Agent Interview: Meg Davis

Distinctive maybe bonkers

Caroline Montgomery for her taste, style and integrity; Lorella Belli for her fire and energy; Andrew Lownie, king of non-fiction; Christine Green, a class act; Becky Thomas, inspired; James Wills, an irresistible force; Donald Winchester, articulate, intelligent and effective; Laetitia Rutherford, a powerhouse; Megan Carroll, 5000 watt brain; the awesome team that is Jane Graham Maw and Jen Christie; and others including Heather Holden-Brown, Lizzy Kremer, Emma Paterson, Isobel Dixon, Oli Munson, John Berlyne, Judith Murdoch, Rupert Heath, Barbara Levy, Jane Judd, Luigi Bonomi, Lisa Eveleigh and Gordon Wise.

(Besides my clients:) R A Lafferty, Frances Hardinge, Philip Pullman, Mikhael Bulgakov

I formulate a plan with each client, and review it regularly. You can't leave this business to luck; it takes a proactive and informed strategy. I keep on top of industry developments, whether it's changes in personnel or where contractual terms can be improved. I work in both books and scripts, so can handle a wide variety of material across most media.

Please follow our guidelines on our website. We'll always get over any mistakes if the material is good, but helping us deal with your material means the best and most prompt response.

I like it if you get my name right, although I've been called Luigi and all sorts; it just shows you've got a professional attitude. A brief factual description of the work (e.g. 'This is a sci fi novel about a woman who's lost everything, and must find the reserves within herself to gain the life she actually should have. My inspiration was a short story by Ernest Hemingway, because it made me angry and I thought I could make his point better. This should appeal to readers of China Mieville and Doris Lessing.') Leave out the adjectives (e.g. 'This towering work of the imagination with rock you with its power'). Finally, a bit about yourself (e.g. 'I work in the public sector and have had a couple of short stories published, but this is my debut' or 'I have six successful novels under my belt but my current agent and I no longer see eye to eye.')

Professional-minded but distinctive. In other words, I like an author who realises that we all love exciting books, but it's a business too and their book represents an investment on the part of agents and publishers. Why should we invest in it? Because it tells a good story, loves its characters, says something about the world, and honours the contract with its reader that it will make it worth the reader's time and money.

Asking me first if it's OK to submit (thereby causing me one more stage in an already labour-intensive process); sending me work in genres I don't cover; sending me work from the States on the basis that no one in the US understands it because it's too literary or intelligent; sending a blurb rather than a synopsis (I need to know the actual whole story); apologising in advance.

Any publishing credentials (or not). Whether we've met, or I've considered something else by them previously and liked it. Whether they've been recommended to send me something, and who recommended them. Which authors they think their writing is like, or whose writing they enjoy, and what readership they see for their book. (Often we get word count, number of chapters, chapter titles, other statistics - this isn't so relevant.)

It varies every time. Sometimes you make a connection with a work, and read the whole thing. Sometimes you know instantly that you've been sent something before it's ready, or it's just not something you can sell with any conviction. In some extreme cases, if I've had a strong negative reaction, I'll read it again in case I was just in a bad mood and judged the book harshly.

The writer and I meet first; they might not want to be represented by me, once they've met me. It's a two-way street. We discuss how I would sell the book, and how they want this done. We also talk about their other work that might be unsold, their future plans, etc, looking about 2-5 years ahead. Then I send them a letter of representation. After that, I discuss the submission plan with them in more detail, according to which publishers I think would be right and who they want to have their book submitted to. Often I work on the submission letter with the writer, to make sure they're satisfied with how the book is being presented to the publisher. Writers often come up with better phrases than I do. Then I start submitting. We check in as I start to get responses, and over time review the plan for their work.

First, the banking; any clients who've had money come in for them usually have it in their bank account by 10:30. Then, the emails that have come in overnight - everyday admin and maintenance. Contracts are the next priority, then keeping on top of submissions and chasing. Some days get overtaken by problem-solving, e.g. a film goes into production and the finance schedule needs re-working, or a client who's an expert in something that's become suddenly topical needs to spend the day doing interviews co-ordinated by me. Most days I have meetings with publishers and producers, so I know who's buying what, and am out there selling clients' work.