The Watson, Little Publishing Masterclass
with Laetitia Rutherford
Indie Novella is delighted to be working with literary agency, Watson, Little to bring industry knowledge direct from the literary agent to authors and promote diversity in publishing. Literary agent, Laetitia Rutherford, speaks to Indie Novella editor, Hannah Walker, on the role of a literary agent, what an agent does, the submissions process, and her advice for new writers.
Watson, Little celebrated their 50th anniversary in 2021 and Laetitia has been a literary agent at the agency for approaching ten years. In this Masterclass, Laetitia offers students at Indie Novella inside industry knowledge on the role of the agent and the nature of the relationship between the author and the agent. We ask Laetitia what a typical day would be like for a literary agent - something pivotal for a writer to understand when seeking representation - and the various roles an agent has to play on daily basis from working through submissions, to representing their authors throughout the publishing process. Laetitia also sheds light on the Submission Process, offering invaluable advice on what certain agents are looking for and what to look out for in your own submission package.
The nature of the relationship between the author and the agent
An agent is a person who finds writing talent, shapes and develops it and helps them work it into a commercial proposition to take to publishers. Once we do that, we get the deal, and then we are into the phase of the writer's career where you are looking after them in a triangular relationship with a publisher, hopefully going on to do many books together so the role will change a lot over time as the author’s career develops. It’s a combination of the creative work with the writer and the negotiation with the publisher. You are a troubleshooter - if any problems or questions arise as to the cover, the marketing, how the book is stocked etc. you can bring your perspective, market awareness and knowledge to help the writer understand those processes. Should any conflicts arise, you can troubleshoot, resolve and protect the writer from from having to have those sorts of conversations, and allow them to develop as a writer.
The relationship between author and agent is an organic, creative relationship. It goes beyond simply the agency letter and is more fluid. There is a lot of creative back-and-forth and you’re there to help to draw out the best book that the author can possibly produce and increase their awareness of how that can work most effectively in the commercial landscape.
A typical day as a literary agent
Sometimes I like to reserve a really early morning session for reading and I’m looking at the ideas that are coming in - the cover letters and synopsis. I then jump to my email correspondence and go back and forth. However, most days I may want to preserve that time to think through ideas but won’t have a chance as I will be in correspondence all day, with meetings, or if something is coming to ahead with publishers offering for a book then I will be completely absorbed in that and it’s very difficult to work on anything else in that time. And then I will have moments when I need to block out the time to edit. If I'm coming to a final draft I will need to block out time to go through the manuscript and produce notes for the writer.
The Submission Process
How do you go about determining which submissions to bring forward?
It can be challenging, especially as there are many where you sit on the fence, but the ones that you really feel passionate about are incredibly exciting and usually the ones you take on that you feel early on it will work for you, and you will request the full manuscript. For most agencies the sample material will vary a little bit but it’s usually the first three chapters or first 50 pages, or 10,000 words.
The submission package has three elements - it’s the cover letter, the synopsis, and the sample material, all of which have a big influence on how an agent will react and whether they take a writer on. You have a strong instinctive reaction based on your experience and the message that you as an agent has put across regarding what you can make work. For example, when it’s in my field, it’s the title, the query letter, the first couple of sentences, and you’re increasingly hooked.
Some writers struggle with the query letter and pitching their novel to agents. Would you have any advice for an author who doesn’t know where to begin?
It’s a really good exercise to help a writer think through the book and I would caution if they are really struggling with the query letter, they should go back to the manuscript and have a think about the meaning of the book and what the concept is, and how you would describe that in a sentence. I’m bit wary of phrases like the log line and the pitch to a writer - you do want that but the industry are there to pitch it in the best way they can so copylines will come when the marketing is in place. But for the writer, think about what the big idea is that you want to get across. What is the most exciting thing about this book? If you look at the beginning of Normal People by Sally Rooney, it is a boy from here and a girl from there, and they get together and that conflict drives the rest of the novel and that’s present in the first paragraph of the book.
Consider, what does your book really mean? Plumb depths and then pick up something from there and try to be as cogent as you possibly can.
Are there any common mistakes you see in submission packages?
It shows if you haven’t done your research and you do a blanket submission to numerous agents without thinking through who you are targeting. Do your research. One really great tool is to look in the back of the books and the acknowledgements section will often acknowledge the agent as well. Identify the authors who you are really interested in and who resonate with you as a writer, and then trace the journey that they’ve had. Find the agents that they have matched with and they are represented by, and of course, agencies websites are incredibly useful. So, target the agent clearly - it really does show that you are talking to an agent for a reason - and then define your work clearly and say something about yourself. You don’t need specific qualifications to be a novelist, but your experience and the work that you’ve put in will really show. And then there is an element of awareness, of what the competition is, what else is sitting in the book landscape that is similar to your book. The agent will then get a confident sense that you could sit alongside this writer or that writer in a bookshop and that this is a viable proposition that could exist in the real world.
You mentioned before it is a three-way relationship between author, agent and publisher, so is it the editor the author has the relationship with? Or are there other prominent roles the author has the relationship with from the publishing side?
It has evolved in recent times and it used to be much more the case that authors would be housed in almost a separate bubble with their editor. Now there’s much more of a culture of including everybody into the process and I think the role of the agent has become more prominent for a whole range of reasons, one possibly being that editors have a lot to do and that the agent has become such an entrenched and accepted part of the process that you are already sharing a lot of the challenges of getting a book out in into the world in the best shape.
Also, the author can now have a direct relationship with the marketer and the publicist. The publicist is the last person who comes into the process, because even just a couple of weeks before publication everything intensifies. Some of the lead times are long, so for monthly magazines the lead time is three months ahead of publication. Festivals should be pitched well ahead of the program. It feels much more of a team than it ever was before, and will keep going in that direction with a wider range of people to have a relationship with. The author is required and expected to be so much more involved, educating themselves, and being open to those conversations.
What should a writer’s expectations be when getting themselves an agent?
Getting an agent is a brilliant first step but there’s a whole journey yet to come. So in striking up that relationship you want to have a clear vision of what editorial work is involved and which publishers you’re going to go to. After that, it is very difficult to predict.
What are your Dos and Donts when submitting to an agent?
Be targeted, so find the agent you want to address and address them directly. Even though you might be going generally into the submissions, select the agents within the agency that you want to target with your work and then just be as clear and cogent, and powerful as you can in your statements as to presenting your book with all its key strengths.
Is there any particular advice you give to debut authors they are surprised by or not aware of beforehand?
Length is an interesting one. Quite often I get sent really really long novels, and some novels are very long - Alex Marwood writes around 100,000 word mark and that’s getting long, but that’s a commercial length and she writes in commercial genres. But above 100,000 words it starts to get a little unwieldy and the cost goes up as well. We are at present in this particular moment where the cost of paper has gone up by 30% and the transit costs have also increased, so these increased costs are taking a toll on even considering the length of a book. Ruth Ozeki with her Women’s Prize winning novel, The Book of Form and Emptiness is very, very long and I spoke to the publisher who said that they had a real discussion in-house about how to typeset and used the American edition, which is a smaller font than UK readers are used to reading, as, if we were to typeset it the English way, the pagination would go up to the extent that the costings would be a bit out of wack. So consideration of the length is something to think about.
I really respect the novel as a form not being an infinite form. It has a frame, and you want a writer to sometimes do more in less words. Every word really counts, so don’t go over board - so that is a piece of advice that I would give; try and keep it within a manageable length.
But otherwise, just read. Try to know your audience. Try to understand who you are communicating with and what kind of community you’d like to have around you in terms of other books. And always be improving.
Is there anything authors from underrepresented groups can do to find an entry into publishing?
Be active on social media, that’s an obvious one. But not only that, do try to find networks and communities in the real world and individuals who can support you and give you a sense of friendship and encouragement and a sharing of ideas. Also do get to know influential people who can help you. But really, it is that sense of a peer-group community to help each other, which I would most recommend.
Focus hard on the quality of your work. Seek out the talent that you love and admire and continue to improve, and focus on that. While it is important to be strategic and self-educate about how to get published and how to get that commercial footing, I would say continue to love the process. Never forget that the pure joy of creating your work is where everything is going to come from. So while you’re writing your book, without the influence of the outside world, it is going to be a living work of art for you. Continue to enjoy that, and as well as looking at the goal and educating yourself on how to attain that goal, that goal does not exist without continuing to love and nurture your process as a writer.