2008 Article Excerpt:

WD book editors talk about how
writers can avoid getting scammed
by dishonest agents. 

"First of all, it can't be stressed enough that you should never pay agents any fees just so they consider your work. Only small fees (such as postage and copying) are acceptable - and those miniscule costs are administered after the agent has contacted you and signed you as a client. 
      A typical scam goes something like this: You send your work to an agency and they reply with what seems like a form letter or e-mail, telling you they love your story. At some point, they ask for money, saying it has to do with distribution, editing, production, submissions, analysis or promotion. By that point, you're so happy with the prospect of finding an agent (you probably already told your family and friends) that you nervously hand over the money. Game over. You've just been scammed. Your work may indeed end up in print, but you're likely getting very little if any money. To be a successful author, publishers must pay you to write; you must never pay them."

            - "Sign on the Dotted Line: Research Your Options and Beware of Scams" (page 51)

While Guide to Literary Agents is best known for its large and detailed list of literary agencies, every edition has plenty of informational articles and interviews designed to help writers perfect their craft and contact agents wisely. The 2008 edition is no different, with more than 80 pages of articles addressing numerous writing and publishing

From the Kleinworks Web site, concerning a change to their queries and submissions policy: 

                  "Note: Due to an overwhelming number of 
                    submissions, Kleinworks Agency cannot 
                    accept unsolicited submissions or queries 
                  at this time. This supersedes any information 
                    that may be posted or listed in writers 
                      guides, on blogs, or on websites."      

Kristin Nelson, literary agent with the Nelson Literary Agency, has posted plenty of good material on her blog in recent weeks. Of note are her posts where she demystifies the agent-writer contract.

She broke the long (and confusing) topic down nicely in a four-post series:

Anatomy of an Agency Agreement: Part 1
Anatomy of an Agency Agreement: Part 2
Anatomy of an Agency Agreement: Part 3
Anatomy of an Agency Agreement: Part 4

Her blog was recently awarded a "Truly Useful Site Award" by Preditors and Editors. Check it out!

"Agent Advice" is a series of quick interviews with literary and script agents who talk with Guide to Literary Agents about their thoughts on writing, publishing, and just about anything else.

This installment features literary agent Michelle Andelman of Andrea Brown Literary Agency in Palo Alto, Calif. Michelle, who is the agency's New York City-based rep, specializes in children's writing—including young adult (YA) and middle grade (MG) work.

GLA: What's the most recent thing you've sold?

MA: I’m very proud that my most recent sales will launch the careers of two brand new writers. Debut author Jenny Meyerhoff’s chapter book, Third Grade Baby, and contemporary YA novel, Girl in Waiting, both went to Farrar, Straus & Giroux. And, Cheryl Peevyhouse’s dystopian middle grade novel, The Melancholy Chronicles of Keen and Rodder, went to Hyperion. So, unpublished writers should take heart. Editors and agents are certainly looking to nurture and invest in new talent.

GLA: You specialize in children's writing. What are some subjects or styles of writing that you rarely receive in a submission and wonder why more writers don't tackle such a subject/style?

MA: So far goes style and execution, I'd love to see more MG and YA submissions use innovative narrative strategies deliberately and well. For example: alternating voices/POVs, or a structure that plays with narrative time. Kids are sophisticated readers. Books that engage them on the level of storytelling, as well as story, could break out. So far goes subject matter, I don’t see as many stories as you’d think about multicultural families and friendships. I’d also love to see more YA submissions depict awkward, funny and real—rather than flat and glossy—teen romance.

GLA: Simply put, concerning middle grade and young adult—how should they differ? Subject matter? Length?

MA: As a disclaimer, there are exceptions to these rules, with the fantasy genre being a big one. But, typically, MG novels run between 20-40K words and feature protagonists aged 9-13. YA novels run between 40-65K and feature protagonists aged 14+. The type of relationship at the core of a project can also tell you how to characterize it: MG often revolves around a protagonist’s relationships with family and friends, while a story heavily driven by a romantic relationship is going to be YA.

GLA: What are the most common mistakes you see with new writers trying to compose a graphic novel?

MA: Graphic novels are such a fresh format. I adore DC’s Minx line, and I think YA novelist Cecil Castellucci did a wonderful job on The Plain Janes. That said, not all novelists are natural graphic novelists. You need to be a visual storyteller. You need to be able to reveal information via image and gesture, rather than dialogue. You need to be a tight, swift and sparse plotter who favors action over exposition. 
      Common mistakes I’ve seen: too much text, humdrum rather than spectacular illustrative opportunities, and a graphic novel that doesn’t "need" to be one.

GLA: Many people tend to try their hand at children's writing and picture books, but it's often said that writing such books is much more difficult than writers first consider. Why is this so?

MA: I suspect the common thinking goes that if a writer "knows" children, she can write for them. But a successful children’s author doesn’t simply "know" children—what makes them tick, what their internal and emotional lives are like—but she also knows children’s literature. She's an avid reader, so she's familiar with what’s age-appropriate and authentic to her category of the market. If she's writing a picture book, she’s a skilled visual storyteller and can offer up a plot, character, relationship, or emotional arc in miniature—but still, and this is the difficult part, in full.

GLA: Some publications have said that the picture book market is flat, and publishers aren't interested in new picture book ideas. Any truth to this?

MA: The first half of that statement has been true and, as a result, picture books have proven to be tougher sells in recent seasons. But, importantly and thankfully, the second half of that statement is false.  Like any market, the picture book market tightens and trends, so it’s important to know some publishers now want character-driven picture books with less text, meaning lower word counts. But, they’re always interested in new ideas.

GLA: What's your best piece of advice for new writers who wish to submit children's work to agents?

MA: My best one word of advice: professionalize. A new writer who has done her homework on the children's market ahead of time, and submits to agents in a way that suggests a professional approach to a writing career, is going to stand out. Professionalizing may mean doing a few different things that make all the difference: joining a critique group that can help you polish your manuscript before you query, researching and approaching agents according to submission guidelines, crafting a query that aims to pique interest in—rather than fully explain—your project, and joining the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators (SCBWI).

                                         Michelle Andelman

"Agent Advice" is a series of quick interviews with literary and script agents who talk with Guide to Literary Agents about their thoughts on writing, publishing, and just about anything else.

This installment features agent Ken Sherman, founder of Ken Sherman & Associates in Beverly Hills. Sherman handles screenplays, books and life rights. GLA had the opportunity to talk with Ken for the 2008 Guide to Literary Agents. Part of the book's lengthy interview with Ken is posted here:

GLA: When a writer is composing his first screenplay, should he aim to write something perceived as trendy, marketable or salable? Or should he just write the best he can, even if the script will likely be unproducable?

KS: What I’m looking for, and what every producer, studio, network and agent I know is looking for, is a killer writing sample—meaning something that we can send out in one day to 30 producers and have them say, “This may not be exactly the story I’m looking for, but I need to know this writer.” And hopefully, each one of them will call me back and say, “We want the story. We want to option the material or purchase it outright.” But most important is that they want to know the writer and meet with the writer and talk about other projects because the writer has a unique voice.

GLA: In addition to working with television writers, screenwriters and book writers, you also deal with buying and selling life rights. How does that work?

KS: Here’s an example: I was sitting in my office one day and a TV/movie producer I know called me. He said, “I’ve spoken to a lady and the fireman who saved her life during the Oklahoma City bombing. Would you mind handling the life rights—the option and purchase price and contract for them?” I then negotiated for both (individuals). Their life rights were optioned and then the purchase price for the exclusive use of their stories for the TV movie Oklahoma City: A Survivor’s Story was exercised.

GLA: If a writer wishes to see his idea on the big screen, is it more practical to write a good book and get it optioned into a film, rather than try to sell an original screenplay?

KS: It depends in which form the author writes best. If the writer is a great screenwriter, I would hope they’d attack the story and characters as a screenplay, because, traditionally, screenplays take less time to write. I want to preface this by saying that there are no rules or answers to any of these questions. What I’m suggesting today are just a few ideas of a few ways things can happen for individuals—but everybody needs to find their own way in their own time. One prominent client wrote eight screenplays before things finally clicked.

GLA: Do you pay any attention to what studios are buying?

KS: I don’t worry too much about that. I prefer to try and find really first-rate material that stands on it own. And even though it may be a genre that’s a bit out of favor at the moment—maybe something that was hot three or five years ago for some reason—we can reignite interest with a solid screenplay or book. One thing I’ve noticed is that many executives in this business are very happy not to take a risk on anything. They’re very happy to go along with what other people say, which is why sometimes you can get an auction going with multiple bids on the same project. You say, “Well so-and-so just made an offer on it,” or “Such-and-such studio wants it.” And they think that if another studio wants it, it must be something good. Of course it is…

GLA: Kind of like the business phrase “Don’t sell the steak. Sell the sizzle”?

KS: Sometimes you can sell the sizzle, but more importantly, the material really has to stand on its own. Because don’t forget that even with a TV movie, a producer or writer is with the project for a good six months to a year, if not more. A producer needs the passion to stay with the project and to be able to sell it, because they’re constantly selling and reselling the material to new people who join the project.

GLA: Let’s say someone writes a great script. You read it and love it. Before you sign a contract, is it important that the writer has other screenplays waiting in the wings?

KS: That’s ideal. Again, as I’ve said before, I’m looking for that killer writing sample: a screenplay I can send to anybody anywhere anytime and have them sit up and say, “Wow, this is a serious and professional writer.” And more often than not, I won’t take on clients without knowing that there are three or four or five good pitches behind them if they’re to go into a meeting, and ideally another one or two screenplays that are polished and ready to be sent out.

Ken Sherman, a Los Angeles native and University of California-Berkeley psychology graduate, started his career in film and television as a reader for Columbia Pictures. After less than a year reading screenplays, he interviewed at the William Morris Agency and was accepted into a training program the next day. Thus began his foray into the world of agenting.

Sherman’s agency opened in 1989, and currently handles approximately 35 clients; he makes contact with most of his new writers through referrals, and he handles just about every topic you can think of in nonfiction, fiction and scripts.

Ken Sherman