Ask Nathan Bransford! Guest agent from 02/07 - 12/09!

aruna · Feb 1, 2007

Thank you so much for joinging AW and helping us with your expertise!
I also would like to know when you sleep!

That's the point where people think life is a bed of roses, but I'm here to tell you it's not. There are bad reviews and the pressure of whether your books are selling and the uncertainty of whether you'll have another book published and the fear that you just got lucky. Even if you strike gold and write a bestseller there's the pressure of writing another one and the huge expectations of your publisher.

I can only echo what you've said here, having gone through all the ecstasies and agonies and somehow hanging on with my fingernails (and lots of hard work, of course!)

My agent is at the submisson stage. I didn't want to bug her but what is a typical response time for an editor at a big house? We hear of editors reading novels overnight and an offer being on the table in a week, but I guess this is the exception. What is a more normal timeframe? And then an editor loves and wants a book and it goes to the aquisitions teams, do they all read the whole thing through, or just partial and synopses?

Nathan Bransford · Feb 1, 2007

limitedtimeauthor said:
Thank you for all of your answers! I've had a couple of Eureka moments reading this thread, and now I have a question:

When do you sleep???

You have a blog, you're on My Space, now AW, not to mention reading manuscripts and doing other agently things - how do you do it all?

Again, thanks for the great posts.

ltd.

I told my girlfriend about your question and she said it's because she does all my chores. (not true, by the way)

limitedtimeauthor · Feb 1, 2007

Nathan Bransford said:
I told my girlfriend about your question and she said it's because she does all my chores. (not true, by the way)

!

Nathan Bransford · Feb 1, 2007

aruna said:
Thank you so much for joinging AW and helping us with your expertise!
I also would like to know ehn you sleep!

I can only echo what you've said here, having gone through all the ecstasies and agonies and somehow hanging on with my fingernails (and lots of hard work, of course!)

My agent is at the submisson stage. I didn't want to bug her but what is a typical response time for an editor at a big house? We hear of editors reading novels overnight and an offer being on the table in a week, but I guess this is the exception. What is a more normal timeframe? And then an editor loves and wants a book and it goes to the aquisitions teams, do they all read the whole thing through, or just partial and synopses?

Oh my goodness, it takes forever. I mean, sure, occasionally it's within a week, but I'd say within a month is good, two months is average and more than that is not entirely out of the ordinary. It just takes a lot of time to read manuscripts, and so the industry moves at a maddeningly slow pace sometimes. By the time a book has been acquired by a house quite a lot of people within the publisher have read the whole book. An editor may be the champion of a book in-house but most times it's very much a committee decision.

aruna · Feb 2, 2007

And now I'm convinced you really DO NOT Sleep! It is 9.00 here in Germany, and you've already answered my question? Good Grief!
But thank you so much. I will try to exercize patience....

aruna · Feb 2, 2007

OK next question:
Let's say one publishing house makes an offer. Does the agent then notify the other houses, to let them know and see if they are also intersted? Like when an author gets an offer from an agent, and then lets all the other submitted-to agents know?

Susan B · Feb 2, 2007

Nathan Bransford said:
Hmmmm... a meta question....

In my opinion, the only way to be happy in this business is to somehow avoid playing that game and appreciate every step. There's not a bed of roses waiting for you after every hill. Even if you haven't found an agent it doesn't mean you're a failure or that you shouldn't be happy with the accomplishment of writing a book.

So I think that's the one thing I'd like to convey -- try to enjoy every step and even though there's so much waiting and frustration in the business it's fun to write, and sure, it's great when it pans out and that means people buy your book, but it's not everything.

----

Dear Nathan,

Welcome to Absolute Write! (I'm pretty new here myself.) And it's great to learn of a new agent in the SF Bay Area, where I also live.

I just wanted to thank you for the wonderful words of wisdom in the post above. Oddly, I'd just posted something along the same lines on the Newbie Forum, but from the perspective of someone who is now in the "long slog" of trying to stay calm and optimistic while my agent submits to publishers. I felt a little like a kid whistling in the the dark when I wrote it ("you have to love the process, not define yourself by the outcome"...onward and upward!) But reading your words makes me feel more strongly that it really is true. And coming from an agent, who really is in "the business," gives it some power.

I wonder if perhaps you are a writer as well as an agent.

Thanks again, and welcome!

Susan B

PS I have passed a link to your blog on to several members of my critique group, so perhaps they they will join the legions who will now be sending you queries

Nathan Bransford · Feb 2, 2007

aruna said:
OK next question:
Let's say one publishing house makes an offer. Does the agent then notify the other houses, to let them know and see if they are also intersted? Like when an author gets an offer from an agent, and then lets all the other submitted-to agents know?

Well, when there's an offer there's a lot of strategy involved, and that's why it's very important to have a good agent. A publisher may try and get in early on a "pre-empt" offer, which means the agent and the editor will try and work out a deal without letting other people know there's an offer -- basically the editor is putting a very good offer out there to try and stave off an auction and take the book off the table. The agent may decide that they might get a better offer this way rather than starting the bidding in an auction (in which case the pre-empt offer might evaporate, or at least may be "floored" much lower than the pre-empt level).

Or the agent may let the other editors know that there is an offer in order to try and get a bidding war going. There are lots of variations and alternate scenarios involved -- too much to explain here, but again, all of this stuff is why it's so important have an agent. The startegy varies from situation to situation and depends a lot on who is doing the bidding, and it's the agent's job to navigate all of this.

Nathan Bransford · Feb 2, 2007

Susan B said:
----

Dear Nathan,

Welcome to Absolute Write! (I'm pretty new here myself.) And it's great to learn of a new agent in the SF Bay Area, where I also live.

I just wanted to thank you for the wonderful words of wisdom in the post above. Oddly, I'd just posted something along the same lines on the Newbie Forum, but from the perspective of someone who is now in the "long slog" of trying to stay calm and optimistic while my agent submits to publishers. I felt a little like a kid whistling in the the dark when I wrote it ("you have to love the process, not define yourself by the outcome"...onward and upward!) But reading your words makes me feel more strongly that it really is true. And coming from an agent, who really is in "the business," gives it some power.

I wonder if perhaps you are a writer as well as an agent.

Thanks again, and welcome!

Susan B

PS I have passed a link to your blog on to several members of my critique group, so perhaps they they will join the legions who will now be sending you queries

Thanks so much for the kind words -- I think you put it much better than I can. "you have to love the process, not define yourself by the outcome" is exactly right.

aruna · Feb 2, 2007

Nathan Bransford said:
Or the agent may let the other editors know that there is an offer in order to try and get a bidding war going. There are lots of variations and alternate scenarios involved -- too much to explain here, but again, all of this stuff is why it's so important have an agent. The startegy varies from situation to situation and depends a lot on who is doing the bidding, and it's the agent's job to navigate all of this.

Thank you very much, Nathan. Believe it or not, that's the clearest and most understandable explanation of what happens that I've ever heard!

BardSkye · Feb 2, 2007

I don't have anything polished yet, so I'll just say welcome and hope you enjoy being here as much as we enjoy having you.

maddythemad · Feb 2, 2007

Hello, Mr. Bransford! Thank you so much for hanging out here!

My question is: I'm a teenager, and my father is a relatively successful published author. His agent (who doesn't rep YA, which is what I write) said that I should mention my dad in my queries. What do you think of this?

Nathan Bransford · Feb 2, 2007

maddythemad said:
Hello, Mr. Bransford! Thank you so much for hanging out here!

My question is: I'm a teenager, and my father is a relatively successful published author. His agent (who doesn't rep YA, which is what I write) said that I should mention my dad in my queries. What do you think of this?

Hmmm...... this is a really good question. Hmmm..... Thinking..... thinking.....

I think this one is really up to you and what you want. On the one hand it shows that you probably have a good mentor and that you are probably more familiar with the business than the average teenager, on the other hand you may want to go out on your own. I think you'd be totally fine either way.

I wouldn't sweat this question too much because I don't think it's going to be a decider either way on whether someone decides to see your manuscript -- it's all going to be about the writing and whether the agent connects with the project anyway. So I would just do whatever makes you more comfortable.

maddythemad · Feb 2, 2007

Thanks for answering the question, Mr. Bransford! I'm glad to know it's nothing I should worry about.

Maprilynne · Feb 2, 2007

Dear Nathan,

Thanks for stopping by! I am very happily represented so I don't have any questions, but I wanted to say that I really enjoyed reading through the archives of your blog and how come I didn't hear about it a year ago!!!!

Thanks for giving of you time so freely and somehow you even managed to find my blog yesterday and even made a comment. I felt very complimented! Thank you very much and Welcome!!

Maprilynne

RainbowDragon · Feb 2, 2007

Dear Mr. Bransford:

I have a question that most writers have--yet another variation of, "What does an agent look for in a query?"

Let's assume there are no grammatical errors and it describes a decent-sounding story. Do you look for the heart of the story, the marketability of the story, the way it is presented in that half-page letter, or the writer's prior credits? Do you think the same manuscript could foster a rejection or a request for more material depending on the way the query (again, assume well-crafted, but there are hundreds of different approaches to take with the same material) reads? Or is a story either interesting enough to investigate or not. I imagine any answer represents an individual preference, but am curious about the inner workings of agents' responses.

Thanks for volunteering your time!

PS: On a similar note, what does it mean when an e-query is rejected within minutes? (Not mentioning names. . .haha).

Sage · Feb 2, 2007

Welcome to AW, Nathan, & thanks for volunteering your time to answer our questions!

Most advice I've seen on querying agents suggests that you include a small author bio in the query letter. But if the author is unpublished, should they skip this section altogether? If not, what kind of information can they provide that will be meaningful for the agent?

clara bow · Feb 2, 2007

Dear Mr. Branford,

Thank you kindly for your time and wisdom!

Since your Agent Query listing shows that you consider Christian fiction, what kinds of Christian/Christian themed fiction are you seeking to acquire for your list? What trends do you predict for this market?

Also, what kinds of plots or themes in fantasy do you feel are overdone?

best,
clara

Nathan Bransford · Feb 2, 2007

RainbowDragon said:
Dear Mr. Bransford:

I have a question that most writers have--yet another variation of, "What does an agent look for in a query?"

Let's assume there are no grammatical errors and it describes a decent-sounding story. Do you look for the heart of the story, the marketability of the story, the way it is presented in that half-page letter, or the writer's prior credits? Do you think the same manuscript could foster a rejection or a request for more material depending on the way the query (again, assume well-crafted, but there are hundreds of different approaches to take with the same material) reads? Or is a story either interesting enough to investigate or not. I imagine any answer represents an individual preference, but am curious about the inner workings of agents' responses.

Thanks for volunteering your time!

PS: On a similar note, what does it mean when an e-query is rejected within minutes? (Not mentioning names. . .haha).

Good question, and very difficult to answer, so I'll take the easy way out and say all of the above. Heart of the story, marketability of the story, way it is presented, the writer's prior credits... everything -- there's not really a formula, I just either respond to something or I don't. A lot of it just has to do if I connect with the material -- something might be perfectly good, I just might not be the right agent for it.

And I try to get back to people as soon as I possibly can -- I know it's frustrating to wait for a response, so if someone hears back from me within five minutes it's not because I really didn't like their material, I'm just there answering queries at the time. Hope that helps!

Nathan Bransford · Feb 2, 2007

Sage said:
Welcome to AW, Nathan, & thanks for volunteering your time to answer our questions!

Most advice I've seen on querying agents suggests that you include a small author bio in the query letter. But if the author is unpublished, should they skip this section altogether? If not, what kind of information can they provide that will be meaningful for the agent?

I'm a big fan of shorter, simpler letters, so if you don't have a ton of credits to your name it's fine to just say something like, "This is my first novel." You could also say where you went to school or some other biographical detail. Don't be self-conscious about a lack of credentials, if your story is good it doesn't matter -- a big mistake I often see is a long apology about how someone is a first time writer and they probably shouldn't be writing and they don't know if it's good etc. etc. etc. Just be confident!

Nathan Bransford · Feb 2, 2007

clara bow said:
Dear Mr. Branford,

Thank you kindly for your time and wisdom!

Since your Agent Query listing shows that you consider Christian fiction, what kinds of Christian/Christian themed fiction are you seeking to acquire for your list? What trends do you predict for this market?

Also, what kinds of plots or themes in fantasy do you feel are overdone?

best,
clara

I'm open to all kinds of Christian fiction, and I think one growing area of Christian fiction is Christian hybrid genres. I used the example earlier of inspirational suspense, and I'm also a fan of Anne Dayton and May Vanderbilt, who write Christian chick lit. Christian fiction seems to be moving beyond the CBA market, as well as the horse and buggy type of novels that used to characterize Christian genres. So anything that is really fresh and new is something I would definitely be interested -- Christian science fiction, for instance.

In reference to your PS, I'm really more of a science fiction kind of guy than a fantasy kind of guy, but one thing I think that is kind of overdone in fantasy is the king/princess/saving the world type thing, with lots of unpronounceable names of kingdoms and things like that. Especially after ERAGON, I think that niche is probably pretty played out. I would be much more interested in a unique take on fantasy, something a bit more out of the box and not such a traditional fantasy-type story.

But really, I think people have a tendency to overthink trends and I try to avoid that -- if it's good it's good.

My-Immortal · Feb 2, 2007

Welcome to AW, Nathan and thank you for your time.

What advice can you offer regarding one-on-one pitch sessions with an agent?
Do you read/represent fantasy? (Edit: I was typing while you posted that last one...what kinds of fantasy do you prefer to read, if any?)

Again, thanks for you time and have a great weekend.

Take care -

popmuze · Feb 3, 2007

Partial vs. Full

Nathan,
I have a number of questions, but I'll be polite and ask them one at a time.

When requesting a manuscript from a random query, what makes you ask for a full as opposed to a partial?

popmuze · Feb 3, 2007

Rejection letters

When you read a requested full and offer a few comments in your rejection letter, does that mean you have, in fact, read the complete manuscript? Or do you have a sense, after x number of pages that there's no way the things you don't like will get better. In general, what makes you stop reading?

popmuze · Feb 3, 2007

Credits

Is there such a thing as having too many credits? Let's say I've published six non-fiction books and six novels, all with major companies, over the course of 25 years--none of which achieved major sales.

Does this say to you, oh yes, proven pro.
Or does it say, no matter what he writes now, it'll never sell.

Would it be wise to abbreviate the credits, or do you feel a good idea, well written, from a mid or bottom list writer can still sell.

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