"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 Taryn Fagerness of the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency. 

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

TF: I most recently sold a book to Simon & Schuster by an amazing woman named Roz Savage called Rowing Across the Atlantic: One Woman's Adventure from Office to Ocean. Roz rowed (yes, rowed) in a high-tech rowboat, but a rowboat nonetheless, from the Canary Islands off the coast of Africa to Antigua. She was alone at sea for 130 days, but she made it. I love this book because Roz isn’t some super athlete; she’s a regular woman who decided to drop everything and do something big, and for her that big thing was the Atlantic. This book was a joy to sell.

GLA: You were just at the La Jolla Writers' Conference and met writers who pitched their work. What are the most common things you saw writers do wrong during an in-person pitch?

TF: Two things: One, some authors didn’t seem to understand their true "hook," or most interesting aspect of their work. One writer I met spoke about his young adult fantasy novel, but it wasn’t until the end of his pitch that he mentioned how his book was inspired by Japanese folklore and myths. How cool! That is what I would have wanted to hear first, until then it sounded like just another young adult fantasy. Two: some authors over-praise their work. Some people told me how wonderful, great, amazing, funny, etc. their projects were. Coming from the author, such statements make me a bit skeptical. Of course the writer thinks his or her own work is amazing, but what is it about your work that makes it so fabulous? Why is it wonderful? I want more concrete information about an author’s work so I can really think about where the book might fit in the market. 

GLA: One of your specialties is that you look for nonfiction that has to do with science, nature and the environment. What draws you to the books in these subjects that you do end up taking on?

TF: In books dealing with nature or the environment, I look for a unique perspective. There are a lot of books about global warming and the environment in the works at publishing houses right now, and so I hope to find something that stands out - something original that moves me. A book I wish I’d represented, to give you an idea of what I like, is The World Without Us by Alan Weisman. In science books, I look for weird, quirky, interesting and unique. I love neuroscience and psychology. I sold, for example, a great book called Stuff: Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things by Randy Frost and Gail Steketee. It’s fascinating and somewhat bizarre.

GLA: If someone has a great idea for a nature book but lacks a good platform, should they send a proposal anyway? Or should they build up a platform and query later?

TF: It would depend on the type of nature book. If a person is writing all about trees, for example, but they’re a professional knitter (i.e., not a botanist) living in Tucson, there’s a problem. Serious, informative nonfiction books must have authors with solid, relevant platforms; it is a fact of publishing. However, I believe a person’s experience can be an excellent platform. For example, we have an author who is working on an interesting book about farming. The book is about his experience. Maybe he doesn’t have his own TV show or a newspaper column, but he does have a great story to tell. The experience and what he learned from that experience is his platform. 

GLA: Describe your dream client.

TF: My dream client is someone who recognizes that writing a book is a collaborative effort. These clients trust their agents, ask the right questions, and, as we say, "do the work," meaning they make good revisions, provide useful support material, and put together, with our help, a polished project/proposal. These clients are professionals who understand we are their partners and advocates and that we work very hard on their behalf. They have realistic expectations about the publishing process.

GLA: You take some fiction. Tell us about the genres that interest you and what the book must have to keep your attention.

TF: I look for a spark, something that instantly connects to my mind and/or my heart. I’m particularly drawn to highly original concepts and voices; I like an element of the unexpected in fiction, something odd, interesting or unique. I want to learn something about our world or about myself that I never knew. Above all, I look for great writing, great story and a great ending. Some of my current favorite books (not books I’ve represented) are Life of Pi by Yan Martel, Geek Love by Katherine Dunn, The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger, and Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn. I don’t like traditional mysteries, thrillers or romance. I don’t like most war fiction. I do like science fiction and some fantasy, and I am actually hoping to represent more sci-fi, paranormal and speculative fiction.

GLA: A lot of people want to write a memoir but few are good. What do you look for in a memoir?

TF: Memoir is such a tricky genre. Everyone has a story (when I go to writing conferences, memoir writers are usually the overwhelming majority), and, unfortunately, you are right - few are good and many are overly sentimental. I look for two main things: a unique story and great writing. Memoirs should read like novels; they should have suspense, conflict, emotion, character development, dialogue and narrative arc. On top of all that, it’s a tough question to ask about one’s own story, but authors should ask it: Why will people be interested in me?

GLA: Will you be at any upcoming conferences where authors can meet you?

TF: Yes! I will be at the San Diego State Writer’s Conference, Jan. 25-27, 2008. 

      Taryn Fagerness is an agent at the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency, an agency known for guiding the careers of many best-selling authors including Amy Tan, Maxine Hong Kingston, Kate White, Irvin Yalom, Eric Foner, Peter Irons, Lisa See, Anchee Min, Diane Mott Davidson, Janell Cannon and many others. The Los Angeles Times dubbed the Dijkstra Agency "the most powerful literary agency on the West Coast" and, in its 20 plus years, the agency has developed a reputation for discovering new talent and representing quality work with great commercial potential. Taryn is also the subrights manager at the agency, selling foreign rights to more than 35 countries around the world, along with film, audio and merchandising rights. She is actively building her list and specializes in general fiction, science fiction, memoir, narrative nonfiction, 'quirky' nonfiction, and nonfiction with a science or environmental angle.
      How to submit to Taryn: Please send the first 50 pages your completed novel or a nonfiction book proposal including two sample chapters to Taryn Fagerness, Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency, PMB 515, 1155 Camino Del Mar, Del Mar, CA 92014. Please include a self-addressed stamped envelope. She does not accept e-mail submissions.

Taryn Fagerness

Altair Literary Agency, based in Washington, DC, is now closed, according to a note on the agency's Web page. The agency was a member of AAR.

I did some peeking around to see if the agents went elsewhere to other agencies but found nothing. If you have some info on this, please leave a comment.

Literary agent Meredith Hays of the newly formed Fineprint Literary Management (formerly Imprint Agency) posted a note on her submission page saying she is preparing for materity leave (or on maternity leave, by this point) and no longer reviewing queries.

If she's on your short list of agents, keep checking back to her submission page to see when she will change her status.

Helen McGrath, who ran an agency in California (called "Helen McGrath," simply), is no longer agenting as of this past summer. The agency will not be reviewing submissions of any kind. Take note if she was on your short list.

Her agency did not use a Web site.

The latest Writer's Digest special publication is out: Writer's Yearbook 2008. If you don't see it in bookstores now,. it will be there soon. The issue has lots of great information on writing for magazines and books, and the biggest draw is the list of 100 great markets to sell your work. The list of 100 has 50 magazines and 50 book publishers.

The new WD screenwriting blog, run by Chad Gervich, is up and running. Chad is a writer and a television producer who is right in the thick of things out in LA. He's blogged a lot recently about the WGA strike in Hollywood and what that means to writers.

Remember that novelist Jodi Picoult's keynote speech at the WDB conference in Manhattan is available online. Listen to her speech for free!

(By the way, it's election day. Remember to vote!)

Dwyer & O'Grady, Inc., a literary agency that represents juvenile writers and illustrators, recently sent out a reminder that they have moved all offices to Florida. Evidently, they had different locations around the country at different points (and were most recently in New Hampshire), but now do all business at the address below.

Also note that the agency is still closed to unsolicited queries/submissions and has been for some time. The only real reason you would need to use their new address below is if you, per chance, were lucky enough to meet an agent at a writers conference and they OK'd you sending some work to them.

Dwyer & O'Grady, Inc.
Agents for Writers & Illustrators of Children's Books
725 Third Street
P.O. Box 790
Cedar Key, FL 32625-0790
(352)543-9307
(603)-375-5373 - fax
www.dwyerogrady.com

Literary Agent Kristin Nelson of Nelson Literary Agency has recently posted several blog posts regarding how to craft a pitch - i.e., how to sum up your story in a query letter.

Some writers find composing the query and pitch extremely frustrating, even to the point where they would rather write another novel than a query letter. If this is you, do not miss these posts. (If you happen to come upon this post many months after I've written it, just go to her blog home page and look to the right where she has a category of "Blog Pitch" posts.) Here's an example of what she's talking about:

"When writing your pitch paragraph, all you need to do is examine the first 20 or 50 pages of your manuscript. Then zero in on the main catalyst that starts the story forward—the main conflict from which all else in the novel evolves. It’s the catalyst kernel of your story that forms your pitch.
      Don’t worry, I’ll show you some examples over the next couple of days but what you need to remember is that your pitch paragraph needs to read like the back cover copy of a novel. Notice that when you read the back cover of a book, it just gives a hint or a teaser of the story and that it also usually focuses on a crucial early event in the novel. That gets the ball rolling."