Blogger: Michelle Ule
Sitting in for Janet Grant.
Changes at a Literary Agency since 2004
I’ve been working for Books & Such since January 2004.
(It’s now called Books and Such Literary Management).
I initially signed on to help with taxes that year, but the work was so interesting, that I’ve remained ever since!
It’s a pleasure and honor to work for Janet Kobobel Grant and with all the agents: Rachel Kent, Wendy Lawton, Barb Roose, Debbie Alsdorf, and Cynthia Ruchti. (Not to mention the agents who retired or moved on!)
I work behind the scenes (as does Ginny Smith), so my role is to support editorial work, client needs, questions, royalties, retreat planning, and routine office activities. I also take the minutes because I’m the fastest typist.
I’m still happy to come to work–but literary agency work has changed in eighteen years!
Handling the literary agency mail
When I first began working beside Janet in a small office, my main function was dealing with the mail.
Books & Such both received and sent out a lot of physical mail in those busy pre-Internet days.
The US postal service brought queries, manuscripts, royalties, checks, and general questions.
I opened, sorted, and dealt with it. (Please do NOT send us queries in the mail! You can read how to query us here).
Some days I spent my entire work shift responding to queries on which Janet had written “yes” or “no.”
She marked most of them “no,” which made for sad days of typing a physical letter, handing it to her to sign, and then putting it into a SASE.
(When I got home, my husband would look at me and say, “are we even having dinner tonight?” It’s emotionally difficult to write rejections all day long.)
We also visited the post office nearly every day, sending out royalty checks, statements, and bulky envelopes full of fresh manuscripts to publishers.
Which brings me to:
While we always received queries through email, we decided circa 2006 to change our policy to email-only queries.Â
That simplified the process for both us and hopeful writers.
We received between 600-700 queries a month in the early years.
(The number now is closer to 400 monthly queries).
I sorted them into possibilities and non-possibilities and then passed them on to the appropriate agents.
(Some of this is easy. I know what Books & Such represents and what it doesn’t. Agents tell me what they want or don’t want. Mafia, Harry Potter knock-offs, Vampires, sex-infused novels, and so forth–don’t fit our model. See our submissions page for details.)
Books & Such personnel read every query that fits into our requested genres.
We use a lot less paper and visit the post office far less often now.
Literary Agency Royalties
We still process a mountain of royalty reports every month, most sent through electronic mail.
We log in the numbers, sort the royalty reports, scan them for our files, file the paper versions, and email the reports to our clients.
It takes a lot of time to process royalties and we work very hard to be accurate.
Writing the checks or sending money through electronic means is a happy day at work!
The Internet
Books & Such Literary Agency has always had a presence on the Internet, but it is far more involved now.
In 2008, we set up our website and the agents began blogging.
The website is FULL of resource material, not to mention 14 years of blog posts on all sorts of information related to publishing, writing, books, and industry news.
We’ve had a presence on Facebook for about thirteen years. The agents have their own Twitter accounts.
With our clients, we’ve held meetings and tutorials online and are always open to effective ways to use technology.
Webinars for our clients, Zoom visits, conversations with editors, and so forth means we spend a lot of the waking day staring at our computers–just like you.
Our staff meetings, for example, always have been held on line since the agents live in four different states.
The agents, like publishing editors, use track changes while editing manuscripts, putting together proposals, and demonstrating needed changes with their clients’ work.
The Ipad is now a necessary tool for reading manuscripts!
The Industry
Nothing remains the same for long in any industry. Publishing is no exception.
Books & Such agents have always has been business-savvy and ready to move ahead.
That’s why it’s such an interesting place to work.
The Agents
Janet was the sole agent when I began.
Each of the new additions brought excitement, a different perspective, new skills, and enthusiasm to their partnership.
Their creativity often stretches me!
Each agent in her own way is a wonderful asset–and joy–to my job.
I cannot think of more reputable, honest, and godly women to work with–truly, it’s an honor to serve them.
Books and Authors
The writers and their books have always been at the heart of Books & Such.
The best day is when a book sells and we all rejoice together.
We get a copy of our clients’ books here at the office when they’re published. We love to examine the cover together, touch the pages, and smile at our author’s photo on the back.
It’s even more wonderful to see their books “out in the wild,” at airports, bookstores, on readers’ laps, and in magazine reviews.
Many of the authors have become my personal friends and I love to greet them at conferences, retreats, and when they come to town.
I’m so thankful I stayed on to work with Books & Such Literary Agency after I finished helping with the taxes in 2004!
Did any of these changes surprise you?
Tweetables
Changes at a literary agency since 2004. Click to Tweet
Such are the changes that were wrought
by time and fate in life and world
that we may be forgiven thought
that we all, perforce, are hurled
into a science-fiction realm
in which our thoughts are rays of light
that power vessels at whose helm
stands a dark-robed Jedi knight,
master of a Force unseen
and far beyond our longing ken,
a Force that will decide the Dream,
and judging thus, remind of when
rejected paper manuscript
was in a costly SASE shipped.
How fun is this? I get to read POETRY at work, too! 🙂
Thanks, Andrew.
What a fun post to read–thanks for sharing, Michelle! And for all you do “behind the scenes” to help Books & Such run so smoothly! What a blessing this agency is to this world.
A fun read, yes! Brought back memories of typewriters and WordStar!
WordStar! Oh, my!
Wow, Michelle! This post takes me back to my first years when I barely hoped I had enough nerve to simply study writing. I took a two-year correspondence course while at Bible college that finished up around 2003 I think? One of my last assignments was to research literary agents. I completed my course with a picture book manuscript and my goodness, it was hard to find a Christian agent who wanted picture books. Actually, I never did but since Janet Grant had worked on the Christie Miller books, she was my closest match. I found Janet via the old website that didn’t have a blog, but did have an article about choosing an agent and submission guidelines. She was the very first agent I queried and the first who rejected me. She was not the last, ha! I have loved watching Books & Such grow over the years and have received very kind rejection letters from five different Books & Such agents … maybe some of these were from you, Michelle! Thank you for all that you do to give writers a chance at finding an agent. I know that all of the Books & Such agents would have so much less time to do agenting if you were not there, behind the scenes, keeping it all running smoothly. God Bless as you serve Him with the written word and help the whole team as they do so as well!
The joy and privilege has been mine, Kristen.
Actually, I do recognize your name. But I think it’s from your participation here, not from any letter I ever typed!
Blessings on your work.
I was so surprised and delighted to read this! Regardless of the business, how very rare it is to get a glimpse behind the watch face, and how fascinating it is to hear from those who keep the gears clicking and the clock ticking. I feel like I’ve had a tour through the inner chambers of Books & Such. Thank you for sharing these insider moments with us!
This was fascinating. Thanks for sharing, Michelle!
So many changes! Thank you, Michelle, for all the work you’ve done over the years to keep Books & Such running like a well-oiled machine!
LOL! It’s all glamor here at the computer screen. 😉
Thank you for your very interesting post. Change is inevitable, but I noticed that the changes you describe reflect a special unity and grace within your agency. You are to be commended. 🙂
Change can be a both a joy and a challenge–as everyone knows, but you’re right, MaryAnn (another name I recognize). Change done with grace–and in our case laughter way too often–can benefit us all. Working at B&S means I’ve learned many tasks I probably never would have bothered with–all for my own good.
But the people–the agents, the clients, the editors, and all the writers I’ve bet in whatever guise–are the true fun of coming to work.
Yes, laughter! You are right, Michelle! 🙂 How would we survive without laughter! It is one of God’s greatest gifts to us, I think.
P.S. I was so surprised you recognize my name!
Michelle, it’s fun to read the history of Books and Such Literary Management. 🙂 I didn’t realize you’d been a part of the agency for that long. You’ve seen a lot of change! Thanks for sharing it here, along with your perspective on how things have changed and grown with the agency!
Love this, Michelle. Thanks for sharing.