CJE: It can take me up to 12 weeks to respond to all three (sometimes more for partials and mss). Why? I try to give each partial/full mss my undivided attention to see if this is something worth pursuing for me. The easy part is finding the manuscript that either works or doesn’t work. The hard part is deciding whether a “maybe” manuscript is worth the time and effort to make it work or if it requires too much work to be a smart addition to my list. I’ll do my best to make sure all material gets read within the 12 week framework in the future.
ER: I’m doing everything in my power to stay on top of queries and requested materials. Here’s how it looks right now, and how I hope it’ll stay: 1-2 weeks for queries, and 4-6 weeks for partials and fulls. When I request something, I add it to my “to do list” queue, and put a deadline on it for 1 month from the date I receive it. Unless I ask for too much at once, I’m usually pretty good about sticking to that time frame. But like Caren just said, it’s the “maybe”s that defy the rules—sometimes it takes me a little extra time to decide which way to come down on it.
RD: I’m the slowest of the bunch when it comes to responding to submissions. On average, it takes me about 6-8 weeks to request or reject a query (which is the easiest part). Partial manuscripts take me at least 12 weeks. Full manuscripts take me about the same amount of time as partials. I’ll decide if I want to represent a nonfiction project based purely on its proposal and partial manuscript (since editors buy nonfiction based on these two criteria), while I have to see the full manuscript of fictional work before I decide to run with it or not.
Question: Can I submit my project to more than one CJLA agent?
CJE: No. Some of our tastes may overlap, but we each have a distinct list of projects we represent and are looking to represent. The best indicator of our tastes is in our bios and on our submissions page.
ER: Please don’t. It just invites complications that you won’t have if you carefully target one of us at a time.
RD: Caren and Elana pretty much said it all. Your chance of getting a “bite” isn’t better if you send your project to more than one of us. More often than not, if one of us is interested in a project we end up having the others review it and offer their input anyway.
Question: What do you look for in projects that you’re interested in signing up? What turns you off?
CJE: I look for good writing above anything else. I feel like I’ve been in a rut recently. I get queries for books that sound extremely exciting only to dig into the partial and find the writing isn’t good enough. Plot, though important, comes second to great writing. I want writers who are careful with the words they put on the page. Some of my favorite writers are Susan Carroll, Max Brooks, Monica McInerney, Tim Weiner, Lisa Lutz and Sarah Dessen. They all write on vastly different topics, but they have one thing in common: they can tell a story brilliantly. I want to be seduced by the words on the page and then wowed by an exciting/informative plot/thesis.
ER: I’m looking for the whole package. A strong voice that gives me a three-dimensional main character. A great story that is well plotted and paced correctly. And you can’t do either of those without excellent writing. The threshold is really high, especially since I focus on children’s books so much. Think about a child’s attention span and how quickly you can lose it. I’m the same way, so I need a strong hook and strong writing to match it. Another thing to remember is I’m not just signing a project, but a client. I’m looking for clients with a compatible goals and communication styles. Unfocused writers are a major turn-off for me—I don’t want to find out later that you have many different books being considered by many different publishers, which I have to then track down, on top of the 20 books under your bed you want me to represent as well. My dream novels, and their authors, need focus.
RD: I’m a firm believer in clearness and coherence. When it comes to nonfiction, it’s very important that I know exactly what an author’s looking to say about his or her topic. This doesn’t mean I want to publish an academic thesis, but it’s crucial that a nonfiction work have a well-defined platform, since this is what it’s sold on. Of course, the author’s writing can’t be garbage either, but good writing usually follows from a good platform. In regards to fiction, I’m all for complex plots and larger than life characters, but the story has to makes sense and the characters need to be relatable. Sometimes when I’m reading a fictional manuscript, I feel like the author just threw the most sensational elements he or she could think of onto paper, even though these elements hardly mesh with the story line. My advice would be to make sure that any fictional works you submit have a solid plot going for them first and foremost, and that any additional details and elaborations stem from the plot itself. Writing that moves along at a steady pace, minimal back story interference and a clear plot that makes sense grab my attention in a book.
Question: Name the last three books you’ve read. How do your reading choices affect the books you represent?
CJE: The last three books I read were: The Secret History of the CIA, by Joseph Trento, Skinned, by Robin Wasserman and Cracked Up To Be, by Courtney Summers. My reading tastes directly mirror what I represent. While I absolutely adore romance and commercial fiction, I’ve been craving weightier tomes as of late. I’m fascinated by the cold war, the Middle East, current affairs, foreign policy and anything to do with spies. As far as Skinned and Cracked up to Be, I love YA and both of these books have great narrators and compelling plots. They have themes that all great coming-of-age novels have (need to belong, finding your place in the world, understanding your limitations), but are fresh and fun for today’s readers. I guess I could say that the books I represent directly affect the books I read. I want to know what else is out in the marketplace and I read as much as I can.
ER: I read everything. The last three books in order were: 3 Willows, The Sisterhood Grows by Ann Brashares (I know, this hasn’t come out yet. This is why my job rocks), Ask for a Convertible by Danit Bloom (a collection of linked stories), and The Echo Maker by Richard Powers. But I want to add that right before that I read Farewell, My Lovely by Raymond Chandler and The Ghost Map by Stephen Johnson. This is probably one of the longer stretches where I can say I’ve enjoyed everything I’ve read lately. Unlike Caren, what I’m reading for pleasure doesn’t directly relate to what I want to represent right now, but it does make me want to eventually have a list with such a range. And reading great work does make me refine my tastes and standards in what projects I’ll consider. There’s great stuff out there—what I sign has to be able to compete.
RD: True to my interest in economics, I recently finished The Wal-Mart Effect by Charles Fishman and The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman. I also just read the paranormal Y/A novel Wake by Lisa McMann, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Obviously my last three reading choices directly reflect the types of projects that I’m looking to represent. I don’t always operate this way however, sometimes I bounce around from genre to genre. For example, I read a contemporary romance over the summer (which is somewhat out of character for me), and I have an undying obsession for Kathy Reich’s Temperance Brennan forensic anthropology thrillers (I read Bones to Ashes over the summer). Like Elana mentions above, I find that reading a wide variety of works helps me to zone in on what projects I want to represent. Since I’m also a new agent, I still have a lot of market research to do as well, and may not be well-read up enough on certain genres to represent them yet. This is not to say that I won’t represent them in the future though.
Question: What are you currently looking for? What are you not currently looking for?
CJE: I’m currently looking for up-market women’s fiction featuring younger heroines (18-35 range), YA, erotica, history (particularly on the cold war and WWII), social sciences, pop science and health. I’m not looking for romance (full up at the moment), mystery (the market is too soft to actively represent more than a few mystery authors at this time), commercial fiction (already have some great novels that I want to turn my attention to), or literary fiction.
ER: I’m looking for high concept middle-grade (boys and girls) and YA (with a girly focus—I have enough male dystopian YA for a good long while), and narrative non-fiction, pop culture, and pop science. I’m NOT looking for adult sci-fi, fantasy, romance, mystery, thrillers or historical fiction. Beyond that, I don’t want to be too specific—I just want something amazing.
RD: I’m currently looking for nonfiction focusing on economics, psychology, sociology or political science (in that order). I’m open to nonfiction of both a serious and humorous bent. I’d also like to acquire YA and middle grade fiction of all types. I’m not looking for science fiction, mystery, suspense, romance, commercial fiction and literary fiction.
Elana Roth
Query letters come in all shapes and sizes, most of them ill-fitting, clunky, or unhelpful. But every now and again you get a good one that has both the right shape and the right content. So I asked my client Eli Stutz, author of the forthcoming PICKLE IMPOSSIBLE, if I could use one of his letters. Now Eli actually queried me with another project first, which I read and considered, and while I was reading and considering, Eli finished a second book, which was the stronger project that we decided to move forward with. Even though we were already in touch, he wrote a second letter. And here it is: