Indie Novella Publishing Masterclasses
with Irene Baldoni from Georgina Capel
In our series of masterclasses, Irene Baldoni, from leading literary agency Georgina Capel Associates is kindly provided Indie Novella students her thoughts and experience on the publishing process. In a discussion hosted by independent bookshop West End Lane Books of West Hampstead, Irene discusses what she particular looks for during the submission process and highlights the different aspects of the publishing process that an agent helps their authors navigate.
The Role of an Agent and a Literary Agency
How would you describe the role of the literary agent?
It's a difficult question because I think that agents are a bit like chameleons and they are whatever you need them to be and so they are the people who help you become the writer you want to be. And if you don't know what kind of writer you want to be they can advise you or they can help you understand what kind of writer you want to be.
We work with you throughout the journey so your relationship with literary agency and with a literary agent is ideally a long term one. Agents are sometimes described as gatekeepers or go-betweens, or nasty people, but actually I don't see the role of an agent so much as that of a gatekeeper but it's more the opposite. I think it's more of an enabler. Someone who works to help writers fulfil their ambitions. Obviously agents cannot help all writers or all the people who want to become writers, but I always like to stress that they do help rather than keep people out. And they try to champion the work of their clients and they foster good relationships and collaborative relationships with publishers with everyone in the industry.
Obviously there is an element of negative feelings when you reject someone – one might think they're keeping me out but you're never rejecting a person. You're rejecting a work if you don't think that you're the right agent for that work or if your agency doesn't do that kind of work or if you think that at this specific moment that work does not have the commercial potential to sell, but that doesn't mean the same author cannot write something else or a revised version of their work and then actually you're very happy to take them on. So even when someone receives a it should never be taken as I'm never going to get a publisher or I'm never going to become a published author – it's just a journey and sometimes it can be long one, but perseverance always pays off.
When it comes to the relationship between agent and author, how does that work?
The relationship is one of the most personal professional relationships you can find. Obviously it varies because people and writers have different personalities but if you work with someone for years then you get to know them very well. You're reading their most intimate thoughts in a way, even if they're writing in fiction. You get to know them personally through the writing and then obviously during endless brainstorming sessions and very often you get to know their families, their friend,s and you become part of their network. You become really good friends with them at times so it's a complex relationship – it's very rich. And when, for some reason, the relationship between an author and an agent ends it really feels like a love story that is ending. Like a proper split up and usually the agent is the one who gets hurt the most.
The Submission Package
How many submissions do you receive on average in a week?
It's difficult to say because I think there are waves. I think there are periods of the year when people have more time that they can spend writing and so for example if there are some holidays you can expect after the holidays to receive more submissions. I would say on average maybe about a dozen a week, which not seem like a lot but actually if you think about reading carefully each one of them it becomes a bit daunting considering that you also have to read a lot of other things.
How many would you request a full manuscript from?
Very few, just before was I think it's a matter of fairness so if I read an extract or sample and I think that it's unlikely that I will take I will offer to represent that author because he or she doesn't write what I'm looking for at the moment then I do not ask for the full manuscript because I think that I might not have the time to read it as carefully as I should. I think whenever you ask for full manuscript it's good to give some detailed feedback to the writers and therefore if I don't feel like it's likely that I will offer to represent that author and it's not likely that I will have the time to properly engage with their work then I do not request the manuscript.
Also being on top I mean knowing what happens so obviously reading what is being is so it's very difficult to read all the things you need to read
From the Submission Material what are you most interested in?
I don't know about other agents – in this that might be a bit strange – but basically I dive straight into the text. I don't want to read the letter, I don't want to read the synopsis – it's useful is knowing what I'm reading like is it cross-genre, is it romance, is a crime because there are some genres I do not represent, for example if it's romance I will know that I shouldn't even read it because it's not for me. That's about the only thing I want to know about what I'm reading because I want text to speak for itself and I don't want to have any expectations or preconceptions.
So once I've read it and am interested then I might be, OK, let's see who is this person. But that comes under the second stage, and even in terms of synopsis if I'm requesting a full manuscript I tend to read the whole novel I will not read the synopsis until the end. I want to read the novel first – I want to see if the plot holds, I don't want to know what is happening or what is about to happen. I want to see if the novel convinces me. This is a way I find enables you to be as fair as possible.
Advise Submitting to an Agent
I think it would be to concentrate on the text, on the words you are writing and also do not rush. It can be very frustrating when someone has spent a lot of time working on a piece of writing and I think all writers get to a point where they're like, ‘this is it, I'm going to send it out. I can't stand this anymore!’ That's when one should actually take a step back leave it there. Leave your text for two, months, three months, do something else and then go back to it.
The Importance of Reading as Writer
How important is reading as a writer? Should a writer be focused on reading contemporary to glean a market awareness of what is published?
I think that reading is the prerequisite to writing. If I were to run a creative writing course the first part of the course would be let's not even talk about writing. Let's find amazing works to read and let's talk about them. Let's not even remotely think about writing. Writing is like playing an instrument, so before you start to play you have to be able to read music and listen to musicians who are much more experienced than you. You will get inspiration and you can learn a lot from them.
I think most agents and possibly writers will share the ethos that what you read will enable you to become a better writer. It is obviously dependent on what you're interested in writing so I would say someone wants to write commercial fiction and become a bestseller should read the bestsellers to figure out what the people who are being so successful are doing that works. But be aware that knowing what techniques they're using does not guarantee that you will be as successful. You also have to have ideas and your own things to say. Your own style and voice.
I also I think that it's very important, and sometimes it might be a bit overlooked, to read classics and modern classics. That's because almost everything that's being published now has been done before – all your unreliable narrators, all your multiple storylines – and if certain works have withstood the test of time it means that they have done something that other works have not done. I think as a writer you have to be curious and you have to ask yourself what have they done. Think not just what was published this summer that was very successful, but also what was published 200 years ago and that we are still reading. Why are we still reading it? What have they done that I can learn from?
What an agents reads for representation - what questions does an agent ask themself
Is what you read outside work different to what you consider for representation?
Yes, completely. I wish I could read for work what I would like to read for pleasure but obviously if you're doing something for work by definition you're not doing it for pleasure. I think a lot of people get into publishing thinking, I’ll get to spend a lot of time reading what I want. That's absolutely not true. If you want to read what you want find any other job but not in publishing. I would ask myself many questions starting with, am I enthusiastic enough about the author that I want to spend like a lot of energy and time and effort trying to get them to where they want to be? But also am I the right agent for them? Would they be better off with someone else and I would I be able to keep them and give them what they need? Would we be able to work well together? Obviously I think it's always the agent that has to adapt their personality but sometimes, I think it has happened to everyone, you find people that you're really just not able to work with because you don't click. So that's very important.
And then there are other questions like how confident am I that I'm going to be able to find them a publisher? Do I think that that what they are doing is commercially viable? Sometimes if the answer to any of these questions is ‘no’ then I would have to think carefully about if I can offer representation. But sometimes, if the text and what they're doing has intrigued me – even if I answered no to all these questions – I would still consider offering representation, because, again, for me the text is the most important thing. More than actually being able to sell it, more than if I can work with this person.
Working with Publishers - The Process
What is it like working with publishers can you outline the process of taking a book to a publisher and what is the relationship like between yourself and the acquiring publisher?
The process is that once the author and I agree that what we have is what we want to submit then I will think about the best publishers for that work. I might submit to a select number of people or more widely, depending on the work and also depending on what the author wants. Hopefully I will receive more than one offer and then there will be conversations between the author and the publishers to see who would be the best publisher for them who has more enthusiasm who has more ambitious plans for that work, and who wants to work with the author in the long term and, especially if it's a debut author, who wants to invest in their career, not just in one book. Also obviously we consider what the different publishers are willing to pay and therefore once all these considerations have been made and once the author has chosen the publishers they prefer, and obviously as agents we have them do that, the relationship between the agent and the publisher is a very collaborative one because we have the same objective – to publish the author’s book well and get it into the hands of readers. So it's a very very close relationship and i would stress again that we're all working together to achieve the same goals.
It can happen that sometimes there are conflicts between the author and the publisher because the author has certain ideas about their work or the publishers might have other plans in mind, so in this case I think the job of the agent is to be a good mediator, trying to get the publisher to see the author's perspective and vice versa because I think it's very important that authors trust their publishers and trust that they know how to do their job and that they know what is best from a commercial point of view
Translations Deals and TV Rights
How do you translation deals work and how is it possible to be translated another language?
I think people who writes in English have an advantage because English is the language in which most texts circulate for translation purposes so whether the publisher manages your translation rights or whether the agent manages them what they will do is they will submit your work to foreign publishers who usually will read the manuscript in English and then they will decide if they want to translate it. And if they do there is going to be a deal to be done. What is normal to be paid as a royalty in Germany might not be a normal royalty to be paid in Taiwan so that’s a key area that should be navigated, whereas for example if you are writing in a language that is not English – let's say you're writing a novel in Croatian and you want it to be translated in other languages usually what you would have to do is get a few chapters translated into English so that's why I'm saying the writing in English has advantages as you don't have to do that bit which is usually expensive.
For film and TV rights, again this can be handled by agents and sometimes they can be handled by publishers but that doesn't happen often happen if you have an agent. They will tell you that you should know grant both your translation and your film and TV rights to a publisher, not they don’t have amazing people working in rights, but it's just because I think it's slightly less convenient. When they sell them they would get a cut so if you have less intermediaries it's more convenient.
Most agencies will have people who are specialised especially in film and TV deals because it's a completely different world. There are a lot of moving parts, a lot of things that have to happen so that a book is actually adapted into a film or documentary or TV series so that it is then actually produced an then actually broadcast. It's not just having someone who wants to adopt it. Those contracts are quite complicated. A lot of agents outsource this kind of work to specialised agencies. In our agency, for example, we have a person who is dedicated to that and his background is in TV and is not in publishing, because you have to know how it works. It's very, very difficult. Only a very, very small percentage of books that are optioned are actually then produce and broadcast. A very small number.
Self-Publishing - the merits and the pitfalls
As an agent I wouldn't want to take on a work that has been self-published because that means that that work is already out has already been made public – has already been published. So that means it is unlikely that that author would get a traditional publishing deal because the work is already in the public sphere. I know that some works that have been self- published have been taken on by publishers but this is the exception – I would say it happens to works that have already become very successful for some reason and it's not usual. I would totally consider someone who has self-published before for new and for the new books and things that they haven't self-published, but I would not consider representation for works already out there, and that is something that actually I get quite a lot. People submitting work and saying I've self-published this, would you like to read it? And I said no, because it doesn’t making sense unless there is new work that you would like to submit. So I would say if you want to get a traditional publishing deal for certain work, do not make it public. Do not put it online. If you just want to share your work and if you want to see what happens – if you want to get feedback from readers – by all means self-publishing is totally legitimate route and it's something that a lot of people do and there are people who do it successfully. So there's nothing wrong with self-publishing. I think one just needs to be aware that almost all the time if you have self-published something it will not be taken on by a publisher.
How we can make publishing more accessible
Some people view publishing as elitist, that you need a Masters in Creative Writing or to attend expensive writing courses to write a novel. Do you think this is an unfair depiction?
I think that publishing and writing can be elitist unfortunately, because main problem is that you need to have the resources and to take time off other things that most people have to do – whether it's caring for someone or making living – to devote time writing and some people cannot afford to do that. That is one of the main problems.
You absolutely do not need to do a creative writing course and you do not need to do an expensive writing course. I can be very useful if you want to have a sort of programme or schedule that actually means you have to sit there and write, or if you want to know more about the different writing techniques or if you want to get feedback from people. These programmes are amazing when they're structured and you get to work with professionals – that's very useful by all means. But if that is not something that appeals to you or you cannot afford, then you should absolutely not feel that therefore you cannot be published. In Italy, where I come from, Creative Writing courses did not exist until maybe 10-15 years ago and even now sometimes there's sort of suspicious – why do you need a creative writing course? No one can teach you how to write. So for example, at a university you cannot get a degree or a PhD in Creative Writing. That's not a discipline. You can have it in literature but not in writing. So I'm not saying that is right, I'm just saying that it's not necessary. There are a lot of published writers in Italy and I would say the majority did not attend a creative writing course. I think there are a lot of good things that one can get from creating writing courses and I think they are very important for certain kinds of writers who need an introduction into the world of writing and publishing. Other writers won't benefit from a creative writing course because they want to follow their own ideas or maybe because they don't like the structure – they may find structure hinders their creativity.
I think people should have the opportunity to learn writing as a sort of training, for free. If someone doesn't want to they shouldn't think Oh my God I have to do a creative writing course, I really don't want to but otherwise no one is going to consider my work. That's not true. Publishers will consider your work – they should continue your work – and in terms of accessibility I think other than trying to make the most of the free resources or the free advice on the free courses or the free workshops, what is very useful is for any aspiring writer to create a network of fellow writers or aspiring writers people who navigate the same path you do and who are there to give you honest feedback.