Ask the Industry Expert: Literary Agent Diana Beaumont

It's a great pleasure to welcome literary agent Diana Beaumont to the RNA blog today. Diana joined Marjacq Scripts in 2017.  She started agenting with Rupert Heath Literary Agency in 2011 before moving to UTA. Before that she was senior commissioning editor at Transworld. Diana was chosen as one of The Bookseller’s Rising Stars of 2012.

Diana is chatting with Helena Fairfax. Welcome, both!

Hello, Diana! Please tell us a little about the Marjacq Scripts, how long it’s been established, and how you came to join?

Marjacq Scripts was founded in 1974 and is a full service boutique literary agency. There are five agents plus our MD and we all specialise in different areas, although there is some overlap which is incredibly helpful. We work in a very collaborative way and it’s an exciting time to be part of the team as we have expanded significantly in recent years. I joined this year. I have known Phil Patterson – who heads up the book department as far as there is a formal hierarchy – since I was a commissioning editor at Transworld. I like and respect him very much and the same applies to my colleagues, so it seemed like a good fit.

What genres do you represent?

Women’s commercial fiction (although it does annoy me that we have to specify this!), reading group fiction, crime, thrillers and cover memoir, cookery and lifestyle when it comes to non-fiction. As an agency we also cover literary fiction and non-fiction, genre and speculative fiction, true crime, children’s and YA.

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 think the voice always has to resonate with you but the combination of a strong hook and plot is a winner for me. I get incredibly excited when it all comes together in that way. I am interested in motherhood, looking to take on more diverse voices and am drawn towards strong female/feminist central characters, but also like to keep an open mind.

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?

There have been a number of novels coming out that would appeal to fans of Jojo Moyes – they cover dark subjects with a light touch so that humour sits alongside the sadness. They play on the emotions so that you laugh and cry. I am looking forward to seeing How to be Happy, by Eva Woods, launch in February 2018 from Little,Brown which is perfect for that audience. I can’t wait, either, for the paperback publication of Hot Mess, by Lucy Vine, from Orion which subverts the traditional rom com and reassesses attitudes to being single amongst millennials in a hilarious way and is, I hope, ahead of the curve, as well as providing a much needed laugh. Look Magazine said it was even better than Bridget Jones!  There seems to be an interest in what could have been: from Kate Atkinson to Kate Eberlen’s Miss You and Laura Barnett’s The Versions of Us. Publishers are also keen on upmarket sagas with family secrets or an element of mystery at the moment and the line between romantic fiction and psychological suspense is sometimes blurred, as the latter has been so successful of late. I wonder also whether there will also be a desire for pure escapist fun in such uncertain times.

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

Yes. Sometimes clients are kind enough to recommend others but I have also taken on a crime writer, Roz Watkins, who I met at The Festival of Writing in York. When it comes to non-fiction I have approached people direct.

What advice would you give someone submitting to you?

Take a look at my list and see if it fits, broadly, with the other books I represent. Follow the submission guidelines. Put lots of effort into your cover letter and make sure that the title, elevator pitch, further information about the book and author biography are as strong as possible – we get hundreds of submissions, so a good letter really makes a difference. It is also important to have a sense of where your book fits into the market. We don’t expect you to be experts but to show professionalism and savvy – it is both a business and creative relationship after all. It’s always worth looking round bookshops and reading as much as you can. Spell my name correctly. And, finally, make sure you’ve finished the book and that it is as polished as it can be.

What’s your favourite romance novel of all time?

I have an abiding love for The Pursuit of Love, by Nancy Mitford, but must also throw in Jane Eyre and Rebecca for good measure.

What do you like to do in your spare time?

I wish I indulged in wildly imaginative pastimes like flamenco, potholing or skydiving but I most enjoy eating, reading, bathing, films, theatre and the company of good friends.

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

Never the same.

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer our questions, Diana. We love your list of spare time activities!

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

About Helena

Helena Fairfax is a romance author and editor. Her latest release is a feel good summer romance called Felicity at the Cross Hotel. You can find out more about Helena's books and her editing services on her website www.helenafairfax.com

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

HER LAST ASSASSIN - Victoria Lamb

Today we welcome Victoria Lamb to our blog to talkabout the last in her Lucy Morgan trilogy.

Her Last Assassin is the final book in my ‘Lucy Morgan, Shakespeare’s Mistress’ trilogy, and is published this week in hardback and ebook. This was my first-ever fiction series, and it’s been a steep learning curve from contract to publication of Book Three. So I thought I’d describe how it was commissioned and developed.
 

Back in spring 2010, I produced a detailed synopsis and the first 25,000 words of The Queen’s Secret, a Tudor Court novel with thriller elements. My agent sent it to Selina Walker at Transworld, who was interested enough to suggest changes. I continued to work on The Queen’s Secret for the next six months, then we formally submitted the finished manuscript to Transworld along with synopses for the next two books.

On November 17^th 2010, I headed to the RNA Winter Party in London with a group of glam writer friends. During our pre-party drinks, my mobile rang. It was my agent, telling me Transworld had made an offer for the trilogy. I was over the moon, and blurted out my good news to everyone. I was going to be a Transworld author! And it was my birthday too, by happy coincidence.

His Dark Lady was the second book. At nearly 150,000 words with four narrative characters – Lucy Morgan, William Shakespeare, Elizabeth I, and my fictional spy Master Goodluck – it is the most complex piece of fiction I have ever tackled. The action of The Queen’s Secret takes place over nineteen days: His Dark Lady spans nine years. One story strand follows the Babington Plot against Elizabeth I, and ends with the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, implicated in that conspiracy. Another deals with Shakespeare’s rise in the theatre, and the disgrace of his mother’s kinsmen, the Ardens. The plotting alone – working out fiendishly complicated character arcs and timelines - took weeks.

So we come to Her Last Assassin, the third and final book in my Lucy Morgan Trilogy. During the course of this novel, my heroine Lucy Morgan faces her greatest challenge, Shakespeare embarks on a love affair which could lead to his death, Queen Elizabeth comes under threat from a secret assassin within her own household, and spy Master Goodluck is forced to confront his shadowy past when his world begins to crumble. And the one who pulls all these strands together is Lucy.

Writing a trilogy is a difficult challenge, not least in terms of maintaining continuity and narrative tension from book to book. But I find it more liberating than writing a stand-alone novel. You can return to lost threads or answer a question in a later book, and build your world and its characters slowly and deeply, adding layers in each volume.

Now I’ve tasted trilogy writing, I’d love to write an even longer series. Meanwhile my Tudor trilogy comes to its conclusion with Her Last Assassin – rather a sad thought, but it will be exciting to start a new project!

Photo by Barbara Alderton: from left to right, Cal Andrews, Victoria Lamb and Jenny Barden at the RNA Winter Party 2010, the night Victoria 'got the call'

Victoria Lamb’s website: http://www.victorialambbooks.com/

Her Last Assassin: available in hardback/ebook on Amazon UK

Thank you, Victoria

Complied by Elaine and brought to you by the blogging team of Elaine Everest, Natalie Kleinman and Liv Thomas.

Please contact us at elaineeverest@aol.com if you wish to be featured on our blog or would like to write a craft article.