Blogger: Rachel Zurakowski
Location: Books & Such Main Office, Santa Rosa, Calif.
Thursdays are often spent making phone calls to editors, clients, and potential clients.
I always have at least one phone conversation with a potential client before I’ll represent him or her. So, yes, that means I’ll represent someone I’ve never met. (I still have about half of my clients to meet.) While a phone call isn’t as good as meeting in person, I can get a feel for an individual’s personality and how he or she works with others. This is also a good time to discuss expectations and dreams.
When I talk with my clients, we brainstorm together or discuss schedules for deadlines, releases, etc. Sometimes we put together a plan of action for the author’s future. In our agency, an agent will help an author to figure out how many books he or she can produce and market while balancing life. We’ll also direct an author toward ideas within his area of expertise that we believe we can sell to a publisher. And sometimes we need to advise a client as to which publishing house we think is a better fit for her book, if two or more are interested in purchasing the project. We bring insider knowledge about the marketing department, editors, contracts, ability to create an effective cover, level of interest in maintaining strong relationships with authors, and more that we balance to make a suggestion to a client. (Notice that the decision isn’t always about which publisher is offering the most money. We view that as a shortsighted reason to use solely in choosing a publisher.) All of this falls under “career counsel.”
When I talk with editors, I like to discuss what kinds of projects they are looking for. This is a great way for me to get up-to-date information for my clients, and I also use this information when I’m requesting projects from my query pile. I’ll also talk with editors about concerns my client or I might have about a project in the works with that publishing house.
When agents have “phone days,” it does cause the rest of the work to pile up, but these calls are so important!
Thanks for the insight, Rachel! I see another advantage to having an agent–a brainstorming partner. Have fun today as you spend time on the phone.
No coffee on Thursdays? Nice job this week. Thank you for your posts.
Michael, I posted the answer to your question in the blog post! 🙂 It was an iced caramel macchiato. MMMMMmmmmm.
I love reading this series. My days play out quite differently–except for the coffee, of course!
It’s encouraging to know you advise your clients as to the best publishing house fit for their books. Something we, as authors, don’t always know.
Rachel, thanks for much for sharing. I’ve heard that agents are/can be a writer’s best friend. You sound like you take that one step further.
Repping a writer’s career is very different than repping a project. I admire your philosophy in this and how active you are in accomplishing it.
~cat