Ask the Industry Expert: Literary Agent Kate Burke

It's a pleasure to welcome literary agent Kate Burke to the RNA blog today for an interview with Helena Fairfax. Kate is with Diane Banks Associates and worked previously at Headline, Penguin, HarperCollins, and as Editorial Director at Century (Random House). Thanks so much for joining us, Kate!

Please tell us a little about Diane Banks Associates, how long the agency has been established, and how you came to join. 

Diane set up the agency in 2006 after a career in publishing on the rights side. I head up the fiction side of things for the agency and we also have a non-fiction agent, a children’s/YA agent and a broadcast agent, so we are a full-service agency, handling all rights (translation, film & TV, audio, speaking engagements, etc) in house.

I joined five years ago and also came from the publishing side – I had been an editor for ten years, publishing all types of commercial fiction and editing lots of bestselling authors (Marian Keyes, Fern Britton, Lisa Jewell, Jane Fallon, Jane Green, Cecelia Ahern, Penny Vincenzi to name but a few!) I loved my time as an editor but what I really wanted to do was seek out new writers, so switching sides and becoming an agent was the perfect solution. From my experience at four major publishers, I know what editors are looking to acquire, what they want to see in a submission letter, how they want a book to be pitched to them and, above all, I know that a manuscript needs to be up to scratch before an editor can consider it and share it with their team, so I offer my clients extensive editorial feedback before submitting their manuscripts to publishers.

What genres do you represent personally?

My main areas of fiction are women’s/contemporary romance, historical, psychological/domestic suspense, crime, thrillers and sagas. I’m always looking for new writers in these areas.

You've had extensive experience in commissioning and publishing commercial fiction. What is it about a book that makes you decide it will sell well? (Difficult question, I know…!)

This probably sounds a bit basic but I need to be gripped by the writing and want to read on! It’s all about engaging the reader – I can work with a writer to fix a plot, timeline or structure of a novel – but that writing quality – the flow of words, the telling of the story, characters that feel real – needs to be there from the outset. What’s also needed (for me to see its selling potential) is an original storyline/hook, one that I can pitch to editors in just a couple of sentences.

Have you noticed any particular trends in romance recently, and if so, what do you think is going to be big this year?

I wish I had a crystal ball to predict what will be big this year! Sadly, I don’t, but dark women’s fiction (often labelled domestic or psychological suspense) continues to sell well and I think that trend of exploring the darker side of relationships and romance isn’t going away. That said, I think there has been so much dark and thrillerish romance published over the past few years that readers are now ready for something more uplifting! I think we will see more romantic comedies coming out over the next year or so – warm, romantic, life-affirming reads that will provide a nice balance to all the darker, creepier novels out there.

Do you ever find authors outside the slush pile? If so, how?

Rarely but it does happen. Sometimes I’ll meet authors at literary festivals or conferences and they’ll pitch their novel to me or sometimes a friend or contact of one of my authors will send their manuscript in. The slush pile is usually where I find most of my clients though.

What advice would you give someone submitting to you?

Know your audience and read widely in the area in which you’re writing. It really helps to know who you’re writing for and which genre your novel would fit into. I like it when writers can position their novel in terms of genre and comparable authors, and they know who they are writing for.

I would also advise that writers check out our submission guidelines on our website before submitting and that they send over clean chapters (ie, not ones riddled with mistakes!) Also, it helps if they get my name right on their submission email (if I had a dollar for every time I received an email saying ‘Dear Katie’…!)

What’s your favourite romance novel of all time?

Oh, so hard to choose! Not strictly romances, I know, but it’s a tie between The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro and The History of Love by Nicole Krauss. Oh, and I love Jane Eyre. Sorry – this question is impossible to answer!

What do you like to do in your spare time?

I have two small children so very little spare time these days but reading is my favourite past-time and I love the cinema and theatre too. 

If you could describe your working day in just three words, what would they be?

Emails, edits and negotiations. (Sadly, there’s no time for reading at my desk so that gets done outside of the office!)

Thanks so much for taking time out of your busy schedule to answer our questions, Kate. It's been a great pleasure getting to know you. Wishing you and Diane Banks Associates all the best for 2018!

If you've enjoyed Kate's interview, or have any questions or comments at all, please let us know. We'd love to hear from you!

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About Helena

Helena Fairfax is a romance author and freelance editor. Her latest novel – a feel good contemporary romance called Felicity at the Cross Hotel – is just the type of warm, romantic, life-affirming read Kate mentions in her interview. You can find out more about Helena's books and her editing services on her website www.helenafairfax.com

Chatting with Publishers: Clare Hey

We are delighted to welcome Clare Hey to this month’s Chatting with Publishers series.

You join us less than three months into your new role as Publishing Director with Orion. With your feet now firmly under the desk, can you tell us something of your journey to your current position?

I started my career at HarperCollins about fifteen years ago, with a job as the secretary in the Art Department. I couldn’t afford to work for free as an intern and so this was the perfect entry position. I learned a lot about how covers are designed, and what makes a good brief. I then moved over to Editorial, starting as an assistant and working my way up. I left HC after eight years, had a stint working as a freelance editor and then went to Simon & Schuster where I stayed for five years.

You spent several years with publishers you’ve previously worked for. What motivated you to move to Orion?

I was very happy in my role at S&S and had a great list of brilliant authors so it wasn’t an easy decision to make. But the opportunity Orion was offering was too good to pass up. It’s an exciting time at Orion at the moment, with lots of great new people joining, and having the chance to run the women’s fiction and reading group fiction list at a publishing house with such an amazing list was the thing that tempted me.  

In the past you have worked with many outstanding writers. Have you inherited a new list of authors at Orion or will you be building your own? Or a combination of the two?

It’s a mix of the two. There are already some amazing authors on the Orion list and my role is to oversee the publishing of those authors, with their editors, to make sure they are reaching as wide an audience as they can. But I’m also tasked with bringing great new writers to the list – a mix of debuts and more established voices – to complement the authors already at Orion. Our aim at Orion Fiction is to be the home of the best fiction around, a place where readers will find something that will suit everyone, and it’s my job, along with the other editors at Orion Fiction, to make that happen. 

What advice can you give writers who are ambitious to work with you?

For me the story comes first so hone your text as best you can before you submit. I am looking for great storytelling, a strong hook and a brilliant voice. I want to reach a broad audience with the books I publish and am interested in stories that will resonate widely and will speak to people across the country. Also, when submitting, it goes without saying but be professional and polite – people always want to work with someone they can get on with.

We notice you have been particularly interested in women’s fiction and historical fiction. Will you continue working in these genres and are there others you would like to pursue?

Yes, I will indeed. I love these genres and love publishing in these areas. I’ll also be doing reading group fiction and commercial/literary crossover fiction. It gives me great pleasure publishing books that people can escape into – something that’s necessary in this day and age, I feel!

As readers we believe in magic and we would all like to own a crystal ball. Do you have any advice to us as writers as to where we might concentrate our efforts? What are you looking for at the moment?

I’d love to find a big sweeping love story – something with a big canvas and ambitious storytelling. A Chocolat for the twenty-first century would be amazing, or something that feels fresh and new in the way The Time Traveler’s Wife did. I can’t predict the future either and I love to be surprised. But my advice remains the same always: write the book you want to want, one you want to read. Don’t write just for the market.

We would love to know a little bit about the person behind the name, Clare. Do you have any particular hobbies and how do you find time to follow them?

Well, it won’t surprise you to know that I love reading…! But when I’m not reading I enjoy going to music festivals and gigs (I’ve been going to Glastonbury since I was sixteen and still go even though I am substantially older now…). I also love getting out in the fresh air – long walks and cycle rides in the country (via a pub, of course). All very predictable, I’m afraid.

If you hadn’t established a career in the publishing industry, what else if anything would you like to have done?

I have a couple of fall-back career options: I would probably be a kitchen-fitter (I’ve fitted several kitchens myself over the years) or (bear with me…) I would love to be an estate agent. I love nosing around people’s houses and I actually enjoy negotiating so it feels like the obvious fit!

Is there one single ambition you would love to fulfil?

I want to publish that book that everyone has either read or heard about. Often we editors are guilty of thinking that books that have been successful have entered the popular consciousness but when you ask the man (or woman) down the pub they have rarely heard of them. I want to publish a Girl on the Train or a Captain Corelli’s Mandolin – a book that everyone knows. That’s not such a big ask, is it…?!

May your wish come true! Thank you for joining us today, Clare.

Natalie Kleinman writes contemporary and historical romantic novels and has thrown a bit of a mystery into the mix in her recently completed Regency. She is now working on a new contemporary. Her next novel, with Harper Collins HQ Digital, is due for publication at the end of June. You can follow her blog at http://bit.ly/2mDF99I

If you would like to write for the RNA blog please contact us on elaineeverest@aol.com

Sue Fortin: Behind 'The Girl...'

Today, we speak to author, Sue Fortin, who writes romance, mystery and suspense for Harper Collins' imprint, Harper Impulse.

2015 saw a real spike in the word ‘Girl’ being used and, for me, I always think of Stig Larsen books as the forerunner for the trend, with Gillian Flynn following up closely behind. So,

when my publishers said they wanted to call my new novel The Girl Who Lied, my knee-jerk reaction was Really? Hasn’t it been overdone? There are so many ‘Girl’ books out there, did the publishing world really need another one?

My initial reaction was fueled by a debate I had followed on social media where some people positively hated the word ‘girl’ used when clearly the book was about a woman. For some, girl could only refer to a child or, at a push, young adult.

After the email suggesting The Girl Who Lied, I spent the next seven days bombarding my editor with every alternative I could think of. I was like some mad woman possessed, hounding my friends and family for different suggestions. My agent wasn’t spared either and it was, in fact, her reassurance that began to sway me. Indeed, there had even been a recent article about ‘The Girl’ titles, see HERE.

Broadly speaking, when readers see ‘The Girl …’ in the title, it is a clear indication of what to expect. (i) A strong female character (ii) an ordinary woman in an extraordinary situation (iii) a darker read (iii) mystery and suspense.

Slowly, I began to have a change of heart as my book ticked all of the above. It is full of lies, the characters all tell lies, even though they believe it’s for the right reasons. My main character, Erin, was a teenager when she first lied, so perhaps the title was even more suitable than I first thought.

I was finally convinced when I spoke to several other authors, who, without exception, said to run with it and trust the marketing team’s experience. So, that’s exactly what I’ve done and am now totally on-board with the title. Just as an aside, I’ve seen ‘The Woman …’ being used a lot, so perhaps that’s the next trend on the horizon.

About Sue:

Sue Fortin's originally published debut novel was awarded the INDIE Brag medallion and later when published by HarperImpulse was short-listed for the Joan Hessayon Award (2014). Sue was also short-listed for the Festival of Romance, New Talent Award (2013). Her second novel, Closing In, reached number one in the Romantic Suspense Kobo chart at the end of 2014. Sue blogs regularly with the online writing group, The Romaniacs

Lover of cake, dragonflies and France, hater of calories, maths and snakes, Sue was born in Hertfordshire, but had a nomadic childhood, moving often with her family, before eventually settling in West Sussex.

Sue is married with four children, all of whom patiently give her time to write, but, when not behind the keyboard, she likes to spend her time with them, enjoying both the coast and the South Downs, between which they are nestled.

Links:

Facebook Sue Fortin Author

Twitter @suefortin1

Website & Blog www.suefortin.com

Amazon Author Page

Thanks you, Sue, and good luck with your book. 

This blog piece is brought to you by Louisa Heaton on behalf of 'The RNA Blogging Team' 
If you would like to be interviewed for the blog please contact us on elaineeverest@aol.com

Ask the Industry Expert: David Haviland

We welcome back Helena Fairfax with the second in her series of interviews with prominent literary agents.

A few weeks ago I attended talk by Andrew Lownie at the Ilkley Literature Festival on the subject of ‘How to Pitch to an Agent.’ You can find details of Andrew Lownie’s excellent and informative talk in my write-up on my blog.  Andrew Lownie represents non-fiction at the Andrew Lownie Agency. Afterwards I approached David Haviland, who represents fiction at the agency, and was delighted when he agreed to be interviewed for the RNA.

Thanks for dropping in, David. Please tell us a little about the Andrew Lownie Literary Agency, how long you’ve been with the agency, and how you came to join.

I’ve been a literary agent for almost three years now. Before that I was an author, editor and ghostwriter, producing books for big publishers such as Harper Collins, Penguin, and Little Brown. Andrew Lownie was my agent, and as I became more involved in developing projects within the agency, it felt like a natural move to become an agent myself. The agency comprises just the two of us, with Andrew handling all the non-fiction, while I handle the fiction. Andrew has been the top-selling agent in the world for each of the last four years, and shortlisted for ‘Agent of the Year’ at the British Bookseller Awards for the last three years running, while I haven’t.

What do enjoy most about your job? And least?

The most exciting thing is discovering a brilliant new author in the slush pile, getting further into their manuscript, and finding that it really delivers right to the end. Even selling the book isn’t nearly as much fun as that moment of discovery. And what do I enjoy least? Going through contracts is pretty tedious (but important).

What is it you are looking for when a manuscript lands on your desk? Are there any specific plots or themes you’d like to see?

I cover all genres of adult fiction, so I’m not looking for any particular plot, theme or genre. Instead, I’m looking for storytelling skill. Writing a novel is more of a technical craft than many people imagine, and while most rules can be broken, they can rarely be broken successfully by someone who isn’t already intimately familiar with them. If a writer hasn’t thought carefully about things like tenses, character perspective, and psychic distance (regardless of whether or not they use this particular jargon), it’s usually going to be obvious on the first page, and not in a good way.

Where do you find your new authors, and how?

Most of my authors are debut novelists, who’ve come from the slush pile. I’m also lucky to be part of a major, well-established literary agency, which means authors also come through recommendations and Andrew’s huge network of contacts.

What advice would you give someone submitting to you?

Don’t rush to submit. Instead, take the time to edit and improve the work, over and over again, until your worst enemy couldn’t find a flaw. In the current market, publishers are extremely cautious, particularly when it comes to debut authors, which means that we as agents have to be just as picky. Too often, I’m sent half-decent novels by writers who have obvious talent, but have submitted too soon. In those cases, all I can do is pass.

What benefits do you feel an agent can offer an author?

It is possible to find success as an author through self-publishing, but very rare. For everyone else, an agent is crucial. An agent will develop the book, provide expert advice, reach publishers, improve terms and contracts, develop additional options such as translation, audio, film and television, and much more. I receive lots of submissions from authors who have self-published quite successfully, but who nonetheless recognise that working with an agent can open up many more opportunities.

Romance is the biggest-selling genre in publishing, and yet the one taken least seriously by the mainstream. Why do you think this is? And how do you think romance authors can address the negative perception?

I’ve always felt that there is an unhealthy snobbery towards genre writing, not just within publishing but within our culture as a whole. On the other hand, the popularity of romance with readers means there are bound to be more second-rate romance novels, purely because so many are produced. My advice to romance writers is to focus on the theme, and the characters’ emotional journeys, not just the plot. A common flaw in romance novels is that the plot twists and turns as it should, with obstacles and break-ups, but this is achieved through coincidences and confusion, rather than meaningful conflict between the characters. What is the real friction between the couple, that means they may not be able to make the relationship work?

What’s your favourite romance novel of all time?

The Remains of the Day.

Apart from your own authors, which book have you enjoyed most in the past twelve months, and why?

My reading is quite eclectic; in recent months I’ve particular enjoyed Blake Morrison’s The Last Weekend, Jesse Armstrong’s Love, Sex and Other Foreign Policy Goals, and Being Mortal by Atul Gawande.

What do you like to do in your spare time?

I’ve become a pretty obsessive runner. Running is quite an odd hobby, in that people who aren’t into it think you must be quite mad, which isn’t really true of, say, tennis.

If you could describe your working-day in just three words, what would they be?

Varied, challenging, rewarding, innumerate.

Thanks so much for your thoughtful answers, David. I particularly enjoyed your point about the importance of focusing on the emotional conflict in romance writing – something my reader in the RNA’s New Writers’ Scheme taught me very well!

Links:

Andrew Lownie Literary Agency

David Haviland Twitter

If you’ve enjoyed David’s interview, or have any questions or comments at all, please let us know. We’d love to hear from you.

Helena Fairfax writes contemporary romance novels. Her latest release is a romantic suspense novella called Palace of Deception. 

You can find out more on Helena’s website www.helenafairfax.com

Another great interview, Helena, thank you!

The RNA blog is brought to you by,

Elaine Everest & Natalie Kleinman

Would you like to write for the RNA blog? Please contact us on elaineeverest@aol.com