Food Coma Week

No excuses: I forgot this was my week at UB. For us Americans this is also the week of the big food-induced coma known as Thanksgiving. And a lot of you out there are NaNo-ing furiously as well. (How is that going? Update us in the comments!)

Per my tradition, I will gladly crit any chunk of 1500 words you may have lying around that needs a second opinion. Want an opinion on the macro-level voice, characterization, world-building? A line edit? Just ask. 

Sex, gore and other socially unacceptable things welcome, but the crits for those will be posted over at Shadow of the Unicorn with a link here. 

Send submissions to: unicornbellsubmissions at gmail dot com. 

A Gem and Duds

We interrupt our usual schedule...

Sorry that I didn’t post on Thursday as I normally would. A colicky horse and a fifteen-year-old cat ruled my day. The horse needed walked to ease his severe belly pain and the cat was very ill. Both required my attention. I’m still not sure how they coordinated their actions though.

Dud.

Books that didn’t rock my boat, like the Black Dagger Brotherhood by JR Ward are probably excellent reads. They just didn’t match my personality. The same with Fifty Shades by EL James. Yes, I did read it to do a review but couldn't get past the first chapter in the next one. I realize some folks love them. It just wasn't for me. Or as one says in a bad relationship, “it’s not you. It’s me” kind of sentiment.

And then there are books like The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Larsson Stieg. Holy cannoli, I do not see what turned people on about that book. *shiver*

Gems.

The last of my quiet winners is another book about the Yukon, Mrs. Mike by Nancy and Ben Freedman, a true story.

Katherine is a sixteen-year-old city-girl sent to the cold climates of Alberta for her health. There she meets and falls in love with Mike, a member of the Canadian Mounted Police. She isn’t ready for life in the wilderness and it nearly breaks her.

This might seem like a YA but don’t let the age of the protag fool you. It isn’t for the faint of heart. Prepare to weep.

I see that it is still listed at Amazon and ranked darn high too.

Check it out if you want a true story that you won't put down until the last page is turned.

Gems. The Unlikely Bonuses to Life

Today, one of my Beloved. And it isn’t even fantasy. Yeah, shocks me too.

Everyone’s heard of Jack London and The Call of the Wild. I received this book as a present from a teacher. It took a while for me to read and understand what it was about since I was six at the time but White Fang followed it soon after. Both were excellent and I dearly hope kids still read stuff like them now.

But neither book is my Beloved. Mr. London wrote many stories. Tales of the sea, prizefighting, and a dystopia novel called The Iron Heel that I’m going to check out. The one that I found in a bin of second-hand, well-used books holds a distinguished place on my oak shelf.

It is Burning Daylight.

The height of the Klondike Gold Rush has not hit yet, only small nibbles of gold to tease men and women into giving up their civilized lives. It is 1896 and Elam Harnish is about to become rich. No one knows him by this name. They call him Burning Daylight or Daylight, and life can’t hold him back from anything that he desires.

He fights men, the elements, and faceless conglomerates who would take everything from him. Daylight goes from a man who enjoys life to a hard-bitten, fearsome creature who needs no one and nothing.

Dede changes that. In the end, he sees the man he has become.

I am not a bodice-ripping kind of writer or reader, but I do like romance done right. To me, the less description in the boudoir the better. Let me fill in the blanks, if you please Ms. James.

For me, the most erotic line in any novel is in Burning Daylight. This is just after their marriage:

She heard the footsteps of Daylight returning, and caught her breath with a quick intake. He took her hand in his, and, as he turned the door-knob, felt her hesitate. Then he put his arm around her; the door swung open, and together they passed in.

Burning Daylight is free on Amazon. 

Check it out sometime.

Duds. Or let the Rant Begin

Today and Thursday, I give you the two famous books that did nothing for me.

Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card is pure D Sci-Fi. It begins with Ender who the military picks for a special project and put through a training exercise for young cadets. He is only six but from the start, manipulation by his superiors causes him to grow up fast. The world is fighting a terrible enemy, and they look to Ender to be the one who turns the tide in the war. They don’t have time for niceties.

Although I grew up adoring sci-fi, I never found the time to read Ender’s Game until this year. I read Mr. Card’s Memory of Earth series. Loved them. But this tome didn’t rock my boat like I expected. The storyline was great, the ending unexpected, lots of conflict and twists along the way. But it didn’t hold my interest and I found myself skipping whole paragraphs.

I really think it was more to do with Mr. Card’s writing style. To me, it was choppy. Hard. Skimmed the surface of the better story beneath the waves.

And that, my children is the definition of the word, “subjective”. This book is too well loved for it to be anything else other than not jiving with my nature.

Got a famous book that didn’t trip your trigger?

Gems of an Unnoticed Nature

Books have a way of infiltrating society. We talk about them when they make the NYTimes Bestseller list. Actors throw themselves in the way of casting directors when the tomes are made into movies.

But what about the priceless book that doesn’t receive recognition? The ones that don’t make the news?

This week, let me know which books fit that description, a book no one knows about that rocked your world.

Today I want to highlight a book that I read as a kid. It started me on the Sci-Fi/Fantasy kick and literally changed my reading circle.

The Forgotten Door by Alexander Key is a YA Sci-Fi about a young man who falls through a broken door into an alien world. The people and a culture he doesn’t understand frightens him. He runs, chased by strange, violent beings who only want to harm him. 

He gives up hope of ever finding his way back to his world when a family who guesses he isn’t like them rescues him. They guard him at their own peril while the authorities search for the young man. He hopes his people will find him and save him from the strange planet called Earth.

Find this book if you can. It’s out there and waiting for you.

The Eighth Day author Dianne Salerni

So there Dianne was, in a pretty good position as a new author, two books under her belt with the second one garnering some very favorable reviews. And then she got this idea about an eighth day...

In this riveting fantasy adventure, thirteen-year-old Jax Aubrey discovers a secret eighth day with roots tracing back to Arthurian legend. Fans of Percy Jackson will devour this first book in a new series that combines exciting magic and pulse-pounding suspense.
When Jax wakes up to a world without any people in it, he assumes it's the zombie apocalypse. But when he runs into his eighteen-year-old guardian, Riley Pendare, he learns that he's really in the eighth day—an extra day sandwiched between Wednesday and Thursday. Some people—like Jax and Riley—are Transitioners, able to live in all eight days, while others, including Evangeline, the elusive teenage girl who's been hiding in the house next door, exist only on this special day.
And there's a reason Evangeline's hiding. She is a descendant of the powerful wizard Merlin, and there is a group of people who wish to use her in order to destroy the normal seven-day world and all who live in it. Torn between protecting his new friend and saving the entire human race from complete destruction, Jax is faced with an impossible choice. Even with an eighth day, time is running out.
Stay tuned for The Inquisitor's Mark, the spellbinding second novel in the Eighth Day series.

***

Tell us how you got the idea for The Eighth Day.

Well, the order of events is slightly different than you describe. I wrote The Eighth Day (originally titled Grunsday) in 2012, around the same time I was working on editorial revisions for The Caged Graves – so over a year before that book came out.

But I had the idea of the premise at least 18 months before that. It came out of a common household joke in my house. My daughters would ask when we were going to do something, and my husband would teasingly reply, “Grunsday. We’ll do it on Grunsday.” One night at dinner, I asked my family, “What if there really was a Grunsday in the middle of the week, but most people didn’t know about it?”

My husband and daughters enthusiastically said I should write a story about that, but it took months and months before I came up with a plot to go with the premise.

What did your agent think about it when she read it? Did she love it as much as I did?

When I sent Sara the pitch (a little self-consciously, because I’d only ever given her historical fiction before this), I got an enthusiastic response. Something along the lines of “Wow! Send it right away!” It only took her a few days to read it, and then she wanted to talk. She loved the idea and told me she’d already pitched it around the office and to an editor over a lunch meeting. Everybody was thrilled by the idea, but they all had the same comment: I’d written it as YA, but they thought it should be MG. And as soon as Sara said it, I knew she was right.

Tell us about the deal and how it came about.

First, I reduced the age of the protagonist and removed some YA elements. Then Sara put the manuscript on submission. Within a few days, Sara called me with two questions from HarperCollins. 1) Would I be willing to take out another element they considered unacceptable for MG? 2) Would I be willing to write more books in a series?

Uh … YES and YES, of course!

Then there was about a week of nail biting before the offer came in for a 3-book deal with an option for other books in the series. It was late on a Friday afternoon, and Sara warned me she might not be able to close the deal until the following week.

Half an hour later, while my husband and I were celebrating the “almost deal” with Prosecco, Sara called back to tell me she’d closed the deal in a pre-empt.  I screamed in her ear and probably deafened her, I think.

Most people would say you're in an enviable place but no matter where we are in our journey as writers and authors, there's always a hard part. What's the hardest part of where you are right now? What about something unexpected? 

The hardest part is worrying about meeting deadlines for contracted books – and worrying if my editor will like the next book I write for the series, or if it will disappoint her. I also have to juggle this writing with a full time teaching job that has gotten more stressful this year thanks to changes outside my control.

And the place I’m in might be enviable, but there’s no guarantee that this series will be a hit, that HarperCollins will pick up the option for additional books, or that I’ll ever have another deal like this again. I enjoy what I have right now, but I know there will probably be uncertainties in the future.

Something unexpected? The HarperCollins team. I worried that working with a big six publisher would mean a less responsive editor, unreturned emails, and feeling left in the dark all the time. That is NOT the case! I am very lucky to have landed where I am.

Finally, what advice would you offer those who would like to follow in your footsteps?

I know the standard advice is Don’t Give Up and Keep Writing.  Those two things are the biggies. But along with that, I’ll add Don’t Put All Your Eggs in One Basket.

Write multiple manuscripts. Try more than one genre – and more than one audience. Don’t expect things to happen when you want them, or in the order you want them. My agent has sold two books for me – the second and fourth books I gave her. Numbers one and three have not found their home yet, but that doesn’t mean they never will. It just means their time hasn’t come. All writers need to have a diverse body of work, because they never know which one will be THE ONE.

***

 

A huge thank you to Dianne for coming by this week to inspire us all :)

The Caged Graves author Dianne Salerni

The year is 1867, and seventeen-year-old Verity Boone is excited to return from Worcester, Massachusetts, to Catawissa, Pennsylvania, the hometown she left when she was just a baby. Now she will finally meet the fiancé she knows only through letters! Soon, however, she discovers two strangely caged graves . . . and learns that one of them is her own mother’s. Verity swears she’ll get to the bottom of why her mother was buried in “unhallowed ground” in this suspenseful teen mystery that swirls with rumors of witchcraft, buried gold from the days of the War of Independence, and even more shocking family secrets. 

 

***

As promised, author Dianne Salerni is back to answer a few more questions about her journey from writer to published author...

Tell us how you acquired your agent, Sara Crowe? What did you do right?

I realized shortly after signing a book contract un-agented that I needed someone looking out for my interests. No matter how nice your editor or how small your publisher, they have a business to run, and the author needs a representative.

I started querying shortly before We Hear the Dead was released. In spite of one self-pubbed author’s prediction that “With a book contract and a film option in hand, all you have to do is wave at agents,” it took months of rejection to find Sara. Agents aren’t interested in deals you’ve already signed; they want to know what you have for them to work with.

What did I do right? I kept revising my new manuscript throughout the querying process. I give that advice over and over, and I know a lot of people don’t want to hear it. With every rejection and every bit of feedback, no matter how tiny, I tweaked and polished that manuscript before sending out more queries. I deleted chapters. I took a really good scene that was planned for a proposed sequel and moved it into this story.

By the time I queried Sara, the manuscript was something worth reading. I admit, when I queried her, I thought she was out of my league. But she responded to my query with a full request within 24 hours and made an offer in under a week. If I’d sent her the manuscript that I started querying with, I’m positive she would have passed.

How long before you sold The Caged Graves? Tell us how it happened. Did you scream? Cry? Celebrate?

The first book Sara submitted for me didn’t sell. Yup, that one I worked so hard on. The Caged Graves was the second book I sent to Sara. (Querying took so long that I almost had it finished by the time I found Sara. I signed with her in December 2010 and sent her The Caged Graves at the end of February 2011 while the other book was out on sub.)

We went through a couple rounds of revision with CG and waited for responses to the first book before submitting this one. I think it went on sub in the beginning of June 2011. In early August, Dinah Stevenson of Clarion/HMH expressed interest, but wanted a R&R of the first few chapters due to reservations she had. I spent three weeks on the revisions, and Dinah offered for the book shortly after Sara passed my changes along to her.

Celebrate? You bet I did! My husband took me out to dinner. There might have been champagne.

One of the things writers sometimes forget is that once you – or your agent – has sold your book, there’s still work to be done. What did you like best about working with an editor? Least?

A good editor is very demanding. All those little details that you think aren’t important? They are. In fact, what I’ve learned in conversation with other authors is that the more revisions an editor demands of you, the more they’re invested in your book. The time to worry is NOT when you receive a 20 page editorial letter. The time to worry is if your editor’s notes come in a single paragraph in an email.

That said, there’s always a small panic attack when opening the 20 page edit letter. That’s the part I like least – not knowing what’s going to be in there.

What was the highlight of seeing The Caged Graves in print with that gorgeous cover? (I must admit I might have squealed a little.)

I squealed too! I just couldn’t get over how pretty the book is. The gold ornamentation around the title is textured and shiny. And when you take off the dust jacket, the book inside is gorgeous, with purple end papers, a green cover, and more gold decoration on the spine. With or without the jacket, it’s a darn good-looking book to have on the shelf!

I must agree; it's a beautiful book and a fabulous read. Friday, I'll have the third and final part of my interview with Dianne, and we'll talk about her upcoming release, The Eighth Day, an MG book due out next April.

We Hear the Dead author Dianne Salerni

This week I have author Dianne K. Salerni here to tell us about her journey as a writer, from her small beginnings as a self-published author to being picked up by one of the big six for a three book deal - every writer’s dream.

First off, tell us what you were doing before We Hear the Dead –

Before I published We Hear the Dead as an un-agented author with Sourcebooks in 2010, I self-published that same book under the title High Spirits with iUniverse. This was back in 2007 – before the explosion of e-books … before iUniverse was bought out by Author Solutions … and back when self-publishing was still a dirty word.

High Spirits wasn’t the first book I’d written. I’d previously written two MG novels and attempted a couple more, as well as a non-fiction book on the Revolutionary War in Pennsylvania. I made several half-hearted attempts to seek publication, but I was prone to giving up quickly.  My husband was the one who suggested self-publishing as a way to get a book to readers and find out how it was received. We engaged iUniverse without seeking any other route to publication for that particular novel.

How did you get from there to see the book in print under its new name We Hear the Dead?

As I said, self-publishing was still a dirty word in 2007, and marketing self-published books was really hard. But I made a pretty good attempt at it, and even helped establish a cooperative of like-minded authors for the purposes of cross-promotion and emotional support. High Spirits received a number of really good reviews, but sales were slow.

Then, in 2009, the book caught the attention of an editor at Sourcebooks – and a producer in Hollywood. (Amazon Recommends gets the credit in both cases.) Within a few weeks, I signed a book contract to publish a revised version of High Spirits under the title We Hear the Dead and, almost simultaneously, a film option with One Eye Open Studios.

We Hear the Dead released in 2010, but fruition on the film option took longer. A 10-minute short film titled The Spirit Game premiered at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, and the producer is now pitching the premise as a possible television series. There is still hope!

A trailer for the short film can be seen here: http://vimeo.com/64738099

Did you make any mistakes along the way?

My biggest mistake was that I had no idea how to negotiate a contract, and I made several mistakes related to option clauses. I had no professional advice and no advocate. I did ask one of my self-published author buddies who’d also scored a contract with a small publisher if I needed an agent, and she said no. I believed her. She was wrong.

However, if I had gone seeking an agent with a contract in hand, I might have ended up with someone who wanted an easy sale – not someone who was really good for me. Things looked dark for a while, but months later, I ended up with the right agent.

What was the highlight of that experience?

The highlight of my publishing experience with Sourcebooks was participating in the launch event for their new YA imprint at Books of Wonder in NYC – followed by a memorable dinner at a nearby Cuban restaurant, where I (accidentally) sent the son of the company owner looking for olives to put in my martini. (He asked if I was enjoying my drink. I said it would be better with olives. When he ran off to talk to the bartender, the editors and authors at my table were quick to clue me in to who I’d just sent on an olive run. Ooops! Well, he asked!)

Want to know how Dianne acquired her agent and sold The Caged Graves to Clarion Books? Come back on Wednesday for part two of how Dianne moved from self-published, to big-six.

The QueryCon 2013 Loop?

I hope you enjoyed getting to know some of our guest agents this week. Personally, I'm motivated to finish some of these half finished manuscripts completed.

Isn't it great to know that there are wonderful people out there as agents. Real people even that like Rice Krispie treats and chocolate chip cookies. Super nice people that love to read for the sake of a well written phrase or well developed character.

Let these agents give you hope that there is an agent, editor, or reader out there waiting to hear from YOU!

And along those notes...

We had several requests for partials or fulls handed out during QueryCon this year.

Have any of you heard back yet?

I know it's still too early for contracts to be signed, but give us a clue if things are still looking good. We'd love to know and celebrate with you.

Interview with Natalie Fischer Lakosil

I hope you've enjoyed getting to know some agents this week. Today we have the amazing Natalie Lakosil from the Bradford Literary Agency.
 Feel free to ask any questions you might have for this agent in the comments.

What was your first favorite book ever and why?

Oh boy. FIRST favorite book. Well, from what I can recall, it might have been MINOU (I love cats, it almost made me cry every time, AND it came with a plush cat – score!), THE AMAZING TRAVELS OF INGRID OUR TURTLE (so fantastical and funny, but inspiring and amazing), or PETER RABBIT (pretty sure because it ALSO came with a plush toy).

What is your current favorite book and why?

It is impossible for me to pick one!

If you could only eat one dessert for the rest of your life what would it be?

Wine.

If you were not a literary agent, what would you be?

A computer programmer/engineer. I’m fascinated by code.

What kind of book(s) are you hoping to find in the next few months?

I’d love more adult (contemporary romance and NA, magical realism general fiction) and darker YA.

Please tell us a bit about your agent style, how you prefer to be queried and why you love your agency.

I think the words to describe me as an agent are: responsive, pragmatic, honest, and driven. I only accept queries to our general query box (queries@bradfordlit.com), with the query, synopsis, and first ten pages in the body of an email. I love my agency because I have room to really grow and explore my personal style, while backed by years of experience and knowledge.

Will you be open to queries over the holiday season or taking time off?

Open!

A bit more about Natalie:

Natalie is an agent and Laura’s assistant at the Bradford Literary Agency. An honors graduate of the University of San Diego, California, Natalie holds a B.A. in Literature/Writing. After nearly four years at the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency and a brief dabble in writing author profiles and book reviews for the San Diego Union Tribune, Natalie joined the Bradford Agency in February of 2011.

Natalie is drawn to talented, hard-working new authors with a fresh, unique voice and hook. Her specialties are children’s literature (from picture book through teen and New Adult), romance (contemporary and historical), cozy mystery/crime, upmarket women’s/general fiction and select children’s nonfiction. Her interests include historical, multi-cultural, magical realism, sci-fi/fantasy, gritty, thrilling and darker contemporary novels, middle grade with heart, and short, quirky or character-driven picture books. She is always drawn to an open and positive attitude in an author, professionalism, good grammar, and fantastical, beautifully written, engaging and sexy plots.

Natalie is not looking for: Inspirational novels, memoir, romantic suspense, adult thrillers, poetry, screenplays

Natalie is a member of SCBWI.

Blog: www.adventuresinagentland.com 
Twitter: @Natalie_Lakosil

Interview with Agent Suzie Townsend

Today we have another interview with one of my favorite agents. Suzie Townsend is with
New Leaf Literary & Media, Inc.
Feel free to ask any questions you might have for this agent in the comments.

What was your first favorite book ever and why?

The Lord of the Rings was my favorite book as a kid. My dad was a huge Tolkien fan and he inspired the rest of our family to get into Middle Earth as well.

What a cool dad! That's so much nicer than my dad paying me to read Atlas Shrugged in the 7th grade.

What is your current favorite book and why?

I can't ever pick one favorite. There are just too many. Recently I've really loved Alexandra Bracken's new series, starting with The Darkest Minds.

If you could only eat one dessert for the rest of your life what would it be?

Chocolate chip cookies. Simple but always good.

If you were not a literary agent, what would you be?

I might have gone back to teaching if I wasn't an agent. Before getting into publishing I taught high school English.

Last month I visited with some local HS English classes and thought I'd really enjoy that as well. 

What kind of book(s) are you hoping to find in the next few months?

I'm really interested in seeing more romantic suspense in the New Adult genre and I'd love to see more magical realism in YA and middle grade. I try to update my wishlist periodically here. Really though I'm open to fiction from middle grade through adult. Anything with great characters can really hook me.

Man I wish my YA fantasy was finished!

Please tell us a bit about your agent style, how you prefer to be queried and why you love your agency.

My submission guidelines are here.

I love New Leaf for a lot of reasons. The people I work with are amazing. They're smart and hard-working and I would be absolutely lost without them. We work together as a team. We read each other's projects and share opportunities and ideas with each other, which ultimately benefits our authors.

Will you be open to queries over the holiday season or taking time off?

I'll be open.

Thanks Suzie for taking the time to answer our questions!

From the agency page:

"My favorite books are ones that keep me up all night with characters that I can't stop thinking about long after I've finished."

After teaching high school English for several years, Suzie Townsend started publishing at FinePrint Literary Management in January 2009 and worked her way up from intern to agent. Now an agent at New Leaf Literary & Media, she represents adult and children's fiction. She is actively looking to build her list. In adult, she's specifically looking for romance (historical and paranormal), and fantasy (urban fantasy, science fiction, steampunk, epic fantasy). In Childrens' she loves YA (all subgenres) and is dying to find great Middle Grade projects (especially something akin to the recent movie SUPER 8). She's an active member of AAR, RWA, and SCBWI.

She's interested in strong characters and voice driven stories: she's particularly keen on strong female protagonists, complex plot lines with underlying political, moral, or philosophical issues, and stories which break out of the typical tropes of their genre. Some of her favorite novels (that she doesn't represent) are Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card, When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead, How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff, Jellicoe Road and Finnikin of the Rock by Melina Marchetta, The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger, Jeaniene Frost's Vampire Huntress series, Anne Bishop's Black Jewels series, and Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel series.

She drinks too much diet orange soda, has a Starbucks problem (those soy chai lattes are addictive), and lives in New York with two dogs who know that chewing on shoes is okay but chewing on books is not. More information on Suzie can be found on publisher's marketplace here.

Blog: Confessions of a Wandering Heart
Twitter: @sztownsend81

Interview with Katie Reed

Today we have a new agent from Andrea Hurst & Associates--Katie Reed.
She has a Facebook page you can go stalk.
Feel free to ask any questions you might have for this agent in the comments.

What was your first favorite book ever and why?

One of my earliest memories is of reading The Boxcar Children at a young age, and those books are the first ones I can remember reading. But I think the first book I ever really fell in love with has to be Lord of the Rings.

I remember the Boxcar Children! And what's not to love about Tolkien? 

What is your current favorite book and why?

Hmmm...tough question! My favorite series will always be Harry Potter. Those books simply can't be topped in my heart. As far as current goes, I am currently reading Allegiant and really enjoying it.

If you could only eat one dessert for the rest of your life what would it be?

Tillamook Rocky Road Ice Cream.

If you were not a literary agent, what would you be?

I would be a career writer. I guess anyone who loves to write is a writer, but if I could pick I would be able to pay the bills as a writer. :)

Lots of us would like to pick this one! ;)

What kind of book(s) (themes, genres) are you hoping to find in the next few months?

I am particularly interested in YA fiction right now. What I really want is something I pick up and can't put down. Something I get really excited about. I love anything that inspires me or makes me view my own world in a new light. I'm a sucker for fantasy or anything magical and can't resist a good love story with tension and characters with compelling voices.

Please tell us a bit about your agent style, how you prefer to be queried and why you love your agency.

I am so blessed to have the opportunity to be a part of Andrea Hurst Literary. Andrea has a wealth of experience and knowledge, and she is very generous with it. I am learning a lot from her.

As far as queries go, the shorter, the better. If you can hook me in the traditional 3 paragraph format, chances are good I will request it. Agents get a massive amount of queries daily, so the ones that are brief and concise are preferable to the ones that are long and packed with information.

Style...style...I will say that (besides my interest in the book itself) the person behind the book is very important to me. Publishing is a long process, and I want to make sure I am working with someone who is enjoyable and someone who is a good fit.

Will you be open to queries over the holiday season or taking time off?

I will be spending time with my family over the holidays. In this (convenient) age of smart phones and tablets, my work is always at my fingertips, so I think it is really important to set some limits when it comes to time off.

I think you are very smart on this point. Enjoy your fun time so that work stays enjoyable too. 

About Katie from the agent website:

Katie Reed can’t resist a good story. One of her greatest joys is opening a book and being held captive by it till the last page, often staying up all night because the riveting plot and brilliant characters won’t let her put it down. Katie obtained her Bachelor’s in English from California State University, Sacramento, but the most enlightening part of her college career was her internship with Andrea Hurst Literary Management. There she discovered her passion for being part of the process that connects compelling stories with book-hungry readers.

Katie has worked as a freelance editor and enjoys helping writers develop their novels in preparation for pitching and publication. She understands how challenging the writing process can be and strives to help her clients through it. Katie resides in the small town of Durham, California with her incredible husband, her joyful son, and Snoodles, her loyal cat. Besides her addiction to reading, she is also a diehard Miami Heat fan and obsessed with all things Disney.

Katie is looking for stories that demand to be read, having characters that transcend the page and remain in her thoughts long after the book has been closed. She represents all areas of young adult and adult fiction and nonfiction, with a special interest in YA and fantasy.

Katie’s Wishlist:

All areas of YA fiction, particularly:

• Commercial, with a compelling hook and a protagonist who battles real life teen issues
• Science fiction (soft)
• Fantasy

Commercial and Literary Adult Fiction in the following genres:

• Book Club Women’s Fiction
• Science Fiction (soft)
• Fantasy
• Suspense/Thriller
• Contemporary Romance

Nonfiction in the following genres:

• Memoir/Biography with a strong platform
• Self-help
• Crafts/How-to
• Inspirational
• True Crime (I would prefer to avoid this unless it is high profile and current)
• Parenting

Books I Love:
If I were stranded on an island and could only bring one book with me, I would cheat and bring one large book containing the entire Harry Potter series. My runner up list would feature The Hunger Games trilogy, Mercy Thompson series, Divergent trilogy, The Fault in our Stars, The Time Travelers Wife, Water for Elephants, The Shack, The Five People You Meet in Heaven, Thirteen Reasons Why, P.S. I Love You, The Red Tent, A Song of Fire and Ice series, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and anything by C.S. Lewis or Jodi Picoult.

Interview with Agent Tamar Rydzinski

This week I'm interviewing agents! The idea is to introduce you to a few that might fit well with your work in progress. I'll admit to hand picking some of my favorite agents, but they represent a wide variety of genres. Feel free to ask any questions you might have for this agent in the comments.

First up is... 

Tamar Rydzinski

From Laura Dail Literary Agency

What was your first favorite book ever and why?

My first favorite book ever was probably The Secret Garden. I had this beautiful, illustrated version and I loved to stare at the pictures. Plus, I grew up in Manhattan so the idea of a secret garden was both alien and exciting to me.

Classic! I remembered loving The Secret Garden so much that I read it as a bed time story to my girls when they were little. 

What is your current favorite book and why?

I honestly don't have a current favorite book. I stopped being able to have a favorite book a long time ago because I appreciate so many aspects in a book (the characters, the dialogue, the plot, etc.) that it's just too hard for me to choose. But some books I love (LDLA authors not included, of course): Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco Stork, Melusine by Sarah Monette, The Brain That Changes Itself by Norman Doidge.

If you could only eat one dessert for the rest of your life what would it be?

Rice Krispies Treats

If you were not a literary agent, what would you be?
Medical research fascinates me. I get so excited when researchers have major breakthroughs! So maybe something to do with that. Though patience is not my strongest virtue, so I'm not sure how well I would do at it.

Maybe you need a good medical thriller to show up in your inbox?

What kind of book are you hoping to find in the next few months?

I would love to find good science fiction, either children's or adult. But I would be very happy to find pretty much any manuscript I can't put down.

Please tell us a bit about your agent style, how you prefer to be queried and why you love your agency.

I am a hands-on, editorial agent. I generally go through a few rounds of edits with my clients before submission. And I never give up!

I prefer to be queried via queries@ldlainc.com. 

(I suggest you make sure to spell her name right. Having grown up with a difficult last name {thank goodness for marriage!} I know how much she will appreciate that.)

And I love my agency because WE HAVE AMAZING AUTHORS! I also like that it's a small agency so that we can give our clients a lot of attention.

Feel free to tell us anything else you'd like us to know about you.

If given a choice between shoes and bare feet, bare feet always win. In fact, I often walk around the office barefoot.

Me too!

And here's a bit more from the Laura Dail agent page.

Tamar Rydzinski worked at Sanford J. Greenburger Associates prior to joining the Laura Dail Literary Agency. She graduated from Yeshiva University in 2003 with a major in literature and a minor in business. 

Tamar is not interested in prescriptive or practical non-fiction, humor, coffee table books or children’s books (meaning anything younger than middle grade). She is interested in everything else that is well-written and has great characters, including graphic novels. A fantastic query letter is essential – “you need to make me want to read your book, and be excited to read it,” she says, “with those first couple of paragraphs.”

Follow her on twitter @trydzinski

For the Abstainers

Okay, they're all gone, right? Who? The crazy writers doing the National Novel Writing Month.

With them gone, I can admit this. I'm not doing it. It's not the way my brain works. And considering the stuff I have due this month, I know there's no way I can do it even if I had a mind to. (It's kind of a miracle that I even got my posts done this week.)

I wish the NaNoers all the luck in the world, but I'm cheering from the sidelines.

What about the rest of you? I can't be the only one. If you're not doing NaNo, why not? (I'm not judging. I'm curious.)