Seattle’s Elizabeth Wales granted us an intriguing peek into the life of a literary agent at Monday’s Editors Guild meeting. [Note: For Elizabeth's mailing address, visit www.waleslit.com.] 

Elizabeth has been in publishing and bookselling since 1980. She graduated from Smith College with a degree in English and American literature, did graduate studies in literature, and worked in New York at Oxford University Press, Viking Penguin, and the Strand Bookstore.

Elizabeth moved to Seattle in 1983, expecting to leave the publishing world behind her. A mother of two, she became involved in the schools and eventually ended up running for the Seattle School Board. And winning! That should have been enough distraction to lure her away for good, she thought. But after she left the school board, she did a marketing job for Seal Press and realized her heart was still in publishing.

In 1990 she teamed up with publishing veteran Dan Levant and opened a literary agency. He left after six years, and the agency became hers alone. Wales Literary Agency now represents 65 award-winning writers of fiction and nonfiction, including Bruce Barcott, Rebecca Brown, and Dan Savage. Her agency’s titles have appeared on the New York Times, Publishers’ Weekly, and other national bestseller lists.

Elizabeth has one or two assistants and five to six interns working for her at any given time. The interns come to her through an ongoing relationship with the University of Washington. She highly recommends internships to people who are looking to get acquainted with the industry, build relationships, and establish reputations.

Elizabeth explained a bit about literary agencies in general, and Wales Literary Agency in particular. “A literary agency is similar to an art gallery,” she said. Just as a gallery owner is not likely to be a painter, Elizabeth said she is neither a writer nor a frustrated writer. Rather, she is a “promoter, appreciator, and a connoisseur, with a deep opportunistic streak.”

Like an art gallery, each literary agency leans toward specific kinds of works. Wales Literary primarily takes on narrative nonfiction and is known for occasional quirky projects. The agency has a progressive political bent. Elizabeth says she’s getting a little more into fiction, especially prose written by poets. In addition to representing authors, she represents small presses when they have break-out books. 

Much of the publishing industry is centered in New York City, but West Coast agents are becoming more prominent, Elizabeth said. She’s involved with an effort to organize a caucus of West Coast agents within the AAR. And she pointed out that the best place for writers to break in may not be in New York, but with a small local press. She described a client of hers who published her first book with a local press, her second with a small national press, and her third with a large national press. She also noted that you can make progress by getting published in periodicals, literary magazines, and other venues that help you establish a track record and get some attention.

Recommendations for aspiring authors (also useful to editors):

Elizabeth also passed around Elmore Leonard's "Ten Things Writers Should Know" (published in the New York Times), describing them as "provocative and mostly true, with exceptions!"

As an agent, Elizabeth said, there are only two ways you can go wrong: encouraging someone you have no business encouraging, and discouraging someone you have no business discouraging. Therefore, the agency doesn’t give much feedback (“No thanks—we didn’t connect”) when they decide not to work with an author, unless she’s spent considerable time with the work or somehow led the author on.

Q&A

Q: Do you ever send your clients to editors before you submit their manuscripts?
A: Writers don’t tend to have much money, so she doesn’t refer them to editors often. “Really great writers either teach themselves to edit their own work, or learn how much they need an editor.”

Q: Do your assistants have criteria for evaluating proposals and manuscripts from prospective authors?
A:

Q: How soon should a writer check back with an agent after sending something to them?
A: If it was invited, send an e-mail or call six weeks after sending, to confirm it was received and check in. If it was an exclusive submission, you should expect to hear within a month.

Typically, you get in the door with a query or an introduction. With an introduction, you should get a speedy response. And most agents take care of queries professionally. Don’t send a full manuscript unless invited to do so.

Always include an SASE with a manuscript. You can submit to multiple agencies, and you can always send something back to an agent a second time.

Elizabeth needs to feel two things about a manuscript in order to take it on: “I really like it” and “I think I can sell it.” Remember that agents need to be able to sell 60-70% of the manuscripts they take on.

Q: What do you look for in query letters? And do you need partial or full manuscripts?
A: Fiction and nonfiction are different. The more like fiction your work is, the more you have to include (i.e., the whole manuscript rather than just a few chapters).

The letter you write an agent is similar to the letter an agent sends to a press: you need to summarize the author and the book in a compelling way. Don’t be modest; this is the place to mention any writing awards you’ve won, famous writers who’ve said you’re great, etc. And indicate why you’re sending it to this particular agent—how does it fit her tastes, her agency’s niche? But the query shouldn’t be too long—two pages may be pushing it. “Don’t put in anything I need to skip.”

Q: What’s the process you go through when you have a manuscript you want to sell?
A: Depends on authors and projects. Sometimes it takes a personal appeal to specific editors she thinks will have an interest in the book. Generally, you’re trying to pitch excitement—giving them track record, samples, plans. Publishers have some books on their lists that they know will bring in $$$, some that they think might, and others that are just really beautiful books, with much smaller print runs.

Occasionally, Elizabeth gets calls from editors, proposing a specific book to be written by a specific client of hers. Those are the easiest to sell.

Q: What counsel would you have for someone whose proposal excited editors but was dismissed by the editorial committee as having no market?
A: Keep going. That’s what an agent is for.

Q: How do you motivate said agent?
A: Can be hard, if the agent is busy. Make sure the agent has a plan.

Expect an agent to treat you professionally—to reply to your messages within a few days. (But give an agent a few days—may be ill, out of the country, having server problems. . .) If you’re not being treated professionally, get a new agent.

Sometimes agents fail: the manuscript has flaws, or a similar book was just released, or something just doesn’t sell. It may mean it’s time for the writer to get a new agent or to write a different book. Sometimes it’s just not the right time for a book.

Q: Are you taking new clients?
A: “I’m still open, but it’s harder to squeeze in time. What comes in when I’m least busy gets the most attention. Even busy, though, most agents love establishing new talent.”

Q: What are your least favorite trends out of New York.
A: “If you spot a trend, it’s too late. But I think we’ve done some things that are trendsetting–like aggressively selling small-press books.”

Advice: Stay in touch with people and be nice to the folks around you. You never know when someone may be invaluable to you later. Use those connections!

Conferences (some recommended more than others)

                                                                    —Brie Gyncild, notetaker extraordinaire 

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