If you're an aspiring novelist who has put in the good work on learning your craft, and now wants to proceed to the getting publishing part, I hope you, too, read scores of books, articles, and blogs about the publishing industry. (The MUST-READ on this topic: The Essential Guide to Getting Your Book Published from The Book Doctors, Arielle Eckstut and David Henry Sterry.)
After giving myself a basic pub-biz education, hiring my editor, Arielle Eckstut, and finishing my novel, I had to get up to speed on what to do next. I did a lot of stuff, but watching and listening to agents talk about their experiences and careers revealed much I find nowhere else. Plus, it just made them human, which really helps when you're trying to communicate with them.
So as part of your agent search, set side a few hours and enjoy these lively panel discussions on Youtube:
Poets & Writers - publishing industry candor and humor with: Michael
Szczerban, senior editor at Regan Arts, leading a discussion with agents
Amy Berkower of Writers House, Eric Simonoff of the WME Book Department,
Molly Friedrich of the Friedrich Literary Agency, and Meredith Kaffel
of DeFiore & Company about how editors and agents work together on
behalf of authors. Published on Feb 2, 2015.
The Hollywood Reporter - an hour-long interview with: Jodi Reamer (Writers House), Kim Witherspoon
(Inkwell Management), Robert Gottlieb (Trident Media), Sloan Harris
(ICM), Eric Simonoff (WME), Christy Fletcher (Fletcher & Company). Published on Apr 12, 2013.
To find more, check out Poets & Writers Live on Youtube. Or, you know, Google stuff like a maniac. That's my formula.
Labels: agent, agents panel discussion, fiction, literary agent, novel, Poets & Writers Live, Publishing