Hey friends,
Welcome to another edition of Tell Us Something We Don’t Know… where we ask our favorite literary experts about their specialist subject.
Today, we’re talking about what it’s really like to work with a literary agent — because there’s a whole lot of stuff out there about how to query an agent, but not so much about what to expect after the yes.
Our Experts:
Jenna Satterthwaite is a literary agent with Storm Literary, as well as the author of four thrillers with HarperCollins, Sourcebooks and PRH UK. She writes a weekly Substack about all things publishing: the good, the bad and the ugly.
Anna Sproul-Latimer, cofounder and president of Neon Literary, has worked in book publishing for more than two decades. She's sold numerous New York Times bestsellers and prizewinning books as well as translation deals in more than 50 languages. Her bestselling Substack, How to Glow in the Dark, goes deep on the emotional and existential struggles as well as practical realities of life in book publishing.
The Takeaways:
Insights on the how the publishing process differs for fiction and nonfiction
Questions to ask before accepting an offer of representation
What happens when a book goes out “on submission”
And how long does the process take?
PLUS: What’s on our agents’ wishlists, and what the industry is snapping up at the moment
By the end of this Q&A, you’ll be prepared for your very own “after the yes” journey, and a clearer idea of what goes on behind the publishing curtain.
After the “Yes!”
So, you’ve written an amazing novel and bravely waded through the querying trenches… Now let’s just imagine for a moment that you get that hallowed call from your dream literary agent — an offer of representation!
What do you say? What do you do? What happens next? What if you’re not sure if this is the right decision?
Let’s get some expert advice from our resident agents and see things from the other side of the desk — from both a fiction and nonfiction perspective:
