Advice from literary agent Lucas Hunt

I was lucky to be able to interview the bright and creatively minded Lucas Hunt - literary agent at Orchard Literary in NYC. Most of the BookHive BuzzBlog from here on out will be interview based in order to serve writers and readers best! Here is what he had to say. 

1. Tell us who you are and where you're from.

My name is Lucas Hunt, and I am from Iowa, by way of The Hamptons.

Lucas Hunt of Orchard Literary

2. What is your professional background and how did you end up with Orchard Literary?

My professional background is in arts and literature. In college and graduate school, I worked at independent bookstores, and assisted various artists and writers. For the last eight years, I’ve worked as a literary agent and rights manager to represent the interests of authors.

3. What clients are Orchard Literary looking for?

Orchard Literary is looking for exceptional fiction and non-fiction. In fiction, we like strong literary voices with purpose, and a fine awareness of things great and small. Some writers I love are DH Lawrence, Simon Van Boy, Georges Simenon, and Michel Houellebecq. In non-fiction, we seek memoirs, essays, and book proposals by experts in their field; people who can prove their authority of a subject on the page, and have done some work in establishing their reputations as authors. I am especially fond of travel writing, cultural criticism and biography. We currently represent authors in the fields of health and wellness, business, cooking and interior design.

4. I'm sure it varies, but how many clients would you typically take in a year, and how does this compare to the number of submissions you receive?

I will take approximately ten clients per year, out of a sea of one thousand submissions.

5. How do you meet new clients, or how do they find you?

We look for outstanding writers online and in papers, magazines, journals, and literary reviews. Also we love referrals, and an immaculate submission via a query letter.

6. Walk us through a great query letter, and a not-so-great query letter.

Great query letter: Hello my name is and this is why I’m writing you. My project is basically about this. A paragraph about my project. A paragraph about me, and what I have done an author. There’s a sample attached. Thank you, goodbye!

Not so great: Dear Ms. Hunt I have seven books and plan twelve more under the name Maximilian Jonathan Franco because my first marriage turned disastrous and since my time as a spy in the CIA, which led alien counter mafia terrorist forces in the future, I cannot tell you anymore about it, but I will be famous I’m sure, and I must address other agents now, so attached are seven documents for you to review asap!

7. For the self-published author, what sales are you hoping to see from their previous book(s) in order to spark your interest? Or do you not take this into account?

Significant sales would be a plus, but what we are looking for is measurable growth beyond the numbers. And that means an author with a strong vision of how they want to be published, who their audience is, and what they are willing to do to contribute to the fulfillment of that vision. Sales are a qualitative indicator of engagement with people, and we like to work with authors who are committed.

8. What other ways can an author stand apart and get noticed?

Writing well is the best revenge. Other than that, they can take the time to invest in their work just as an agent would, by making submissions in online and print, magazines and literary journals. Your work is your gift to the world, begin the responsibility of sharing it with the world now.

9. In what state do you expect to see a manuscript? It might seem obvious, but spell it out.

New York, unless I’m traveling, then in California, Texas, or possibly Florida. In a polished, well-edited state.

10. How many editors will you typically submit to on the first round?

Ten editors.

11. If you get back a unanimous 'no' - what do yourself and the author do then?

We have a conversation about the possibility of making certain edits, and whether or not to make further submissions, based on the criticism we have received. We assess the comments, and make a decision of how to move forward.

12. What is the range of advances these days?

I have worked on deals from zero figure up to 8 figures. How many reader’s does an author bring to the table?

13. Once a manuscript is sold, how involved are you in the process through publication?

At Orchard Literary, we are very involved. We put out a press release, and up our social media presence on the authors behalf. We communicate with the editor, publicist and author to ensure the project moves ahead with real momentum. And we discuss what will come next with our author.

14. Any last advice to authors on how to break into traditional publishing?

Be true to your work. Be your own agent until you really need one. Be untraditional and unconventional.

That's it for this month! And for all the authors out there - take advantage of BookHive's $100 coupon off our services for the rest of the summer. Coupon code BUZZ. Find out more about how we test Fiction, YA/Middle Grade & Memoir with our awesome beta reader data base at our site: www.bookhivecorp.com

Jennifer Bowen, QueenBee, CEO & Founder, of BookHive Corp., thanks you for reading this blog and sharing it if you found it helpful on those good old social media platforms that you visit. Any questions about testing your book or bigger life ponderings, she can be reached at jbowen@bookhivecorp.com

Book Advertising - the 411

I met some fine folks from AdBiblio at the San Francisco Writers Conference this year. I'm as much in a place to learn as my fellow Authors and Readers, so sat down with Mary Beth Grossman from AdBiblio which does Book advertising online. Find out what I learned about the choices an Author has when promoting their book in this interview!

Jennifer Bowen: What's your background Mary? How did you find yourself at Blog Ads/AdBiblio?

Mary Beth Grossman: I’m originally from Pittsburgh, PA (Go Steelers!) but moved down to North Carolina to study communications at Elon University. I’ve always been an avid reader with a strong interest in the book industry, so I was beyond thrilled when I landed a position at Blogads in Durham, NC. It’s wonderful to be working directly with publishers and authors to connect books with readers.

JB: How did the division AdBiblio get started?

MBG: AdBiblio grows out of Blogads.com, which started in 2002. We helped advertisers get onto specific blogs, and publishers loved the specificity of some of those blogs -- vampires or knitting or cute animals. But there came a point where clients would come to us with unique books, and we just did not have blogs that fit those books particular niche. We needed to find a way to target the readers themselves whether the blog existed or not, wherever they were on the web. And so, we began to use third party data and our own data to target users by demographics, traits, genre preferences and location across the web. The technology allows us to target specific readers on thousands of sites, including sites like People, CNN and The New York Times.  Rather than buying an ad on just one of those sites and only really connecting with 1 in 10,000 readers who are interested in the niche, we ignore the 9,999 and follow that one reader wherever they are on the web.

We also believe that different products need different ad types, so we’ve spent a lot of time creating book-specific ads.  For example, we’ve got a unit that lets someone sample a chapter from a book. We’ve got another unit that’s specifically designed for book events. We’ve created ads that let readers see different panels of a picture book. And we’ve got units that let an author easily push out a video trailer. We can even let an author display three or four versions of a first chapter and see which gets the best reactions from potential readers in a specific target audience, say women in their 40s who have a history of buying romance novels.

JB: At what point would an Author use your services?

MBG: AdBiblio works best when an author understands that success only comes with planning and persistence.

We all know that the media landscape is crazily competitive, and getting more so every day. We’ve essentially bred a monster that exists to eat people’s time. Media companies -- ranging from Disney to HBO to Buzzfeed to Electronic Arts to the NFL to Netflix -- are pumping out really entertaining content to compete for people's’ time and attention. And people themselves are competing too, pumping out stories and photos on Twitter and Facebook and Instagram, and begging for each to be liked or clicked or forwarded. The whole ecosystem is shaped by organisms evolving constantly to compete for every available second of every day. On top of this, self-publishing technology and e-books mean there are now 1 million books a year competing for people’s time. Again, take it all together and you’ve got a monster that just consumes every spare second of peoples’ lives.

So, an author can either treat her book as a lottery ticket -- praying that it will be the one in 10 million that gets discovered and celebrated without any work. Or an author can be proactive and go to war with the monster. Do a book tour, even if its just 3 local book shops. Cultivate relationships with key bloggers. Get review copies into the hands of key people. Tweet. Go to conferences. Tell friends and neighbors. And then do it all again. To tie all this together, advertising is a great way to hammer home your book’s presence, to remind readers of your book. All this, taken together, says to readers -- I take you seriously, you need to take me seriously.

Think of it this way. If someone just knocked on your front door once and said “I’ve got a really interesting story -- pay me $10 and I’ll take 6 hours of your time to tell you the story,” would you accept the offer? Heck no.  But maybe if you heard about this story from friends, and the person came back once a week for two months… maybe then you’d be a lot more likely to say “heck, here’s $10. Go ahead, tell me that story!”

Mary Beth Grossman

Sales Account Manager

AdBiblio

JB: How do you track how well an ad is doing? How does this information make its way to the Author?

MBG: We’re behind the scenes every day checking on each ad that is running. At the end of the campaign, an author receives a custom report detailing total interactions (includes clicks and hovers), the types of people who interacted with the ads and where the ad ran. She’ll also receive screenshots of their ads on top sites, which can help show book shop owners or potential partners that you’re serious.

JB: What kind of budget range do you work with?

MBG: It completely varies on the client, but our campaigns begin at $500. This starting price point allows us to give the client the best experience, from a uniquely designed ad, niche targeting on top sites and day-to-day optimization for the best performance.

JB: Do you create the ad completely? I'm curious what the process is like when creating the ad for each specific Author.

MBG: We do! We have a blast creating ads for authors to use in our campaigns and anywhere else they choose. Depending on the type of ad, an author or publisher will send us chapter text, book cover or images and any blurbs or reviews. Ads can link to any landing page they would like, such as their Amazon page or author page. Of course, we send mock-ups for approval before it goes live.

JB: Any great success stories of Author(s) using your services?

We ran an event ad for a Lev Grossman event at Fly Leaf Bookstore in Chapel Hill. Audience attendance increased by 25%!

To find out more, visit their website: http://www.adbiblio.com

www.book-hive.com

Marketing 'yer book!

I met Beth Kallman Werner when we both spoke on the Marketing 101 panel at the Self-Publishing Book Expo this past November in New York City. The Founder and President of Author Connections, Beth has been a professional editor and marketer for 20 years. She has worked on book marketing and special media projects with Random House, Penguin, Hachette, MacMillan, Chronicle, Scholastic, FSG, Wiley, and many others. She has also counseled countless indie authors on how to successfully bring new titles to market.

In a nut shell, she seemed like a smart cookie to me, as well as the kind of editor a writer would feel comfortable with. In this interview, Beth covers what it takes to get your book out there, and how to do it successfully.

Jennifer Bowen: Hi Beth! Can you tell me about Author Connections and how it got started?

Beth Kallman Werner: After 20 years editing and multimedia marketing in various industries, in 2008 I became Director of Marketing and Sales for Kirkus, and learned first-hand about the needs and marketing challenges of authors and publishers. Author Connections is a company I started in 2010 to serve those needs with training, guidance, platform development, custom promotion roadmaps, and soup to nuts professional editing.

JB: At the panel at the Self-Publishing Expo, you discussed the four 'P's' as the key points of Marketing oneself. Can you elaborate?

BKW: Product: What is the hook, key benefit or distinguishing advantage to your book?

Position: Who is the target audience and how will you best place this book in front of them?

Price: What is the sweet spot for each edition and selling point to provide best value and maintain healthiest possible margins?

Promotion: What are your goals? (short term and long term, professional and personal, financial vs. creative, etc.) Based on goals, preferences, resources, experience, capabilities, and many realistic factors, build a platform with layers to achieve objectives and support the title or author brand successfully. Layers may include a wide variety of communication and media options.

JB: What are the common pitfalls you see new authors make?

BKW: Not planning in advance. Not scheduling a budget and flexible, realistic timeline. Not paying attention to editing and proofreading and overall product quality, professional cover design, formatting and production. It takes many skills and standards to produce an excellent book and bring it to market. If authors do not take their books seriously, do not expect readers to.

JB: When should someone get started when they think they want to self-publish in terms of tackling a marketing strategy? And what steps should they take?

BKW: Start planning a rough marketing strategy as you write. Be true to your vision, but consider who you are writing for. How will your book stand out in its genre? What makes it different? Worthy of people's precious time and money? These can be hard questions, but important to consider and answer. Set up social media pages and broad timeline 10-12 months ahead of launch. Get busy on social media at least 6 months prior to launch. Publish with an audience already anticipating the book.

JB: On your website you mention the ways to increase book sales, can you elaborate on that?

BKW: A platform is the structure of layers on which you stand to promote your book and author brand. This may include a variety of communication/engagement methods particular to each title, author, readership - possibly including but not limited to: print advertising, online advertising, blogging, SEO, social media, events and appearances, readings and signings, direct mail, reviews, trailers, podcasts, widgets, PR, giveaways, book clubs, etc.

JB: Thanks Beth! I sure learned a lot myself.

To find out more information on Author Connections and how they can help, visit their website: www.authorconnections.com

www.book-hive.com