Agent Interviews

Review my website
Tell the truth
Stay the course

Follow our guidelines, and understand that I am one person with limited time and bandwidth.

Put the time and effort into your novel before querying and take time to craft a compelling query letter that let's us know who your protagonist is, what they want most in the world, why it's important to them and what is at stake if they fail. In 350 words or less.

Take a look at what I currently rep and consider how well your work fits with my list.

Please, edit and copy edit first. If I notice a copy error in the first sentence, I will stop reading because I will think that you haven't invested as much in writing as I am willing to invest as an agent. Know your genre and the estimated word counts for said genre. Please don't try to submit in a genre that I have no interest in reading. I reject many a query simply because the genre isn't a good fit for me and my list.

1) Follow the guidelines for submitting on our website. 2) Try to make your query letter as succinct as possible, making sure to focus on the hook of the book and the comparison authors. 3) Find someone to beta-read your opening chapters (and ideally the whole manuscript), who can offer objective, constructive feedback.

Read the submission guidelines, be honest, and be brief.

Do your research! Makes sure that I'm not only seeking the genre you're writing, and that your query includes all of the material we request on the CMA website, but also that you actually want to work with me. I'm pretty open about myself and my tastes across the CMA website and my social media pages, so it's up to you to decide whether you think I'm really the advocate you want for your work.

Be ready. Wait to submit until your work is in the very best shape it can be. Get opinions from peer writers via critique groups, classes, etc. Go to conferences (SCBWI and others) and avail yourself of opportunities to have work critiqued and to learn about the field from conference sessions and workshops.
Look at my website before submitting (greatriverliterary.com). Read the articles I've written. Follow the submission guidelines. Spell names correctly (it's "Great River" not "Green River" and "Cummings" not Cummins). If you have multiple projects (manuscripts) you want to submit, hang on to all but one of them. You lose credibility by sending multiple, although feel free in your query to mention other work, including noting if it's picture book, early reader, chapter book, middle grade or young adult. Use a font that's easy to read. Include a bit of bio information with your brief query. Comps and marketing points are also helpful.

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.

Please make sure to check-out the guidelines and what we are and aren't looking for on the Hen&ink website. Send only your most polished work. Believe SHOW-don't-TELL. Make every word inside and outside of dialogue work to push your story forward. Keep us turning the pages and asking "what happens next?"

Be sure it is as pristine as possible.

Proofread your query and sample, follow the agency's submission guidelines, keep your query as concise and direct as possible.

Be sure it's been run through critique partners and/or an editor. Read it out loud to yourself. KNOW that it is picture perfect before sending and be sure that it's something that I handle.

Please do! And when you do, make sure to follow submission guidelines! I only accept queries via Query Manager on the first day of the month. Any queries sent via email will not be reviewed.

My suggestion is very simple in that I would ask that writers who want to make a submission to me use our online submissions form listed on our website. They can select the name Mark Gottlieb among the Trident Media Group literary agents listed on that form.

Come to a writers conference and pitch me in person. I'm slammed with blind queries/over-the-transom submissions. I'm getting around 7,000 a year. No human can possibly read them all and still concentrate on their clients. Unfortunately, that means many will go into the unread "slush pile." In a year when I have a summer intern, my intern will make a dent in that pile. Without any help, as we said in Brooklyn, "Fuggedaboutit."

Keep your cover letter as short as possible - if you can summarise the hook of your book in a line you will instantly draw me in. I am always keen to read your comparative titles - if your book was for sale in a shop, which books would sit alongside it on a shelf? This also shows me you know your market and your reader! Please use the submissions portal on our website. You will also find guidelines to submissions and my up-to-date manuscript wishlist on there.

I’m not too concerned about the perfect query letter since often times that doesn’t mean the book will be the perfect match. That said, I do like it when people have a clear sense of my taste and have taken the time to eloquently convey their work and its place in the market.

Please follow the agency guidelines. Don’t tell me what I’m interested in. Write a strong, tight, thoughtful, and compelling query letter. (And then read it a dozen times to make sure it’s as good as it can be… and ensure there are no typos.)

Do your research! I don't usually represent YA or MG, sci-fi or fantasy, so it's not great use of an author's time to approach me with those kinds of books.

Make sure you know the books I represent so you can make a good decision about whether I would be a good match for you

Make sure I'm not the first person to see your idea. Get feedback from others who are qualified to give you good feedback.

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.

Relax! I'm just a person who go into this business because I love books and I love sharing the things I love with other readers! It's also such a subjective business. A no from me will be a yes from someone else!

As we are a small agency, I take on very few projects. The author and manuscript have to stand out: background, topic, story, and talent all play a part in whether or not I take the time to read the submission. I get hundreds of submissions weekly, and sadly there isn't time for me to read (or respond to) all of them.
If your book is a children's book, while I may love it, I don't represent children's authors or illustrators.
The Spitzer Agency doesn't handle scripts or plays.
If your book is religious, please do not send it to me.
If your book has anything to do with pseudoscience, please do not send it to me.
If your book has anything to do with conspiracy theories, Q-Anon, politics, or Donald Trump, please do not send it to me.

Take your time to do things right. When your manuscript is finished, set it aside for a couple weeks and re-read. Get beta reads and critiques and do the necessary revisions. Write a query letter that conveys the critical information: (protagonist) needs to do (what) by (when) or else (what are the stakes if s/he succeeds/fails?). If you struggle to fill in these elements, think about whether the stakes and urgency in your story are strong enough. For non-fiction, unless the author has a significant platform or a really unique story/approach, its tough to place with publishers so know your market and "sell" me on why your book would appeal to editors. Don't send Picture Books - I don't represent them (except for existing clients)

In your query, please get to the point right away about why I'll love your work. Presume that I'm delighted you have kids and a dog -- no need to let me know.

See if I feel a fit. Try your best.

Be professional. Learn what that means. Learn how the publishing industry works. Be willing to accept that publishing at a professional level is a series of partnerships, with your agent your editor, even your readers. You don't have to agree with everything we think you should do, but you should be open to hearing what it is we have to say.

The more homework an author does ahead of time before submitting a query or proposal, the better. Take a look at the agency blog to get a feel for agent personalities and areas of expertise. Study the agency website and note our submission guidelines. Make sure the project you're submitting is in line with our agency's goals and the publishers we serve. Know your audience, and know how your book rises above all the others of that genre or on that subject.

Read my submission guidelines, check out my MSWL, follow me on Twitter. And just make sure you've done your best to polish your query and your project, you want to make sure you're putting your best foot forward.

First, research the kinds of works that I (or any other agent you're reaching out to) have represented before. This way, you can be sure that I am the right fit for you. When you reach out, don't just explain what your book is about, but who you are and why you're the right person to write this book, especially if you've written nonfiction.

- Ensure that all guidelines for querying us are followed.
- Your query letter must be tight, concise, and attractive.
- Your work is professional and tidy.
- The manuscript or proposal strikes a balance between artistic merit and marketability.
- Your command of prose moves the story and characters.

I know this is horribly dull - but it really is to just follow the submission guidelines, make sure you're actually telling me what the book is in your cover letter and then start writing something else

Just be real. If your query isn't perfect, it won't kill your chances. As long as it's put together in a reasonably clear, clean and concise way, and provides me with an idea of your characters' goals, motivations and conflict in your summary, that's great!

To keep in mind that this is a highly subjective business and that oftentimes I am making a decision based purely on what draws me in. And that, even though something might not be the best fit for me, it could very well resonate with a ton of other agents out there.

I'm closed right now but when I'm open again I like queries that are information packed, straightforward and business like. And I like to know a little personal information too, whether it is relevant to the project or not.

For fiction, your sample is by far the most helpful thing for me as I make a decision about whether to request more work -- spend less time agonizing about the letter, and more time making those ten pages shine.
For nonfiction, the strength of your idea, and your argument for why you should be the person to write that idea, are the most important things to me, because they will be the most important things to publishers. But I'm much more likely to try to help coax a lackluster idea along if your voice on the page is arresting.

Make sure that you've revised your work to the fullest extent you can before you query. I see a lot of interesting concepts that I have to turn down because the execution isn't quite polished. Your query material isn't just an opportunity to share the one book; it's also an opportunity to demonstrate that you have the skill to revise, as well as the confidence (and patience) to let the draft speak for itself without further revision when you've determined that it's ready.

When crafting your query, make sure it is infused with your writing style and voice in the story. I want to be surprised and intrigued!