How Literary Agents Build Their Lists

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Literary agents Jessica Faust and James McGowan discuss the various things that they consider when building their client lists, where they start, what inspires them, and how they fill in the gaps.
BookEnds is dedicated to making publishing a book traditionally a more transparent process, and it starts with these videos!
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Jessica Faust’s love for books is what first brought her to open BookEnds Literary Agency. It is her desire to be an advocate for all authors that pushed her to create her blog, the BookEnds RU-vid channel and to maintain a vibrant presence on Twitter.
Jessica is proud to have grown BookEnds to an agency that represents authors of all genres for children and adults, allowing her to reach more readers and help more authors and illustrators achieve their dreams.
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James McGowan is a Literary Agent at BookEnds and writer for children. He began working with the agency as an intern in the summer of 2015, and basically never left. He represents a talented group of authors and illustrators working in everything from board books to middle grade graphic novels. He also works in adult nonfiction, and adult mystery and suspense projects. James is the author of GOOD NIGHT OPPY, which is available now.
Connect with BookEnds!
Twitter: bookendslit
Instagram: bookends_literary
Website: www.bookendsliterary.com
Connect with Jessica: bookendsjessica
Connect with James: jmcgowanbks

Опубликовано:

16 окт 2024

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Комментарии : 30

@ArtbyMSB 9 месяцев назад

Wow, I am writing 1000 words per day thanks to you two. Thanks for the great content!

@Simmadowngirl Год назад

Thank you for this! Was wondering why agents who have represented fantasy for years are suddenly no longer interested in this genre. Maybe they are not selling as well lately and the trend is changing? Makes me sad because that is the majority of what I read. Also, I’ve noticed some conflicting information on query tracker and what an agent lists on their MSWL or on their bio. It’s making more sense now!

@lisakaufman3029 Год назад

This one! This one! This one clears up sooo many questions I've been asking myself about Jessica! I love that she's open to repping a different genre for a client because she would love anything written by them! Also, I love that she's open to a variety of genres for a challenge! Just fanfabulous both of you!📚

@erikaromerowrites Год назад

This was very informative. Thank you!

@ELIrwin-od5xo Год назад

Thank you!! It’s good to know I’m not the only one who collects cookbooks I’ll never use, lol.

@Ruthie888 Год назад

Thank you for enriching our understanding of your world.

@dlshelton1218 Год назад

Jessica, here are my thoughts on cookbooks: I adore them, and I own WAY more than I should. Why? Because I don't cook. At all. Unless you consider making scrambled eggs with whole-wheat toast once or twice a year cooking, which no sane person does. But cookbooks are so gorgeous! I write what I like to read, which is mainly psychological thrillers, especially with humor sprinkled in. I did read a sci-fi recently, and it was a refreshing change of pace ((The Ferryman by Justin Cronin). I admire you and James and your entire agency for stepping out and trying new things. That takes a special kind of mindset. Editing now. Hope to query before the end of the year...

@Wisteraverse Год назад

Brilliant! Thanks for sharing your great insight. I have a question about this. First, let's establish that one should always check the agent's wishlist. & I would NEVER send an agent something that isn't on their list. Second, a common way to research agents is also to look at books one likes that are similar to one's own manuscript & look up the agents of those authors. Now, my question is how to decide whether the agents of books similar to mine (e.g., my comps) are still interested enough in books like mine. An agent might still rep. that (sub)genre. But they likely don't wish to take on clients whose works are in direct competition with their existing clients. In other words, my dilemma is whether an agent representing books similar to my manuscript would be a good fit, or are they too close to this type of book to want yet another client? How similar is too similar? I look forward to and highly appreciate your response.

@BookEndsLiterary Год назад

Hi! This would likely be dependent on what you're comping. If you're comping tone or voice, for example, that can still mean your book is very different from the book the agent reps and won't be in conflict. But if you're comping for specific plot elements, there might be a chance that they find your manuscript to be too similar for them to want to take on. BUT, you won't really ever know unless you query them, so if your manuscript feels like a good fit for their previous books and their current MSWL, you should always feel empowered to just go for it and hope you're a fit!

@Wisteraverse Год назад

@@BookEndsLiterary Thanks a lot for your very helpful response. You're indeed right that I should give it a try. The worst that can happen is a form rejection.

@ArtbyMSB 9 месяцев назад

I am writing about finance in the stock market, books about wizards , and books about Aerospace. Just started writing 1 month ago.

@MrKmariah Год назад

Interesting and helpful. Thanks!

@devlynd9338 Год назад

Thank you so much for the insights. James - when are you open again for queries? 🙏😊

@BookEndsLiterary Год назад

James is open for queries, but only for certain adult fiction genres at the moment!

@devlynd9338 Год назад

@@BookEndsLiterary oh wonderful! Thank you for the response. I wanted to pitch my adult mystery novel to him but saw that he was closed to queries on QueryTracker.

@ArtbyMSB 9 месяцев назад

I just wrote my first 3k word day yesterday. It was awesome about 1k words per hour. You guys help out a lot

@ArtbyMSB 9 месяцев назад

Thank You!

@celesteturner6912 Год назад

Great session today. I am writing picture books & middle grade novels. If an agent says they represent both how do I know which one to submit with the query? I also enjoyed Jessica's pre-query IG video.

@BookEndsLiterary Год назад

We typically recommend querying with your newest and most polished book, and then mentioning in your query letter that you write in other age ranges/genres, too!

@avimanyudatta Год назад

If an author self-published a series (two of three books) and has been successful (selling close to 20,000 paid downloads, with over 4.6* on Amazon crossing 600 ratings), would it hurt or help if they were to pitch a new book to an agent?

@samp4050 Год назад

My historical romance fiction, family drama, ms is finally done and I'm sending it out and hoping to get a literary agent. Now I'm writing my second book, which is a paranormal romance. I also have another idea about a totally different story, which I'm not even sure which genre it would fall under yet. 😅 I hope to find an agent who will like all my different books, as my stories ideas or inspiration can come from anywhere. My historical romance story originated from a dream I had a few years ago, but only recently finished it. I think it's good to be open to various things. 😊

@samp4050 Год назад

Jessica, are you open to historical romance ms from other countries? 😊

@BookEndsLiterary Год назад

Jessica typically is not open to romance unless it's a subplot to a different genre. Good luck finding an agent for your projects!

@samp4050 Год назад

@@BookEndsLiterary thanks. Love your channel.

@1ktales Год назад

How an agent builds their list: They throw out their nets and let the fish jump in. :p idk, you guys make agenting sound like writing -- ie, starting with a rough idea of what you want to do, then figuring out what works. (Or, in other words, maybe someday I'll become a picture book author.)

@dorothynesbit8864 Год назад

Does the agency have a “mission” in terms of the kind of books you want to bring to the world or is everyone running their own little entrepreneurial shop?

@BookEndsLiterary Год назад

Hi! BookEnds does have a mission, which is listed on our website: to uplift marginalized voices and increase diversity in publishing. That's something all of our agents feel strongly about, which is why it became our collective mission statement. But as contract workers, our agents also all have their own individual goals and missions that they want to achieve, as well as their own genre preferences, which they determine on their own :)

@ArtbyMSB 9 месяцев назад

I have a recipe for Jessica if she wants it or for James

@jimmychurch9588 Год назад

Apparently, not by signing me haha.

@jamesgossweiler1349 Год назад

It's positively quaint how you two keep bantering about the dying garden called traditional publishing. Amazon is utterly consuming...like a gator gulping a carp...the publishing industry. The traditional publishing industry protocol of chasing literary agents around to get a book deal and then waiting years for actual publication is as dated as the spittoon.