I love happy agent stories! So I thought I would share one with you from a blog reader of mine. I’m SOOOO thrilled that L.R. Giles just landed a terrific agent from the Andrea Brown agency for his young adult novel WHISPERTOWN so I did a quick interview with him on the query process. I hope this helps other writers also looking for agents. And I always want to hear these type of stories so email me anytime with them and I will share!
Daisy: Tell us about WHISPERTOWN
L.R. Giles:A teen in witness protection must solve his best friend’s murder while maintaining his family’s cover. Too bad the murderer might be his own father.
Daisy:How long were you querying agents and how many did you query, if you dont mind sharing?
L.R. Giles: Well, to be clear and not downplay the toughness of this industry, I’ve written several novels and short stories over the last ten years and have gone through the query process for all of them…without the sunny results of the story I’m about to tell. But, in regard to my latest novel, a YA Mystery called WHISPERTOWN, I’ve been querying since January of this year, though it wasn’t a continuous process. I queried 10 agents initially, and when I didn’t like the responses (ie rejections) I was getting, I stopped, re-evaluated, revised my manuscript, then resumed querying in June (only 5 agents then). Even though that was just last month, it feels like a lifetime ago considering all that’s happened since.
Daisy: What sort of feedback or responses did you receive from agents during the query process?
L.R. Giles: My initial round of WHISPERTOWN queries got incredible responses. I queried 10 agents and 7 of them requested my full manuscript based on my letter and sample pages. I’ve been around the industry long enough to know that those results aren’t typical. So, I started thinking about the restaurant where I’d want to have my ‘Agent-Signing’ celebration, and what kind of champagne I’d use to toast my success. It didn’t go down like that, though. Slowly, the ‘rave rejections’ started trickling in. “You’ve really got something fresh here, but…”, “I really enjoyed how the story unfolds, but…”, “In a different economic climate this would be a ‘yes’ for me, but…” Every other day it seemed I was getting a pass from these once enthusiastic agents. Finally, the last one came in and it was devastating. At that point I had a choice to give up, or try to understand exactly what went wrong. I chose the latter.
Obviously, my letter and sample pages worked, but something in the midst of my manuscript was universally discouraging agents from taking a chance on me. For clarity, I read what came after all those ‘buts’ in their responses. And, what appeared most often was the word ‘voice’. My story is a first-person narrative told by a 15 year old boy whose voice didn’t ring true on a consistent basis. I took some time to absorb that, tried my hardest to fix it, then began my second round of queries. With subdued expectations, I reached out to only 5 agents this time. Worst case scenario: I’d probably get some more good feedback and maybe keep tweaking until I get it right. Straight out of the gate I got 2 requests for my full manuscript. Less than a week later I received an email with the super-vague subject “Manuscript Reply”. It reeked of form rejection. When I opened it I actually SAW a rejection…at first. Then I realized the email was too long, and the word rejection was nowhere in it. It was an offer for representation.
Protocol dictated that I notify other agents I queried when an offer was on the table. I did, and sure enough, more agents expressed interest in representation, too. I spent a few days interviewing them and was faced with a choice of where to take my talents. I chose Jamie Weiss Chilton of Andrea Brown Literary Agency, and I couldn’t be happier.
Daisy: Any advice you got that was helpful in landing an agent? (Hint, hint!)
L.R. Giles: When I was fixing that whole voice problem in my manuscript, I decided to reach out to those who’d conquered it before me. I’m fortunate enough to be on a friendly basis with a super-talented writer who happens to have a book called THE MOCKINGBIRDS coming out this year. I asked Daisy how she tackled voice in her writing, and she gave me some solid tips. Also, she suggested I read Lauren Oliver’s BEFORE I FALL, because in her estimation, it was the best example of pitch-perfect teenage voice she’d ever read. I can’t say I disagree.
Though Oliver’s protagonist is much different from mine, the concept of keeping voice true to a character’s age and personality became clearer to me. And, I truly believe that extra bit of clarity is what helped me land my agent. Thanks Daisy!!
strong>Daisy: Tell us about the call and why you chose Jamie!
L.R. Giles: Wow. The call was amazing. Jamie was the last agent I ended up talking to that week, and while everyone was impressive and showed great enthusiasm for my manuscript, Jamie just blew me away with her experience, positivity, and the ideas she had. Also, it was apparent that she just loves good books. One of the first things we talked about was what we’d been reading lately, and she started ticking off all these great books that she thought I might enjoy. I loved that!! And even in our current business emails, we’re still trading book suggestions.
I’ve often heard writers say that it’s important to have an agent who is enthusiastic about your work, and also compliments your personality. Jamie was it. I knew it about 2 minutes into our conversation, though we talked for an hour that day. It was a Friday, and I told her I’d give her my decision by Monday. But after a brief discussion with my wife, I couldn’t wait. I let Jamie know that same day that I wanted her to be my agent. I hope she knows what she’s gotten into. =)
