What four top agents love in a query (and what they hate)

Status
Not open for further replies.

MelodyO

Waiting for love on the web
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 2, 2007
Messages
929
Reaction score
520
Location
Calgary, Alberta
There's a great interview with Julie Barer, Jeff Kleinman, Renee Zuckerbrot, and Daniel Lazar in this month's Poets & Writers. As always, it's fun and enlightening to get insider information from the people we're querying.

LAZAR: If any of my clients ever win a National Book Award or a Pulitzer Prize, nobody's ever going to know it because I will go down in history as the agent who sold Scared of Santa.​
Here's the full article.

And here's Scared of Santa. :D
 

selkn.asrai

Rawr.
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 21, 2008
Messages
477
Reaction score
143
Location
New England
Yes, I read this article a few weeks ago in hard copy. V. informative. Also quite interesting, to see the people behind the names we all query.

Thank you for posting the link. :)
 

MelodyO

Waiting for love on the web
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 2, 2007
Messages
929
Reaction score
520
Location
Calgary, Alberta
You're so welcome! It's almost a relief to see how they're human just like us, with horror stories of best-sellers they passed up, or how it crushes them to have an author go with a different agent. I mean, I always knew they were human...but a little part of me tended to imagine them as Greek gods sitting on clouds waiting to see which mortal they were going to screw with next. Hee.
 

selkn.asrai

Rawr.
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 21, 2008
Messages
477
Reaction score
143
Location
New England
I think there was actually a thread on it, in which another AWer brought it to the writer's attention that Kleinman may have referred to his MS.
 

Kitty Pryde

i luv you giant bear statue
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 7, 2008
Messages
9,090
Reaction score
2,165
Location
Lost Angeles
I think there was actually a thread on it, in which another AWer brought it to the writer's attention that Kleinman may have referred to his MS.

Oops! You're right! I read that thread too, but I hadn't seen the article til today...
 
Last edited:

MelodyO

Waiting for love on the web
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 2, 2007
Messages
929
Reaction score
520
Location
Calgary, Alberta
Oops, I didn't see that thread until now either. I guess AW really is where all the cool kids hang out. ::puts on shades in case an agent drops by::
 

Deccydiva

Back from the dead
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 22, 2008
Messages
2,197
Reaction score
222
Location
Ireland
I wonder if the same applies to agents in other countries? As we don't all query American agents? Just wondered. :)
 

nevada

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 27, 2006
Messages
2,590
Reaction score
697
Location
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
So basically, we can shut AW down and just link it to that article because they talked about everything. i mean Everything anyone ever asks here. Fantasic article. thanks melody. :)
 

MelodyO

Waiting for love on the web
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 2, 2007
Messages
929
Reaction score
520
Location
Calgary, Alberta
I wonder if the same applies to agents in other countries? As we don't all query American agents? Just wondered. :)

I think every agent in the world is a unique snowflake, and should be treated on a personalized basis...but no stalking. Hee.
 

MelodyO

Waiting for love on the web
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 2, 2007
Messages
929
Reaction score
520
Location
Calgary, Alberta
So basically, we can shut AW down and just link it to that article because they talked about everything. i mean Everything anyone ever asks here. Fantasic article. thanks melody. :)

I know, right? Little did we know that all you have to do to find out all the agent secrets is to get them drunk and ask them. Makes sense, though.

Also, HI NEVADA! ::waves like mad::
 

Wayne K

Banned
Joined
Dec 3, 2008
Messages
21,564
Reaction score
8,082
So basically, we can shut AW down and just link it to that article because they talked about everything. i mean Everything anyone ever asks here. Fantasic article. thanks melody. :)

They don't have our wit and good looks.
 

Henri Bauholz

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 17, 2007
Messages
306
Reaction score
7
Location
somewhere near Mt. Desolation
Website
zenloonatic.blogspot.com
I agree, it was a good read and very informative. Since that piece came out another writer mag has followed suit with a similar interview with five agents, one of whom was Julie Barer. I'm not sure which magazine it was, but I liked the P & W article better. It was more informative.
 

RobJ

Banned
Joined
Aug 20, 2006
Messages
2,678
Reaction score
306
Thanks for the link, MelodyO.

Cheers,
Rob
 
Status
Not open for further replies.