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

Ask the Industry Expert: Anne Williams

Today Helena Fairfax puts the spotlight on Anne Williams of the Kate Hordern Literary Agency. 

Thanks very much for joining us, Anne.

Please tell us a little about the Kate Hordern Literary Agency, how long you’ve been with the agency, and how you came to join. 

Kate Hordern founded the agency in 1999, after fourteen years selling rights at publisher Victor Gollancz where, as Foreign Rights Director, she worked with authors such as Terry Pratchett and Nick Hornby. Having worked alongside Kate many years before when we were both in our first publishing jobs at Gollancz, I joined KHLA in 2009, after a career break and over fifteen years as a commissioning editor, first at Michael Joseph, then for thirteen years at Headline. I commissioned and edited a number of Headline’s major commercial fiction authors, including the Sunday Times No. 1 bestsellers Sheila O’Flanagan and Lyn Andrews, top 10 bestseller Faye Kellerman and prize-winning crime writers Barbara Nadel, Manda Scott and Caroline Graham (on whose books the TV series Midsomer Murders was based).   Kate is based in Bristol, whilst I am based in North London.

What do enjoy most about your job? And least?

The best thing is the thrill of discovering a new writer whose work I think I can sell. The worst thing is the endless number of rejections I have to hand out to authors looking for agents. The bar for publication is set so high a writer has to be really exceptional and often also have a really exceptional idea behind their writing to stand a chance of making it to publication and I’m aware I’m dashing hopes on a daily basis.   But occasionally I make someone’s day too.

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 am looking for a voice that makes me want to read on, to stay in their world. Genre fiction is all about having a distinctive voice in a recognisable narrative form – being different within a familiar mould. I am specifically looking for good regional saga authors who need to know how to be genuinely poignant and powerful without being hackneyed. Quite a tall order. I think family relationships are sometimes underexplored in these novels – romance plays an important part of course, but the best novels often feature other kinds of relationships too such as those between sisters or mothers and daughters. I’d also like to find a novel that does what Jo Baker’s wonderful LONGBOURN did – tell a classic story from the point of view of a minor character.  She did this beautifully with the PRIDE AND PREJUDICE plot and characters. I’m keen on working class history and also welcome books that show you another way of looking at the familiar. LONGBOURN satisfied on both those counts.

Where do you find your new authors, and how?

Mainly through direct submission, as per our website instructions, but some are referred to me through industry contacts.

What advice would you give someone submitting to you?

Be clear and brief in a cover letter. Let the sample chapters speak for themselves. Make sure your opening is as good as it can be. Find a great title. Suggesting authors you admire and would ideally like to be compared with is helpful. 

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

As well as the obvious  - giving access to markets an author would struggle to reach themselves, both in the UK and abroad, and improving contract terms, an agent gives an author a context for their journey of publication, helps them to interpret what information the publisher is giving them. They can also shape their work editorially so it is the best it can be before it is handed over to the publisher.

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?

The term romance covers a huge remit, and can be both very precise in terms of what is required, or else very loose – 19^th-century literary classics are frequently termed romances. I think the ‘writing by numbers’ image attached to some kinds of romantic fiction has something to do with what you are referring to, as does the historical overpublishing of some sub-genres of it, so-called chick-lit being a case in point. In terms of addressing the negative perception, maybe writers of romance should take themselves a little more seriously – women in particular sometimes downplay what they do, overlaying how they describe their writing with a kind of nervous flippancy. Romantic fiction deals with one of the most important things in life, love, as well as many other issues that, even if lightly handled, are the stuff of everyday existence.

What’s your favourite romance novel of all time?

Well, I love Nancy Mitford’s THE PURSUIT OF LOVE and LOVE IN A COLD CLIMATE. Full of wit, glamour and humour but incredibly poignant too.

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

I was very impressed by Elena Ferrante’s DAYS OF ABANDONMENT. She writes with a searing directness that is quite disturbing but riveting.

What do you like to do in your spare time?

Walk on Hampstead Heath, swim (not on Hampstead Heath).

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

Getting everything done.

Thanks so much for your thoughtful answers, Anne, and for taking the time to introduce yourself and the Kate Hordern Agency to RNA members.

Link: 
Kate Hordern Literary Agency

I hope you’ve enjoyed Anne’s interview as much as I did. If you have any questions or comments at all, please let us know. We’d love to hear from you!

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Helena Fairfax writes contemporary romance. Her latest novel, A Way from Heart to Heart, was published by Accent Press, and is set on the Yorkshire moors, near where she lives. Helena interviews authors and writes about books and writing on her blog at www.helenafairfax.com. You can also find Helena on Twitter, @helenafairfax, and a list of her books on Amazon http://www.amazon.co.uk/Helena-Fairfax/e/B00DRBYLO0/

Another great interview, Helena, thank you!

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