RNA CONFERENCE: Meet the agents

The RNA conference 2017 will soon be upon us (14th-17th July, to be exact!) This year there are seven literary agents offering one-to-one pitching sessions. We thought it might be helpful to host the agents here on the blog, so that those people applying for a pitching session can get to know them a little better before they send off an application.
The agents attending are:

• Kate Nash (Kate Nash Agency)
• Lisa Eveleigh (Richard Becklow Agency)
• Broo Doherty (DHH Literary Agency)
• Tanera Simons (Darley Anderson Agency)
• Felicity Trew (Caroline Sheldon Agency)
• Julia Silk (MBA Literary Agency)
• and Isobel Dixon (Blake Friedmann).

Unfortunately Julia Silk was on holiday at the time of putting this article together. We have a full length interview with Laura Longrigg of MBA here on the blog which you may like to refer to. (Of course Laura and Julia will have different tastes, but Laura's interview will give readers an idea of the ethos behind the MBA Agency.) *UPDATE* Julia Silk has very kindly taken time to respond on the last day of her holiday. Her replies are listed separately at the bottom of the post.

Isobel Dixon was also unavailable at the time of going to press. We have an interview with the wonderful Carole Blake of Blake Friedmann here for reference, but please note again that Carole's tastes and Isobel's may well have been different.

A warm welcome to those agents who were able to make it today. Thanks for answering our questions at such short notice!

What is it you are most hoping to find from your pitching session at the conference? Are there any particular genres/themes that you would love to read? 

Kate Nash:You might as well ask me to predict the outcome of a dress shopping expedition! Yes, I have an idea of some styles and colours I like but until I see the dresses on the rail, I simply don't know which one I'm going to absolutely love. However, the number one thing that gets me into a story is realism: real characters dealing with real life problems in real settings. I'd like to see more stories from different regions of the UK and overseas, and stories involving characters from different backgrounds. 

Lisa Eveleigh: I always hope to find an unputdownable story, something that grabs me from the first paragraph.  I would love to find an author writing a multi-layered family story which involves romance, along the lines of Elizabeth Jane Howard.  I also like romantic comedy. Anything with a First World War and/or 1920’s setting is hugely appealing.  I’m also interested in historical romance generally, though later than Medieval.  

Broo Doherty: This may sound trite but in these uncertain times, I am looking for epic stories well told, with engaging, well developed characters and psychological depth. I’m looking either to be taken out of my comfort zone and transported to a place I have never been too, or shown a new, original perspective on a situation I know well.

Tanera Simons: I am really excited to meet with enthusiastic aspiring authors, and am crossing my fingers to meet someone whose work I love and who I could see myself working with. In terms of genres/themes, I am open to anything and everything: rom-coms, thought-provoking storylines, dark love stories, historical romances… the list goes on! I want to get completely swept up in the story, and fall in love with characters so real that I don’t want to say goodbye when I finish reading. I want fiction with strong but fallible female protagonists: the next Bridget Jones or Rebecca Bloomwood, who show us that even the best of us make mistakes!

Felicity Trew: I’d love to find a striking, powerful female voice – one that inspires women whether we’re left laughing or crying.  I’m a huge fan of a good weepy, historical, funny, psychological suspense, saga and anything truly unputdownable!

Have you noticed any particular trends in romance in the past year or so, and if so, what do you think publishers are looking for at the moment? 

Kate Nash:Digital opportunities mean that publishers are quite open to different story types but I think that romance is under some pressure from the popularity of psychological/women's thrillers on the one hand and emotional "women's mysteries" on the other. My "reading for pleasure" pile has got the following current bestsellers on it from both these genres: I See You by Clare Mackintosh, The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena, Lyrebird by Cecelia Ahern and This Must Be The Place by Maggie O'Farrell. Having said that sagas are very much holding their own with WW2 and the post war period popular, and there is still plenty of demand for escapist romantic comedies. Beaches, Cornwall and gin all trending. 

Lisa Eveleigh: Cosy romances involving cup-cakes, beach huts, and tea-shops still seem to be going strong though I wonder if this isn’t mainly a digital-first trend.  

Publishers tell me that they are looking for a strong ‘millennial’/Generation Y’ romantic novel.  This is going to be very hard to find, since younger writers with the necessary vocabulary are much more interested in fantasy and dystopia and therefore tend to aim at the Young Adult market in which romance is mostly – but not always – subsidiary to plague, and/or magic and mayhem.  I’ve also been asked for paranormal romance.    

Broo Doherty: Novels featuring diversity seem to be gaining ground at the moment which is not before time, given we live in a multicultural society, and I think that would apply to the romantic genre as well.

Tanera Simons: I always find the subject of trends a tricky one: I would always advise writers to write what they’re good at rather than attempt to follow current trends. If your writing is good enough and story compelling enough, you will always succeed! However, at the moment I definitely think that people want to read escapist, feel-good fiction, that takes them away from the stresses of politics and news of terrorism. Readers want to be transported into a fictional world of warmth and positivity. I also think that editors are on the look-out for anything a bit different, that takes the classic love story and introduces a new element: perhaps more diversity, so not just a ‘boy meets girl’ love story, but a ‘girl meets girl’, or love across different cultures etc. Of course, trends will come and go and these are just some themes that I’ve noticed.

Felicity Trew: Any of the above genres I’ve mentioned are getting on publishers’ radars but they do have to have that competitive high quality to them. However, sagas in particular are having a wonderful revival at the moment (which I’m very excited about).

What's been your favourite romance novel recently?

Kate Nash: I've actually been reading a lot of psychological thrillers but I did enjoy The Judge's Wife by Ann O'Loughlin which was shortlisted for the RoNAs. A mystery, I was completely sold on the realism of the setting and the characters.

Lisa Eveleigh: I’ve recently been on holiday so read a fair few, and it’s impossible to name one, so if I’m allowed? 

The House on Bellevue Road – Rachel Hore 

A Secret Garden -  Katie Fforde

Are My Roots Showing? – Karola Gadja 

An Unconventional Act – Jan Jones

Broo Doherty: That’s an impossible question to answer – too many to choose from!

Tanera Simons: Again, such a difficult question as there is some really exciting romance fiction around at the moment! I would have to say Paige Toon’s The Last Piece of My Heart, though. I haven’t read her for a while, and reading this latest one reminded me just how brilliant an author she is. Bridget (the protagonist) is just such a wonderfully warm character, and I completely fell in love with her story.

Felicity Trew: I was extremely lucky to receive a proof copy of Dawn O’Porter’s The Cows (HarperCollins, 2017) just before its publication, which I utterly devoured – one of those books you just don’t want to finish because it’s become like a friend to you!

Julia Silk MBA Literary Agency

1 What is it you are most hoping to find from your pitching session at the conference? Are there any particular genres/themes that you would love to read? 

I grew up on Georgette Heyer and 80s bonkbusters - I'd like to find a great Regency romance, and I still love the glitz and glamour of authors like Shirley Conran and Judith Krantz, so anything that brings to mind either of those genres would make me happy. I'm also always on the lookout for something with a touch of the gothic or ghostly - not supernatural/paranormal so much as hinting at unusual goings-on.

2. Have you noticed any particular trends in romance in the past year or so, and if so, what do you think publishers are looking for at the moment? 

Subjects that have come up a few times recently are stories with an international feel featuring interesting locations. Also, sagas sent in the 1920s/30s or earlier. Timeslip also seems to be on editors' wishlists and I suspect this genre is due a bit of a moment. I love Barbara Erskine myself, so I'd be really pleased to read something that brings her work to mind.

3. What's been your favourite romance novel recently?

I'm a big fan of Rowan Coleman and adored We Are All Made of Stars. I really enjoy novels with interconnecting stories and for me the range of age and life experience of the protagonists, combined with the clever structure, made for an unusual and satisfying read. I also love anything by JoJo Moyes and Marian Keyes - the combination of serious subjects with humour and the perfect slow burn to the romance storyline gets me every time.

* * *

Thank you all so much for answering our questions today. We appreciate you taking the time out at such short notice, and we hope you have a successful - and enjoyable! - time at the 2017 RNA Conference.

Questions compiled by Helena Fairfax

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

Ask the Industry Expert: Literary Agent, Imogen Howson

It's time for another of our agent interviews, and this month Helena Fairfax talks to Imogen Howson. Imogen is a member of the RNA - and a well-known face to many of us! We were delighted to hear of her recent appointment as associate agent with the Kate Nash Literary Agency.

Congratulations on your new post, Immi, and welcome to the RNA blog!

Please tell us a little about the Kate Nash Literary Agency and how you came to join.

The Kate Nash Literary Agency is a boutique literary agency based near Oxford (close enough to London for meetings with publishers!).

I met Kate at a few RNA events before she opened to applications for an associate agent, and I really liked, one, that her agency is boutique, and, two, that Kate is so author focused.  Most of my work history has been with a small company, and it makes me happy to feel that I have a sense of what’s going on in all its corners. And although working in publishing is about selling books, I love working with authors and seeing them develop—and hopefully helping them develop. Of course, all good agents are interested in working with their authors long-term, not just for one book, but I feel that Kate is particularly author focused, which is a great agency ethos and one that I’m adopting!

 You previously worked as acquiring editor at Samhain. How much editorial work do you envisage doing as an agent? For example, if you came across a novel with a great story that needed a lot of editing, would you accept it and work on it with the author?

This is actually something where I need to be careful to rein myself in!  As an editor, you can plunge into a book elbow-deep and work, paragraph by paragraph, with the author to improve every tiny little nuance and turn of phrase.  But as an editor, you’re working with a very specific idea of what that particular publisher wants, and the reader market they’re aiming for—and that kind of in-depth editing is what you’re being paid to do.  As an agent, I would want to be cautious of over-editing a book.  Partly because it’s pretty exhausting for the poor author to have to go through that twice, and partly because it can’t help but be a subjective process.  I would rather focus on big-picture issues (characterisation, pace, the balance of different plot threads) that will definitely make the book stronger, and then let the eventual editor do the fine-tuning.

What I do tend to do, if I read a book that is basically great but that needs further work to be really great, is ask the author if they’re willing to make revisions.  If they are, then I send maybe a page or so of suggestions for them, and offer to read the book again once the author has revised.  This shows me if they’re capable of revising to a publishable standard, and if they’re willing to.  Which, in turn, shows me whether we’ll work well together!

 Which specific plots or themes would interest you most in women’s fiction/romance?

I like ‘what if?’ themes: What if my husband had had a vasectomy and I found out I was pregnant?  What if I accidentally killed someone?  What if I had to go into the witness protection program?  What if my best friend died and I had to look after her children?  What if I fell in love with my best friend’s grieving widower?  What if my other best friend decided she wanted him and tried to kill me?

I also like big supporting casts: in genre romance and in women’s fiction.  I don’t just want the hero and heroine and a token best friend who acts as matchmaker (or, alternatively, tries to split them up and kill the heroine).  I want fully rounded, believable relationships, good and bad: friends, colleagues, exes, parents, siblings, children.  I have a special weakness for well-drawn sister relationships!

Other things I’d love to see are main characters who don’t come from my own demographic (which is white, straight, cisgender, middle-class…), marriages/engagements of convenience, anything wedding-themed, and stories that touch on issues of mental illness and neurodiversity without being overwhelmed by them.  And twins.  And virgin heroines!

During your career, have you seen certain trends come and go? (eg paranormal romance, family sagas, etc) And – the million dollar question :) – what do you think will be the next big thing?

So far my career has been mostly focused on American trends, because the publisher I worked for was a US-based one.  And yes, absolutely. Paranormal romance was a huge thing up until three or so years ago.  I don’t think it ever took off in the UK in the same way, but we still got the benefit of the US imports.  Twilight, of course, and the Sookie Stackhouse series, that got made into the TV series True Blood.  I wouldn’t like to try to sell a vampire romance to a traditional publisher right now. Although I’m sure they’ll come back around!

Romantic suspense has risen a lot in popularity recently, after having—at least in my experience—flat sales for a long time.  And I’ve been fascinated to see so many books with cartoon-type covers in the Amazon bestseller lists, because, again, up until recently those type of covers didn’t seem to sell at all well.

I can tell you what I’d like to become the next big thing!  I’d like fantasy romance to really take off and catch all the fans of Game of Thrones.  And I’d like to see the resurgence of paranormal romance, but with a fresh new face of some kind, because I’m still not ready to read about more vampires. 

Realistically, suspense/thrillers are doing well right now, so I wouldn’t be surprised if that trend continues for a while—possibly with a new twist.  There’s room for them to get a lot darker, while still keeping the small-world, domestic landscape that made something like The Girl on the Train (and Kate Nash Agency client Sue Fortin’s The Girl Who Lied) so believable and therefore so gripping. 
Now Sylvia Day’s series that began with Bared to You has finished, I wonder if there’s still reader appetite for something similar: a single-couple, multi-book series with a lot of sex and a lot of drama.  Or if, after that and Fifty Shades of Grey, we’re done for the moment?  I do think readers love that kind of continuing, soap opera-like story, though, and I know I’d like to find the next one!

What are you looking forward to most in your new post?

Besides finding the next big thing?  Well, I’m loving reading submissions at the moment.  That moment when you open a new query knowing it could be something fabulous is always exciting.  I’m also looking forward to acquiring my own clients.  I have a little mental wish list of the sort of writers I’d like to represent, and I’m hoping to tick them all off over the next year or so.  I’m also very much looking forward to learning more about publishing contracts.  I have some knowledge of them, but in my previous job I didn’t directly deal with them, and obviously as an agent you do.  Fortunately Kate knows all about them, and I’m learning as fast as I can!

Besides working full time, you are also a writer yourself.  [Imogen writes YA fiction. Her sci fi novel Linked was the winner in the YA category for the RNA’s Romantic Novel of the Year 2014.] How do you manage to fit in your writing around a busy work schedule?

With difficulty!  Well, actually, by having a strict routine and keeping to a daily word count.  If you write 1000 words a day you’ll end with a book, no matter how busy you are.  And it doesn’t have to be 1000 words in one go.  Also, to be honest, I have a very helpful and supportive partner and nearly grown-up children.  That helps as well!

What’s your favourite romance novel of all time?

Cotillion by Georgette Heyer. Hands down, no contest.  There are a lot that are close runners up, though!

Which book have you enjoyed the most in the past twelve months, and why?

I really enjoyed The Originals by Cat Patrick.  It’s a YA about three identical sisters. But they’re not triplets, they’re clones, and the outside world thinks they’re all the same person.  How intriguing is that as a premise? 

What do you like to do in your spare time?

I like to read, go running, bake, drink coffee and wine with friends, eat cheese, buy dangly earrings, and collect Chalet School and Sweet Valley High books.

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

Coffee. Macbook. Emails.

It was lovely getting to know more about you through the RNA blog, Immi. Thanks so much for your thoughtful and interesting replies, and wishing you all the best in your new job!

About Helena:

Helena Fairfax writes contemporary romance novels, and sometimes branches out into romantic suspense when she’s in the mood for danger. Subscribers to Helena’s newsletter receive a free copy of Palace of Deception, a contemporary romantic suspense novella set in the mysterious and romantic fictional country of Montverrier.




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

Mandy Baggot Loves Digital!

Mandy Baggot doesn’t just love writing romance. She loves the digital age that facilitates spreading the word. This is what she has to say:

As a reader I enjoy lapping up new books in any medium I can get my sticky hands on them in! Kindle, Kobo, Sainsbury’s e-books – I have accounts with them all. The Works, Waterstones, WH Smith – I’m a browser and a sucker for a cover I can fondle.

But, as a writer, I’m currently riding much higher with my latest romantic comedy, Truly Madly Greekly in the digital arena.

So what’s so great about digital publishing?

1)      Fast

It doesn’t take as long to prepare and publish an e-book. This doesn’t mean the novel doesn’t go through a rigorous editing process (I’m going through one of those right now!) but digital done right can cut down the process by months.

2)      Flexible

You can make amendments quickly and easily – change the cover, add bonus content at a later date etc. You can also jump on trends as they occur. This might be getting something into the marketplace quickly to hit on a special event – a tennis romance in time for Wimbledon, a gardening tale for the Chelsea Flower Show, athlete heroine for the next Olympics etc.

3)      Price

Digital publishing doesn’t have a lot of the costs involved with traditional paperback publishing. You can offer books at a more competitive rate to readers and still make money.

4)      Ride the electronic wave

More people that ever own tablets for entertainment and recreation. You don’t have to have a specific e-reader to read digital books – any tablet, smartphone or P.C. has the capability to download a free app to read books on. Some people are becoming readers for the first time because it’s cheap, convenient and accessible.

5)      New writer opportunities

Since Kindle Direct Publishing was born, more and more storytellers are taking the plunge and getting their work into the marketplace. Self-publishing and digital publishing have let authors take much more control over their work and I’m embracing that!

Writing and reading have never been hotter and I say, long may it continue.

About Mandy:

Mandy Baggot is an award-winning romantic fiction author, writing hot heroes and emotional reads. She is represented by Kate Nash of The Kate Nash Literary Agency.

In 2012 she won the Innovation in Romantic Fiction award at the UK's Festival of Romance and has since scooped Top Ten Reads/Book of the Year places from a number of UK book bloggers.

Traditionally published by US publisher Sapphire Star, Harper Collins' digital first romance imprint, Harper Impulse, and most recently, digital fiction specialists, Bookouture, a great story is never far from her fingertips!

A contributor to writing blogs and short story anthologies, Mandy is also a regular speaker at literary festivals, events and women’s networking groups.

Mandy loves mashed potato, white wine, country music, World's Strongest Man, travel and handbags. She has appeared on ITV1's Who Dares Sings and auditioned for The X-Factor.

Mandy is a member of the Romantic Novelists' Association and the Society of Authors and lives near Salisbury, Wiltshire, UK with her husband, two daughters and cats, Kravitz and Springsteen.

Links:

Website

Amazon UK

Amazon US

Twitter

Facebook

Thank you, Mandy, for joining us today and giving us such a comprehensive explanation.

The RNA blog is brought to you by  

Elaine Everest & Natalie Kleinman 

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