I could predict what authors wanted to hear, and what an agent would actually say. This is not to say agents are blowing smoke when they answer your questions on The Call; just that some questions don’t have a good answer any way you slice them. Let’s go over what I mean.
It’s not the questions you might expect. You may have heard that you can ask an agent how much they think they will sell your book for, but that doesn’t mean they’ll have an answer. Sometimes I can help set an author’s expectations and give a range, but I don’t set the P&Ls and can’t tell publishers how much they have to give me for a book. So the answer to that question is a hearty ¯\_(ツ)_/¯, and it should come to no surprise.
The questions that surprised me? Let’s take them one by one. I’m paraphrasing here because the TikToker talked (tokked?) fast and there were a lot of questions.
A potential client might ask their potential agent:
How will you position this book to editors? How will you pitch it?
What authors want to hear: Here is my detailed submission plan with a perfect insight on how to make editors fall in love with the book, in ways you’ve never even thought of yourself!1
My honest answer: is going to be much more surface-level than the actual position/pitch that will go out to editors. I have no problem saying this to a prospective client, though. Sometimes I need to think about it. Sometimes I need to talk to my client more and we have good ideas together. Sometimes I need to do hours of comp title research that I haven’t done yet and wouldn’t do until that person was my client. You can definitely ask a prospective agent this question. It’s important to hear if they think it’s a Romance and you think it’s a Literary novel. But if they just give you a top-line answer, that’s ok. It often requires deeper thinking and study.
If you’re going to offer editorial advice on my manuscript, how many rounds will it take and how long will the whole process take?
What authors want to hear: Your manuscript is in great shape but I see it needing one to two rounds of tweaks and line editing. Each of those rounds will take exactly 6.25 days and I will deliver you notes on the first and third Friday of next month.
My honest answer: I have absolutely no idea. Ok, that’s not true. I probably have a halfway decent idea of when I could get notes back to an author, if we joined forces in the next few weeks and nothing went upside down in the meantime. Publishing can be unpredictable and my schedule can change. But I think this is a reasonable question and I can usually give a general answer. Probably not an exact one. I won’t know how many rounds it will take because I don’t know how the author will respond to edits. And I would say as much.
After this book, what if I want to write in another genre? Will you ever turn down any of my ideas?
What Authors want to hear: I am but a humble servant to your muse.
My honest answer: Usually, I ask what other genres the author is interested in, and I would be honest about ones I don’t do. As I have oft said here, I’m not strong in straight up mysteries, and if a picture book author sees the ms I have in my hands as a one-off and wants to build a career in Ex-FBI Agent Whodunnits, I would be honest and say that I might not be a good fit for them, even if it meant I didn’t get that picture book. So it goes. It doesn’t help me to exaggerate the genres I’m strong in because it’s a loooooooooot of work to become strong in a genre. I would also be honest with a prospective client if I wasn’t very strong in a specific genre but willing to put in the work to learn. It’d be up to them if that’s ok.
But also, heck yeah I will turn down some of your ideas for next books! And you want me to I would probably not be as glib as this on a first call, because I’m trying not to scare them off but lol everyone has bad ideas and it’s my job to share my experience and expertise with my clients. So if I’ve heard for months that editors don’t want werewolf books (I am making this up) and a potential wants to pitch me an 8-book werewolf series for their follow up(s), I’d say something. Yes, I have told a client or two that I wouldn’t send something out that they’ve written, and we’ve talked in depth about why. But I won’t send anything out that I think would damage my or my client’s reputation. 99% of the time we end up on the same page or work on the idea until it’s market-ready. That’s what I’m there for, after all.
When my book is on submission, how many rounds will it be? How many editors on each round? How long will each round take?
What writers want to hear: My lists are each 21 editors long and each editor has no more than 16 weeks to read. After that, I pitch them into a gorge. If that first round doesn’t lead to a deal, we’ll do three more.
My honest answer: I can say that on average my lists are 15-20 editors (sorry editors!), depending on the genre. In picture books, there are just tons of editors out there and if we don’t strike gold the first round, there’s lots of room for subsequent rounds. In adult SFF, not so much. There are also cases where a project is so specific, by content or because of other factors, that it behooves everyone if my list is small, select, and directly targeted. Your book might be that special case, but also, that might come out as we talk about and edit the book/proposal. This is ok! You want it to be bespoke. Not one size fits all.
And lord have mercy I wish I could tell you how long it will really take. My usual answer is longer than you want it to take.
How often will we be in contact? Would there be any periods of time when I wouldn’t hear from you?
What writers want to hear: I never go more than 26 hours without returning an email or text. I’m open every day except bank holidays.
My honest answer: My primary job is not email. My primary job happens over email most of the time, but I do not rate my own performance by how quickly I answer email. If I did, I would be great at answering email, not selling books. So, this is going to vary week to week, client to client, email to email. Last week I left a client on read (metaphorically) longer than I often do because I was in the middle of a big edit and the question was not expressly time sensitive. The edit was. No one really wants to hear that on a First Call, but I do think most would agree that it’s reasonable. My schedule can be unpredictable! That’s kinda what I like about this job. But also, there are times when I am totally out of pocket. I’m planning some time away from email/queries this August so I can catch up, and I’m likely to be much slower to respond in that time. This is ok. As I have always said: there’s no emergencies in publishing.
The bottom line here is that most of these questions come out of the anxiety and stress of querying.
The bottom line here is that most of these questions come out of the anxiety and stress of querying. Agents (me especially included, I know, I know) take forever to get back to queriers and no one wants their actual signed-on agent to be like that. I wouldn’t want that either! If I feel like I might be like that to a prospective client, I wouldn’t sign them on! It means I’m too busy and that’s not great for anyone. The real question here is what can I expect? and the real answer is expect the unexpected but we’ll do that together.
You have my explicit permission to ask these and almost any other question you want of an agent when you get the First Call. Just remember that some questions don’t have an answer at this stage, and some may never have an answer. That you are comfortable asking the question, and the agent is comfortable giving you a clear answer is the most important part.
I don’t mean to bury this at the end, but I will be closing to queries for the month of August. I’ll be on vacation for some of it, but the rest of the month I’m aiming to get as caught up as I can on my backlog. I’ll reopen on September 2. Don’t feel like you need to rush to get me something before I close! I’m coming back, I promise.
Thanks for reading, as ever. And thanks to those of you that came out to see me in Verona, NJ last week at the Collective Bookstore! In coming weeks I’ll be in Kingston, NY at Rough Draft (9/16) and in Fairfield, CT at the LOOK literary fest (9/25). Details TK! Want me to come to your book club/library/bookstore/event? Email me! Or ask your local bookstore etc to invite me! Thanks, too, to everyone who’s left a review on Goodreads or a retailer site. They have been painless to read! Bless you.
XOXOXOXO,
Kate
I’m playing this part up for laughs.
Some good advice in here. However, I will say from the author side I never expected perfect answers. Perfect answers would be a red flag the agent isn’t genuine or lying about the truths of publishing.
Also, while I can understand that our numerous questions can seem anxious (lol) it’s because there are genuinely bad agents out there who take advantage of authors. I have friends who have been in some crappy partnerships.
The call is the best way to explore a working partnership and make sure we are all aligned on the visions and expectations of selling a book or future books. It’s less about anxieties. More trying to sus out the perfect fit and partnership to the best of our ability.
Just my two cents as someone who had a very RAW conversation with my now agent in which there were no glib answers— and I was thankful for the blunt honesty and straightforward communication. :)
XOXOX Karen. I have the call tomorrow! 😬😜