Speed Dating in the Literary World

Pitching to Literary Agents – Round II

agent 1With one year under my belt, I felt a false superiority over the woman ahead of me in the registration line, juggling her phone and handbag in one hand while trying to unfold the day’s itinerary in the other.

“So, where are you from?” I asked, trying to calm her nerves.

She looked up, apparently surprised that a stranger was talking to her. “Me? I’m from Omaha.”

“Omaha,” I repeated. “Beautiful city. That’s a long drive. You got me beat.” She smiled at me and went back to untangling the wadded up piece of paper. OK, I thought. She’s not here to make friends. I’m good with that.

I looked behind me to see that the line was now half-way down the long hotel corridor. Like last year, the 2017 Writers Workshop of Chicago was once again being held at the Congress Plaza Hotel. And like the year previous, I was here to recharge my creative juices and meet a few literary agents…speed-dating style.

Along with the seminars and workshops, many writers’ conferences also allow writers to pitch their completed manuscripts to attending literary agents for an additional fee per agent. It’s kind of like buying your way into an interview, which sounds a little suspect but I prefer to look at it as an opportunity for them to meet me.

Each purchased pitch is ten-minutes long, and as I peak into the hotel ballroom, I see the literary agents setting up their spaces for the day, each one seated at an intimate round table topped with a linen table cloth. Ready to face a day of… “My novel has a different ending if you turn the book around…”, “The narrator of my book is my cat who…”, and “I would compare my book to “To Kill a Mockingbird, but its better because…” There’s not enough caffeine in any of their cups to get them through this day.

9:30 – My first pitch is actually with an editor of a publishing house rather than a literary agent. “Nice glasses,” I say to her as I take a seat. She smiles, but it vanishes quickly. This woman is all business. Her first question: What’s the name of your novel?

Chasing Crazy,” I reply, which apparently is the wrong answer. After hearing my reasoning for the name, she shakes her head and explains that Chasing Crazy sounds too lighthearted, and more fitting for a romance novel. Damn. I can’t even get the title right?  As she dissects my story description, I write vigorously while trying to move beyond the fact that my novel has a title more befitting of a Nora Roberts book.

“Time’s up!” the room monitor announces. And for the second time, the editor smiles, pleased, I imagine, to be done with one more pretend-writer.

9:40 – Its tough going from one pitch immediately into another. There is no time to gather my thoughts and as I walk to the next table, I wonder if I should say that I haven’t come up with a title yet. Or maybe I can come up with a new name. Straight Jacket & Sun Glasses, or Running with Scissors? No, that’s already a book.

My next meeting is with a literary agent that actually owns and runs her own shop. I had hesitated meeting with her out of intimidation. With her list of clients, she can’t possibly be interested in meeting with a writer holding her first manuscript. But just as you should never judge a book by its cover, I was surprised to find this rock-star agent to be genuine, kind and interested—interested in Chasing Crazy. Not the romance, but the story of a German mother suffering from a cocktail of mental illnesses, and the affect it has on her children. A story of violence, hope and crazy times.

11:30 – I learned something about agent pitches last year, after I purposely requested one for the last time-period of the day, thinking that after hitting it off, we might wander over to the hotel bar for a beverage or two and become best friends. No. I learned that as the day progresses, the agents start to all get a familiar glaze over their eyes that can’t be erased with a gallon of coffee. So with this information in-hand, I head over to my last pitch of the day while the day is still young, confident that the next agent isn’t comatose yet from countless writers starting to blur into one another.

As I chatted with yet another wonderful agent, I was surprised at the friendliness of her tone, the many questions she asked, and her interest in Chasing Crazy. Or should I call it, In the Shadow of Children, or…

Stay tuned…

Heidi McCrary

 

Pitching an Agent – Speed Dating in the Literary World

Pitching Agent.JPGThis past weekend, writers from throughout the region participated  in the Writing Workshop of Chicago – a well-run machine that teams up writers, authors and agents with a series of workshops, panel discussions and pitches. If you’ve never pitched an agent in person, let me explain the process… Dot a hotel conference room with a multitude of little round tables adorned with white linen tablecloths. Add two chairs to each table along with a lone lit candle placed in the center. OK, I’m making up the candle-part but you get the idea. It’s intimate.  Then add one of the 20 or so literary agents at each table, all looking at their smart phones wishing they were anywhere else.

Literally, anywhere.

As a writer partaking in the workshop, you are given the option of pitching your finished manuscript to any one of the attending agents. Paying for the opportunity to talk to an agent in the hope that they will ask you to send them your manuscript or a portion of it, seems a bit like a politician handing you $50, and asking for your vote. But with that said, I’m not at all above the idea of purchasing 10 minutes of precious one-on-one time with a literary agent.

And 10 minutes is exactly the time I got with each agent-purchase at this workshop. As the day continued, I moved around the pitch room like a chess piece looking to topple the King. While I have never participated in speed-dating, I have sat through enough rom-coms to know that this form of pitching an agent is similar to speed-dating, in that you have a short window of time to capture someone’s heart. Only this time, you want them to fall in love with your book.

And the pitching begins…

9:30am                 Agent #1

Fortunately, my very first pitch of the day is with an agent that represents solely Young Adult and Children’s Books. I had been struggling with labeling the genre of my book because while the narrator of CHASING CRAZY is a youngster, the theme is more adult in nature, so labeling it as Young Adult, seemed off. But the Internet told me that my book was YA, and if the Internet says that, it must be true.

But after hearing my initial introduction of CHASING CRAZY, Agent #1 scrunches up her face in thought, and informs me that perhaps I have mislabeled the genre of my book. So while she takes a polite pass on my work, her bit of wisdom is invaluable to me, and certainly worth the investment.

And the buzzer…

9:50am                 Scout #1

A Literary Scout is different from an agent in that their job is to find promising writers for the agents back home. I like the idea of someone who is looking out for others, and I’m looking forward to meeting Scout #1. Maybe it’s the word, Scout, since I love TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, but I digress.

With my newfound knowledge that CHASING CRAZY is now Women’s Lit, and Upmarket Fiction (Is my book YA? Hell no!), I present my manuscript with a renewed sense of confidence in knowing who the heck my audience is. Agents do not want to hear, “My book is perfect for everyone!” It’s not. Scout #1 not only listens to my pitch, she asks questions and seems genuinely interested – not looking at her phone even once. At the end of our 10 minute date, I’m asked to send my manuscript to a particular agent at her agency, along with a note that I come highly recommended by her. OK, I added the “highly” but she didn’t say I couldn’t say “highly.”

So far so good. And the bell…

10:50am               Agent #2

With this agent, I did something a little different. Writers at this workshop had an option of purchasing two allotments of time with any agent, meaning that they could buy 20 minutes of time. Not having gone through this process before, this seemed intriguing to me along with being a bit dangerous. I had this vision of the conversation starting with the agent saying, “Oh, your story takes place in 1970? Yeah, I hate stories set in the 70s,” I would be dead in the water, and we would both spend the next 15 minutes discussing the 40 degree weather in Chicago – even though its mid-May (Which, if you’re not familiar with Chicago, is quite normal).

But I shook off this fear and bought my 20 minutes with this rock star of the literary world. Not only do we hit it off, we plow through the 20 minutes like we’re having drinks together at the bar (which I would prefer). As the buzzer goes off, I leave with a request for viewing my whole manuscript.

Bingo! As I soak in the awesomeness of this moment, the next writer comes along and shoves me out of my chair.

4:50pm                 Agent #3

Believe it or not, I actually requested the last slot of the day with this agent – my theory being, that if our date, I mean meeting, went along swimmingly, the agent wouldn’t care when the 10 minute bell went off, and we would simply keep talking and talking like BFFs. Maybe get a drink at the bar.

She cared.

I can now tell you to never request the last time slot of the day for pitching an agent. Their eyes slowly glaze over as the morning turns into day, which crawls into the afternoon. While she smiled at the appropriate times, and requested that I send her the first 20 pages of my manuscript, I don’t think she would have remembered me if we ran into each other 30 seconds later in the hallway.

She was done.

So… if you are a writer looking for a literary agent, and you have the opportunity to purchase pitching time, buy away. And keep in mind that it’s not just about the agent liking you, and wanting to represent your work – it’s a two-way street. You have to like them as well. Just relax and have fun.

But don’t ask for the last time slot!

Heidi McCrary

Author of CHASING CRAZY

heidi@adshopetc.com

 

Chicago, here I come!

CC Business Cards.jpgPacking my marketing ammunition for the Writing Workshop of Chicago happening this weekend. My search for a Literary Agent continues…