Mslexia

How many manuscripts do you get?

About 5,000 a year, but I only see about 200 of those. I employ a reader to do an initial assessment and she passes the possibles to my in-house editor, Stephanie Glencross, for a closer look. Then if Stephanie finds something exceptional, she’ll put it on my desk. Last year we only took on two new authors, so it’s an incredibly time-consuming and expensive process. However, it means our hit rate is very high. Last year we sold two of the three new authors we sent out.

Please talk us through a recent sale.

The author’s name is Belinda Bauer and her novel, Blacklands, had been shortlisted for a Debut Dagger Award, the annual competition for unpublished authors run by the Crime Writers’ Association. Belinda had been employed as a script writer for ten years, but was fed up with working on scripts that were never made into films -- so she turned one of them into a novel.

The story’s from the point of view of a 12-year-old boy who is searching for the body of his dead uncle and starts corresponding with the man who might be his murderer. It’s very grisly but beautifully written. The hairs literally stood up on the back of my neck when I read it.

Unfortunately I wasn’t the only agent who’d seen the manuscript, so I found myself in a ‘beauty contest’, vying with the others to take her on – which is not at all how I normally do business! Fortunately she decided to come with us and the book sold straight away for a very big pre-empt – that’s when a publisher offers a larger amount on condition we don’t offer the typescript to anyone else.

How long does it take to place a book?

With Blacklands it was a matter of days, but others can take much longer. The Gift of Rain by Tan Twan Eng went through seven rewrites in five years and was turned down by almost every publisher I sent it to. In the end I sold it for a very small sum to a tiny independent, but it went on to be longlisted for the ManBooker Prize.

On average we probably work on a book for about two years before it is sent out to publishers. We do this because an author has to hit the ground running these days; the typescript has to be as perfect as the author can make it, which usually involves at least one rewrite.

How did you come to represent Val Mcdermid?

It was soon after we started the agency. We’d decided to specialise in crime, so we looked through the publishers’ lists and approached every writer we liked who didn’t have an agent. Val came to see us and we have represented her ever since.

What’s the ideal approach from a new author?

I prefer a query letter in the first instance, either by post or email. A short paragraph telling us a bit about who you are and why you’ve written the book, and a paragraph on what the book’s about. If it can’t be described in a brief paragraph, there’s a problem – because that’s how books are sold. Then, if we like the idea, we’ll ask to see a complete synopsis and the first three chapters.

What makes you sit up?

The quality of the writing is the most important thing. Either you’ve got it or you haven’t. We can always help with the plot, but we can’t help someone write well. The climate is so tough these days, a book also has to be classifiable into a genre as it’s really hard to establish a new author. I sold a book recently to Australia and France, but I still have not been able to interest the Brits or the Americans.

What turns you off?

Most of the hopeless typescripts are sifted out before I see them, but I remember looking at the website of one author we were considering and he was so full of himself that, needless to say, we didn’t take him on.

We always want to meet an author before offering to represent them. You can tell a lot by a potential client’s body language. If you suggest changes to the typescript a good author immediately starts thinking of ways to solve a problem. However, there are others who just fold their arms across their chests and you know you will not be able to work with them.

What sort of thing are you looking for at the moment?

We specialise in crime and up-market commercial fiction. It is important that it’s well written, with interesting central characters. We are looking for original voices. Outside our own wonderful authors, I like the sort of thing Linwood Barclay does: ordinary people in extraordinary situations. However, recently I have read and admired books by Deon Meyer and Attica Locke.

Are there any shortcuts or tricks you can share with us?

There are no shortcuts or tricks. I think success is achieved by hard work. It is also important to be honest about yourself. If you’re not, you’ll always be found out and it will reflect badly on you.

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