Literary Agent, Mark McVeigh sat down with me via Skype and answered my extensive list of questions. Mark gave me permission to share our discussion with you, my blog friends. (A word of advice…Practice using Skype several times before you talk to an agent. I got into a bit of a tizzy when I could see and hear Mark, but he couldn’t hear me. I do have to smile when I think of him holding up a sign that said “Volume.”)
Mark taught elementary school, in Brooklyn, from 1993-1997. He then went to work for Golden Books as an editorial assistant. Mark has written many books for young reader, almost all under pen names. He worked in editorial positions for eleven years before he switched roles and opened his own literary agency. The McVeigh Agency is a boutique literary agency handling writers, illustrators, photographers, and graphic novelists for both the adult and children’s markets. Mark recently joined the blogging community. If you haven’t had the opportunity to hop over there and become a follower, now is as good of time as any…but be sure to come back and read my Skype interview with Mark.
In Part One of my interview with Literary Agent Mark McVeigh I’m going to address the issue of query letters…
Me: “Mark, do funny query letters work?”
Mark: “What makes a good query letters is very subjective. I like them to read as if the author is writing to a lawyer, very direct and clear; only including materials relevant to the manuscript you are submitting. The first paragraph should be brief and about yourself. Are you a librarian, a teacher, or something that relates to the manuscript? Do you work with kids? The second paragraph is your pitch. Imagine you have six seconds to tell me about your book, and write your pitch that way. NO RAMBLING! Mention the setting, the main character, the conflict, and the resolution. If you can fit it in, make a comparison to something currently popular in the media. For example, I think Modern Family is hilarious, say I got a query that said the main character had a similar voice to the oldest daughter in Modern Family, I’ll want to see it. The third paragraph should be 75-100 word synopsis of your manuscript. That’s about it. Anything else isn’t really necessary. People often describe their motivations for writing the manuscript. I don’t think that’s helpful.”
Me: “Should you include National Reading Standards if you know they fit your manuscript.”
Mark: “You can, but be brief.”
Me: “Should you send a thank you to an agent after a response to your query or is it just more mail in their inbox?”
Mark: “I prefer it when people close their business correspondence with ‘Thank You’ in advance. A follow up email or letter uses up time I could be spending with manuscripts.”
Me: “One agent I queried suggested I submit a manuscript to a specific editor at a specific publishing house. Should I send him a thank you for that suggestion?”
Mark: “I don’t think so. Only send him a thank you if the editor expresses an interest in that manuscript. Then email the agent, specifically thanking him for pointing you in the right direction and letting him know that the editor requested to see your manuscript. The agent will store this information, in his mind, for future contact he might have with you.”
Me: “When you receive a query, do you Google the potential client?”
Mark: “I don’t Google them, but if they say they are a published author I look on Amazon for their book, and then Publisher’s Marketplace to look up the publishing house, if I haven’t heard of it.”
Me: “Do contests and magazine articles listed in a query impress agents?”
Mark: “Unless you won a big contest, run by a publishing house, I wouldn’t necessarily put it in a query. Don’t put anything in the query unless it relates to what you are submitting, or your platform.”
Me: “That leads right to my next question. What is a platform?”
Mark: “A platform is any media based entity you have that puts you out there for people to read or experience in some way. It could be a blog, a local radio chat, contacts you have with the media, even Twitter. You should be tweeting.”
Me: “I’m glad I caught your Tweet. It landed me this opportunity to visit with you. But Twitter is something I have to get better at.”
Me: “How do you pitch yourself to an agent verses pitching a project?”
Mark: “You don’t pitch yourself, you pitch your manuscript. An agent chooses clients based on the book they are presenting. That said, I do look for clients who have ideas for more than one book in them.”
Cynthia Smith interviewed Mark in 2009. She asked him who would be a dream client. Mark said, “Someone who has both a voice and a message, is willing to work at both their craft and the business of publishing, and knows it takes time to build a career.”
Mark is a genuinely nice guy. Hop over to his blog , become a follower, then hop over to his website and read his submission guidelines .
I hope you'll come back tomorrow when I’ll be posting the rest of my interview with Literary Agent Mark McVeigh…
