It's All Worth It: Signing an Author

As an intern at a literary agency, I deal with one of the least desirable tasks in the industry: the slush pile.  An agent at a well-respected company receives over a hundred and fifty queries a week, so hopefully you understand why they can't read every single one.  Most agents ignore nearly all of the queries, selectively picking out manuscripts from established authors looking for new representation. If you submitted work to a literary agency, chances are it's being read by an unqualified intern such as myself.

Spending eight hours a day reading godawful manuscripts can be pretty disheartening.  There are only so many times I can read mistakes like "with all doo respect" and "those fowl comments" before I want to throw my computer at the wall.  According to my boss, it's rare to find something worth reading in the slush pile.  As to the possibility of finding a manuscript worth representing...well, have you ever heard of the lottery?

On June 9, 2014, I won the lottery.  Not the actual lottery, which I would have preferred because I'm greedy and lazy, but rather the lottery of discovering a fantastic unpublished writer.  Without going into too much detail, I would describe this writer's manuscript as depressing, eye-opening, funny, and powerful.  At first, reading her book turned me all cold and tingly—then it made me feel like Superman.

My co-workers appreciated my enthusiasm, but requested I wear more than a speedo and cape.

I spent the rest of the week harassing my boss—let's call him Charlie—to read the sample pages from her submission.  Charlie told me to get more material, so I emailed the author and asked for the next fifty pages.  After she replied to my request with the proper attachment, I forwarded the email to Charlie and resumed my pestering.  He finally relented and read the book, but expressed concerns about the author's platform as well as the pacing of the text.  In response, I wrote a three page report explaining why his criticisms were entirely invalid.

By some miracle, this convinced him that her book was worth representing.  Satisfied at last, Charlie approved Folio's legal team to mail her a contract.  She came to our office this past Tuesday to discuss the marketing plan for her book.  An important client called Charlie minutes before her arrival, so it fell to me—a lowly intern!—to receive our newest writer.  I escorted her to the conference room, asked if she wanted a beverage, and then proceeded to have an amazing chat about her book.  Once Charlie joined us, I sat back and listened to their conversation.

As of now, Folio is representing this author.  Unless she backs out of the contract, we'll represent her book.  All of my hours slogging through dreadful manuscripts—all of it was for this.


Follow @LiteraryGaming