The Chopping Blog

Literary agents on "voice"

March 28, 2020

Voice is certainly difficult to define. It's subjective, too, certainly, but literary agents are fairly unanimous on its importance.

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Query letter quandaries: pro tips from the pros

March 01, 2020

"A useful sentence to keep in mind is: When A (inciting incident) happens, B (character) must do C (action) otherwise/before D (catastrophe). You might need to play with that to make it fit your book but that covers the basics of what I need to know… who am I rooting for, what’s their problem, and what’s at stake if they fail?"

Book Broker: an interview with Karly Caserza

February 24, 2020

"Take your time. Truly. I’d rather wait and receive a manuscript that has been polished than something that’s been hastily submitted in order to get it to me sooner."

Agent interviews

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Book Broker: an interview with Lisa Grubka

January 17, 2020

Be absolutely certain the work is ready before you submit. Most people query before they’re truly ready. Before you hit “send” on the query, ask yourself how you’d feel if the agent immediately requested the full. Would you feel confident? Or panicked?

Agent interviews

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Book Broker: an interview with Jane Dystel

December 19, 2019

Our agency receives hundreds of query letters a year. I ask to read about 50% of them and of that percentage I might reach out to three or four people to ask them to come with us.

Agent interviews

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Book Broker: an interview with Betsy Lerner

December 13, 2019

What draws me in is tone, language, a brilliant simile. Command of the page. Again, intangibles. What makes any reader stick with any book? Intelligence and literary chops. Humor.

Agent interviews

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Book Broker: an interview with Ann Leslie Tuttle

November 30, 2019

Q: What's a typical warning sign that a manuscript isn't ready for representation?

A: In terms of the actual writing, the story might not start in the right place, the pacing can be too slow with too much info dumping in the opening pages, and there are grammatical errors.

Agent interviews

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Book Broker: an interview with Sharon Pelletier

October 28, 2019

Research, research, research and choose agents thoughtfully! Better to query ten to twenty agents with queries customized to them, following their submission guidelines, reflecting why you’d love to work with that agent (but don’t be creepy…) than sending a hundred “Dear Agent” copy/paste queries to the whole industry.

Agent interviews

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Book Broker: an interview with Erin Hosier

October 24, 2019

Every book is different – sometimes it's timely and you go out to everyone at once, trying to get a competition going, and sometimes there's just a handful of appropriate options. But I never give up. Recently I sold something that took five years.

Agent interviews

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Book Broker: an interview with Kerry D’Agostino

October 18, 2019

A good manuscript catches my attention right away and does not let it go. I am most drawn to voice-driven narratives, where I find something relatable about the protagonist right away, and I find myself invested in their journey from the start. I am also most interested in stories that feel fresh, where I am learning as I read, whether what I am learning is something about the protagonist and their perspective on the world or some new world in itself.

Agent interviews

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Book Broker – An interview with Broo Doherty

September 27, 2019

Keep things simple and to the point. Authors are trying to attract my attention, so a simple, straight-forward email is the best way to approach me. I don’t need bells and whistles, just simple prose with a well-considered email and a well-presented synopsis and opening three chapters.

Agent interviews

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Book Broker – An interview with Hannah Sheppard

August 23, 2019

Beyond the very basics of genre/market – hook me in with something about the story; I care much more about that than I do about you at this point (sorry, but I need to fall in love with your book first). A useful sentence to keep in mind is: When A (inciting incident) happens, B (character) must do C (action) otherwise/before D (catastrophe).

Agent interviews