Agent Interview: Dean Krystek

Character-driven fiction

Richard Curtis

Fiction; Andre Norton, JD Salinger, William Goldman, Joseph Heller, Alistair Maclean, Ransom Riggs, Bill Rivers,
Non-fiction: Rick Atkinson, John C. McManus, Keith Nolan, Ian Toll

Having experienced conflict in South Asia and Southeast Asia, and having lived in Panama, Germany, Korea; the US's Northeast, Midwest, West, and Southeast, I have a well-grounded sense of empathy for divergent peoples and societies that help me ensure authentic representation of the uniqueness of the world's cultures and ethnic diversity in the projects I agent.

Follow the guidelines in website. For fiction: a well-written query that compels me to look at your attached writing sample. The query should be no more than two short, concise paragraphs. Include relevant comps. Give me a quick bio with writing credits, and any personal information that may be germane to the story you have written. Do not send complete manuscript.
For non-fiction: thoroughly researched, and detailed proposal unless you are submitting a memoir/autobiography, otherwise a partial manuscript (50pp} and synopsis.

Address to me, not the agency. Even if you are sending a "shotgun" query, be careful not to include all the other agency addresses in your email. If it is going to multiple agents, please let me know that you have sent it other agencies - I do not need to which agencies. Your pitch should be compelling and be no more that 2 short paragraphs. To consider a good query, you should include a tagline. When considering the text, write it as if I am picking up your book at a Barnes & Noble and looking at the dustjacket of a hardcover or the back cover of a paperback. Include comps, whether or not the book is part of a series, "blurbs" that you may have received from authors. A short bio with your publishing history, or self-published books you have authored.

Properly formatted, edited, edited, edited. For fiction bring me into the story at the start of something happening, in the middle of something happening, or after something has just happened. Don't provide a lot of backstory up front. Limited hyperbole, and don't load it with cliches. I cringe at "needle in a haystack". SHOW don't tell.

Don't follow directions on the website. Submit to multiple agents in the agency.

For fiction: just a short bio with publishing history (if any). The bio does not need to include family info, but if the author has relevant experience or interesting tidbits that are germane to the story that will catch the eye of an editor, please include. I do not need authors to self-identify just for the sake of self-identifying. That in itself does not come into the selection process for representation. It's the manuscript.
For nonfiction: be a subject matter expert in the area you are writing. Let me know your qualifications, education, professional associations -- any information about you that supports your authority to write the book.

For non-fiction: I read the proposal. If I may sign a client based on the proposal; however, the manuscript should be as sharp as the proposal.
For fiction: I read the sample chapters and if I'm not drawn in, I'll decline to see more. If I ask for a partial, I'll determine if I want the full manuscript. I may have a reader read the manuscript and do a reader's report, and then read myself and compare notes.

For non-fiction: I work with author to ensure the manuscript is "clean." I do little content editing as I rely on the author to ensure the content is accurate/truthful/and up to date. It must pass the editor's scrutiny, so normally the proposal is well-written and needs only a cursory review for typos/formatting, etc. Once the proposal is on submission, we work on the manuscript--essentially to catch typos or other inconsistencies that an editor will be sensitive to. Depending on the material I include the manuscript with the proposal, but not always.
For fiction: We do an edit/rewrite based upon my notes when evaluating the manuscript. It varies with the manuscript and how much work has to be done, but I do not put the manuscript on submission unless the author and I are both satisfied it is the best it can be. When submitting, I normally reach out to 5 of the editors I feel would be most receptive to the work (all "big-five" publishers). The query to the editor consists of a pitch that the author and I devise--normally including elements of the author's query to the agency--and the full manuscript. I submit the manuscript every 2 weeks to select editors and then we wait for responses.

Reading, reading, reading, and then after your read, you read some more. It also consists of reaching out to editors to follow up on submissions. Working with authors in developing their manuscripts. Researching contests/competitions, etc. to which to submit author books for consideration. Responding to phone calls from authors/editors/film-TV interests. Reviewing Publishers Weekly for relevant articles/tips.