Ask Me Anything with Literary Agent Louise Buckley - MAY

Hi Everyone,

Last night I held my monthly ‘Ask Me Anything’ here in my Substack chat, which was exactly what it sounds like – a chance for authors to ask me anything on writing, editing or getting published!

Here is a transcript of all the questions and my answers. Please do send on to anyone who you think might benefit from reading the answers. There were some excellent questions, and it’s a long one!

**Please note –you’re welcome to comment on this post, but I won’t be answering questions on it - you can ask questions in the next AMA on 28th June.

Hello! Good evening! can you let me know a little what to expect with traditional publishing contracts and deadlines. How long do you typically have to work on other books in a sequel. It takes me years to write, juggling children and work. I didn’t know whether self pub might be better as I have full control over deadlines etc

Hi! So this is something that is usually agreed with a publisher. Most publishers prefer authors of commercial fiction to be writing a book a year, but with literary fiction there are often no deadlines as such and the author is given more leeway. If a book a year isn’t possible then yes self-publishing might be the better option. But if I’m honest it can take months and sometimes years to even secure agent representation and in that time you might have written another novel!

Hello, I have a question. If I’ve already queried an agent from a literary agency, and was rejected, can I then query another agent in that agency afterwards? I have exhausted my list of literary agents to query and don’t know whether it’s appropriate/polite to query another agent from the same agency. Thank you

I would email the new agent at the agency and ask if they are happy to receive it 🙂. You’ll probably find that most are, but some agencies might have a policy of only submit to one - you’ll need to look at their website to check.

I’m just over 44,000 words on my debut horror novel and Ive been looking online for the ideal word count for the genre and I often find websites saying 70k - 90k is a good spot. I fear that mine may be longer than that (maybe 110 - 120k) and I dont want to put agents off when it comes to submitting my manuscript.
What’s your thoughts on this?

I would say that yes 110-12Ok is too long. At the moment, don’t worry about that though. Focus on finishing it and then prune back afterwards, incorporating beta reader feedback too on how to make it more concise.

I’d like to get your take on an idea for making the query process more humane for all involved. Agents are inundated with queries; authors get no feedback. What if authors and agents made a pact, in which authors agreed to limit the number of queries they make, say 25 per quarter, and in turn agents agreed to respond to every query with some kind of feedback? (I’m leaving out the technical details of monitoring compliance, for brevity.)

I understand why you’re suggesting this. But the issue is the number of people querying not how many agents they query. Many authors I know have only queried 20-30 agents *in total*
The other issue is that agents only have time to look at queries in their spare time as most are only paid once they have sold a book and have day jobs during the day (at least some of the time). I wish I had an answer to the problem but I don’t unfortunately 😔.

Sorry if this is a silly/obvious question- but I don’t really know where to start… I have a book idea, a rough outline and a few hundred words. I’m guessing that I need an agent, and to secure that, I need at least the first chapter and a solid outline? Do I need more than that? And is there an easy way to find agents who’d be interested?

Hi, I’m sorry to say that almost all agents will only accept finished manuscripts/books. Your best way of thinking at the moment is to forget about finding an agent for now and to focus on writing and then finishing the book. They you need to edit it (probably many times) and then you will be in a good place to approach agents 🙂. To answer the second part of your question there are directories and places where you can find agents such as manuscriptwishlist.com, Jericho Writers and the members directory on the website for the Association of Authors’ Agents.

Hi Louise, what advice can you give when it comes to editing? My word count is currently pretty much where it should be (from what I understand) for my genre, but when it comes to trying to remove words, what sorts of things do you look for as targets for the ‘cutting room floor’? (so to speak)

If your word count is where it should be then you may not need to do much cutting 😏.
But when I’m editing I tend to look more at the big picture - is every scene progressing both the plot and character arc/s? Are all of my characters serving the best purpose or does one of them need to go? Are there any scenes slowing down the pace? Am I info dumping instead of showing the story?
At a line level I usually only suggest cuts where something is repeated or the reader is being told something they could be shown.

We all know how important the story is, but when looking to work with a new author, what else do you consider? How you click is key I’m sure, but what about networking, social media presence etc? I’ve had a number of short stories published recently, and I wonder if it makes any difference when you’re in the slush pile? Again, thank you, any glimpse behind the curtain is helpful!

I would say it’s worth mentioning any short story prize listings or publications but agents don’t really care so much about social media presence for fiction. I’m not sure what you mean by networking - attending events with agents? I think they can be valuable as you can often receive feedback on your writing at these events and have the opportunity to get a feel for an agent and ask them questions.

I’m writing fantasy, UK based. I’m finding navigating the agent space slightly overwhelming. Are there pro and cons of querying UK vs US agents? Or ultimately unless it’s a UK-specific historical fiction type it ultimately doesn’t matter.

With fantasy I really don’t think it matters which side of the pond you query - it’s more about whether your book matches what the agent is looking for. I don’t know if that helps or makes it more overwhelming?!

I have a question and I am not sure it is clear-cut. Where does Middle-Grade Fiction fall—is it YA or does it fall under another category? I am confused! Thank you.

No worries! Middle-grade is... Middle-grade! It’s its own separate category, assuming you mean you are writing for 8-12 year-olds. It’s not YA 🙂

A reputable press offered to publish my book but requested a commitment by me to purchase a number of books. I posted this on the Authors Guild site and someone said that even legit presses are requesting this from debut authors. Is this the case?

I have NEVER heard of this and I would be wary. It might be something that’s acceptable in the US but it certainly isn’t in the UK.

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Does memoir differ in how it opens (I’m thinking about the hero journey/inciting incident and perhaps the need to get there quite quickly in a health/travel memoir? I am more used to writing fiction but naturally want to use fiction beats/hero journey for this “story”. Thanks. In common with The Salt Path - it is a travel/health journey.

If I’m honest, I haven’t studied whether the hero’s journey can/should be mapped onto memoir (one for me to think about though!!). But the thing with memoir is you do need a strong emotional event at the start, told in a narrative way, to introduce the main ‘themes’ of the book.

Hi, excellent to see you doing this. I am writing a sequel to my published work. Is it common decency to propose the sequel to my publisher first? Or is going a different route, such as finding an agent, or self publishing my sequel ok? I have a great relationship with my publisher though. Just exploring options.

If your first book is traditionally published with a publisher then you will need to check the contract. Most publishers will have an ‘option clause’ in the contract you signed stating that they have first look at your next book. I would reach out to your publisher first if you have a great relationship with them.

For every author/manuscript that you take on, approx. how many 3 chapter submissions, full requests & Zoom/Phone calls led up to it? If, for example, 3,000 3 chapter submissions were received, how many warranted a full request. And how many Zoom requests to eventually whittle it down to the one author?

So I can only speak for myself but of 3,000 submissions I might request maybe 25 full manuscripts. But I only ask for a zoom when I’m going to offer representation. And I might offer on maybe 7 of those full manuscripts.

And of the 7 offers made, how many of them get accepted by the authors? Thanks.

Totally depends on the agent! I made 7 offers last year and 5 accepted and the other two had other agent offers and picked them instead.
But most authors accept the agent offer as they might not get another one - though I should add you should only accept if it’s an agent you trust and feel happy with.

What helps an agent make a decision as to whether or not they want to represent a romance novel? What do you look for? What excites you?

If the novel has a clear point of difference meaning it will stand out in a competitive market. So that means a clear ‘hook’, that ideally feels fresh, and also clear comparison titles so I know exactly where it sits in the market.

Hi Louise, this is really useful to read through so thanks for doing this! In your opinion, what would you say most authors get ‘wrong’ when they first start querying? Is it the synopsis or how/what they’re selling the story as or something else?

The two most common reasons for me passing on something are:
-word count is way over standard parameters (or occasionally under)
-the genre is not one I represent, not on my wishlist
So I would say the most common problems are that authors aren’t aware of standard word counts or haven’t edited sufficiently, or that they haven’t done their due diligence to make sure their book matches what the agent is looking for.
Synopsis doesn’t usually come into it!

Thanks for taking questions! In your experience, how likely is it that men will read a book whose lead character is a female? Thanks!

Unlikely, because statistically many more women read that men 🙂 but hard to say without knowing the specific genre.

In your experience, what is the likely acceptance rate of a debut author or does it purely depend on the quality of thr writing.
Generally what is the usual timescale from taking on a manuscript to publication or does this depend on which publishers are interested?

Acceptance by agents? Most agents probably take on 1-5% of books submitted to them. Acceptance by Publishers? Maybe 40-50% of books submitted to publishers from agents but don’t quote me on that!
Timescale to publication once we’ve secured a publisher - for fiction: 18 months - 2 years, non-fiction: 6 months - 2 years.

Louise, what’s high on your wishlist for projects? Is there anything you’d love to see in your inbox?

If I’m completely honest I’d love some more non-fiction from experts in their fields. And some more literary fiction. Commercial fiction is tough right now and I don’t represent romantasy so I’m less sure what I’m looking for in fiction at the moment as I’m waiting to see where the market moves. It’s more a case of ‘I’ll know when I’ll see it’.

The word count thing seems to come up a lot. I know a lot of advice says you are not the exception of the rule, but if the word count is 20k above the typical guidelines is it a flat out rejection and you don’t even read the query / work. Or would you read it first?

This response will differ by agent. When I was first starting out I was much more forgiving of word count. But my life is much busier now and I have less time to read longer books, and more importantly publishers are less likely to take on longer books - the cost of paper has risen significantly since Brexit along with other costs meaning that cost per book is much higher than it used to be. So publishers are less likely to take on longer books and therefore that makes agents cautious. To clarify, for me word count is often a flat rejection but may not be for other agents.

I have a very specific question. If I were to write a novel where the cast is in a production of a known musical, would that cause issues re copyright? Or only if I used exact quotes from it? X

Hmm that’s a good question! I honestly don’t know. I suspect if you don’t quote at all from the musical you’d be okay.

If the story hook / query letter fails to find interest, does an agent still look at any pages? Or, do they skip it because of workload and lack of initial interest making it harder to represent/sell?

This will also depend on the agent. Some agents start with the opening pages! But I’m not one of them - if I don’t have a handle on the book from the query letter or feel it is something I can sell, I won’t read the sample pages.

You say “commercial fiction is tough right now”—why? And for clarity, how do you define “commercial fiction”?

Various reasons - publishers are only taking on fiction in a few areas at the moment (mostly romance, romantasy, fantasy and horror). If you are writing in other areas, it will be hard for the agent to sell to publishers. Also the supermarkets in the UK have reduced their shelf space for debut authors so there are fewer avenues for debuts to be discovered by readers. Commercial fiction is hard to explain but it’s about the voice and tone - it is the majority of fiction published. Literary fiction is what wins the prizes.

Thank you so much to everyone who came and provided such thoughtful questions. I hope there’s something useful here for everyone.

• Thank you to all my subscribers! I really appreciate you being here. If you found this post helpful, please do like, subscribe and share with anyone else who you think will find this post helpful.

• I am holding a virtual workshop on writing a query letter on Thursday 9th July, from 1pm - 4pm. I haven’t sorted an invite yet, but you can register your interest here. Places will be limited.

• I have written an ebook on writing a standout query letter, which you can find here

• I have quite a bit of editorial work booked in over the next few months, but if you would like to work with me editorially from September, you can contact me on my website.

• If you would like to submit your work to me, you can find our submission guidelines and a list of the types of books I’m looking for on the HSLA website.