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86 Chloe Davis | Literary Agent
634 Plays3 years ago
Literary agent, Chloe Davis tells us all about how she is building her list of authors from picture books all the way up to young adult. We talk about the goings on over at Darley Anderson and, of course, what Chloe looks for in a submission.
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Transcript
Introduction and Sponsorship
00:00:00
Speaker
Hi guys, quick one before we get into the episode.
00:00:02
Speaker
This episode is sponsored by Zencaster, which is the production suite that I've used from the very beginning of this podcast.
00:00:06
Speaker
And if you're interested in starting your own podcast, hang around at the end of the episode for our 30% discount referral code.
00:00:12
Speaker
Thanks.
00:00:13
Speaker
So our podcast is called Right and Wrong.
00:00:14
Speaker
Are these your notes?
00:00:16
Speaker
Are these your notes about what we're going to say?
00:00:19
Speaker
Anything.
00:00:19
Speaker
It's a short answer.
00:00:21
Speaker
So how many novels did you not finish?
00:00:24
Speaker
Oh my God, so many.
00:00:26
Speaker
It was perfect.
00:00:27
Speaker
What's she talking about?
00:00:28
Speaker
This is not a difficult one.
00:00:30
Speaker
Ooh, a spicy question.
00:00:32
Speaker
I love it.
00:00:33
Speaker
This is it, guys.
00:00:34
Speaker
The big secret to getting published is you have to write a good book.
00:00:38
Speaker
You heard it here first.
Guest Introduction: Chloe Davis
00:00:42
Speaker
Hello and welcome back to the Right and Wrong podcast.
00:00:45
Speaker
Today my guest is literary agent Chloe Davis from the Darley Anderson Agency.
00:00:51
Speaker
Hey Chloe.
00:00:51
Speaker
Hey.
00:00:53
Speaker
Welcome to the show.
00:00:54
Speaker
How are you doing?
00:00:55
Speaker
Yeah I'm good thanks.
00:00:56
Speaker
Thank you for having me.
00:00:57
Speaker
I'm really excited to be on.
00:00:59
Speaker
So is September a busy time of year for literary agencies?
00:01:03
Speaker
Yes, definitely.
00:01:05
Speaker
Yeah.
00:01:05
Speaker
September's when we start building up to the Frankfurt Book Fair in October.
00:01:09
Speaker
So it just, it all starts getting a bit, a bit manic, you know, we're helping our rights team get their rights guides ready.
00:01:17
Speaker
And also it's a time when a lot of agents choose to start sending out their submissions to editors.
00:01:22
Speaker
So, you know, everyone's getting submissions ready.
00:01:26
Speaker
Yeah, it's a really busy time, but it's an exciting time, you know, especially this year after a couple of years of not having Frankfurt Book Fair.
00:01:33
Speaker
Yeah, it
Chloe's Role and the Book Fair Excitement
00:01:34
Speaker
feels really kind of buzzy again and really nice to have that, you know, physical fair again after a couple of years of just virtual fairs and meetings.
00:01:41
Speaker
Yeah, that's definitely in the wake of all of these lockdowns and things, opening up again has been just kind of more exciting for things that were a regular kind of thing before, much more exciting now.
00:01:52
Speaker
Yeah, definitely.
00:01:54
Speaker
It feels a lot more normal now and we had
00:01:56
Speaker
We went to Bologna, we went to London back in the spring and that felt really exciting and just really nice to be there and see people again.
00:02:04
Speaker
And I think we're coming back to that.
00:02:06
Speaker
So that's something that's really exciting for us all.
00:02:09
Speaker
Yeah, that's great.
00:02:10
Speaker
You mentioned that now's the time of year that a lot of agents are getting their submissions ready to send to publishers.
00:02:17
Speaker
How come that happens around this time of year?
00:02:20
Speaker
I mean, I think it's just the book fair buzz.
00:02:24
Speaker
There seem to be a kind of a few times...
00:02:26
Speaker
every year when it's that's kind of when everyone submits um I mean you can kind of submit throughout the year but summer's a bit difficult you know people out of the office um Christmas is also tricky because people are just kind of winding down for the year so it always kind of seems to coincide with with the book fairs um and it's just a really kind of buzzy time of year really exciting um and that kind of all contributes I guess so yeah no it's really exciting
00:02:51
Speaker
That's interesting.
00:02:52
Speaker
Yeah, I didn't realize that there was a sort of peak time for agents to be submitting to publishers.
Chloe's Career Journey and Challenges
00:03:00
Speaker
So let's talk about your work as an agent, because you were originally a bookseller at Waterstones.
00:03:09
Speaker
Then you were working in, was it Wrights, at Pan Macmillan?
00:03:12
Speaker
Yeah, that's right.
00:03:13
Speaker
Yeah.
00:03:13
Speaker
And then you became an assistant agent at Dali Anderson.
00:03:19
Speaker
And now you are building your own list as a junior agent.
00:03:24
Speaker
Yeah.
00:03:25
Speaker
How, so how has that kind of changed from being an agent's assistant to being a junior agent with your own kind of list growing?
00:03:35
Speaker
It's been a big leap.
00:03:36
Speaker
You know, when you start as an assistant, you
00:03:39
Speaker
You're basically just kind of doing all the admin jobs and supporting the agents in your team.
00:03:44
Speaker
Yeah.
00:03:47
Speaker
And you can learn a lot, but there is also so much to learn when you start agenting for yourself.
00:03:52
Speaker
Mm-hmm.
00:03:52
Speaker
Just so many things that you might not have been aware of when you were just assisting.
00:03:59
Speaker
It is, I mean, it's a steep learning curve, but it's amazing.
00:04:02
Speaker
And I'm so, so lucky that I've got a really supportive team behind me.
00:04:06
Speaker
And I can ask them any questions.
00:04:08
Speaker
They often take a look at my clients' work just to give me a second opinion.
00:04:12
Speaker
And also they have so many more years of expertise behind them.
00:04:18
Speaker
But no, I mean, it's a big jump.
00:04:21
Speaker
You learn on the job.
00:04:21
Speaker
There's nothing that you can really do beforehand, I think, to prepare you for some of the elements of agenting.
00:04:29
Speaker
And also, you've got the added responsibility, which you didn't have before, of looking after people's careers and their kind of hopes and dreams.
00:04:39
Speaker
And nothing really prepares you for that,
Managing Authors' Careers - Emotional Insights
00:04:41
Speaker
I think.
00:04:41
Speaker
And also for how much...
00:04:44
Speaker
like that kind of depth of feeling of how much you want to be able to help your authors and do well for them, um, do the best for them.
00:04:52
Speaker
Um, I think that's something that I hadn't, I hadn't anticipated maybe when I, before I started agenting.
00:04:58
Speaker
Yeah, I can see that.
00:04:59
Speaker
There's a, there's a sort of an emotional weight that comes with the whole job.
00:05:04
Speaker
So when did you start building your list?
00:05:07
Speaker
Um, yeah,
00:05:09
Speaker
I started in October, 2020, I think now, although the last couple of years have kind of blurred into one.
00:05:16
Speaker
Yeah.
00:05:18
Speaker
I'm pretty sure it was October, 2020.
00:05:21
Speaker
And then I was officially a junior agent, I think January, 2021.
00:05:25
Speaker
Okay.
00:05:27
Speaker
So yeah, it's been almost a couple of years now.
00:05:29
Speaker
I'm kind of steadily building my list, just basically taking on anything that I really love at the moment, whilst also I'm still assisting Claire Wallace at our agency.
00:05:41
Speaker
So I've got kind of two jobs on the go at the moment, as it were.
00:05:46
Speaker
Yeah, it's amazing how often that happens.
00:05:51
Speaker
I think most agents do start the way that you started, where they work at an agency and then become...
00:05:57
Speaker
a junior agent or whatever the title is.
00:06:00
Speaker
But there is a part in the middle where you are doing multiple jobs.
00:06:04
Speaker
Yes.
00:06:04
Speaker
Wearing many hats.
00:06:06
Speaker
Yeah.
00:06:06
Speaker
Yeah.
00:06:07
Speaker
And I mean, it's, it's great to have, you know, I feel really lucky that I've been given the opportunity to take on clients.
00:06:14
Speaker
But it is, it's a juggle.
00:06:17
Speaker
There's a lot to think about, and a lot to do.
00:06:20
Speaker
And you want to do the best you can for everyone and for the agency.
00:06:24
Speaker
So yeah, I mean, it's a lot, but in a really exciting way.
00:06:29
Speaker
Yes.
00:06:29
Speaker
Yeah.
Chloe's Passion for Books and Client Selection
00:06:30
Speaker
The one thing I've found with every agent that I've met is that you just love publishing and you love books and you love stories.
00:06:38
Speaker
And it's so much of the job is just based off the kind of veracity of which people love reading.
00:06:45
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, definitely.
00:06:47
Speaker
I mean, I think that's why most of us are in the industry.
00:06:49
Speaker
For the love of books, really, we all have that in common.
00:06:53
Speaker
It's really nice to be able to share that with everyone.
00:06:55
Speaker
Yeah, yeah.
00:06:56
Speaker
And speaking of love of books, so building your own list, what are the age ranges and the genres that you really love that you're really looking to add to your list?
00:07:08
Speaker
I mean, I'm happy to consider anything.
00:07:11
Speaker
Um, but I would say that middle grade is my kind of heartland.
00:07:14
Speaker
That's what I've always loved.
00:07:16
Speaker
Um, and I think that's when I think back to my childhood, I just really remember reading so many great middle grade books.
00:07:23
Speaker
And I think that's where my love of books came from.
00:07:25
Speaker
That's when it was born.
00:07:27
Speaker
Um, so that's what I'm always kind of drawn to.
00:07:29
Speaker
And I think most of my list at the moment is made up of middle grade authors.
00:07:33
Speaker
Um, I mean, I think I just, I like anything with a lot of heart and warmth.
00:07:40
Speaker
Um,
00:07:41
Speaker
anything that just makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside.
00:07:46
Speaker
I love great supportive friendships in books.
00:07:50
Speaker
And just anything funny, escapist, with a great adventure, great mystery.
00:07:58
Speaker
And that kind of goes for YA as well and picture books.
00:08:05
Speaker
YA, I love a good romance.
00:08:07
Speaker
I'm a sucker for a romance story.
00:08:09
Speaker
with kind of tropes, enemies to lovers, anything like that, I love.
00:08:15
Speaker
Fantasy YA isn't really my thing, but I'm kind of, I'm happy to take a look at submissions.
00:08:23
Speaker
That's probably...
00:08:25
Speaker
one of the areas I haven't read as much.
00:08:29
Speaker
But I mean, I'm kind of open to anything at this point.
00:08:33
Speaker
I love chapter books as well.
00:08:34
Speaker
Anything funny for kind of, you know, the five to seven, eight age range as well.
00:08:42
Speaker
And picture books too.
00:08:43
Speaker
I think anything with a lovely, kind of lovely message that children can take away, but that isn't too obvious or kind of didactic.
00:08:51
Speaker
So yeah, I mean, I'm open to most things really.
00:08:55
Speaker
Yeah.
00:08:55
Speaker
But do you, do you pretty much try and stay in the lanes of picture book, middle grade, YA?
00:09:01
Speaker
You, you, you don't really go into it.
00:09:03
Speaker
Yeah, no, I'm, I'm definitely just focused on children's and, and illustration as well.
00:09:08
Speaker
I'm open to illustration submissions as well.
00:09:11
Speaker
Okay.
00:09:11
Speaker
Amazing.
Submission Process and Story Evaluation
00:09:12
Speaker
This is a perfect segue into submissions because it's always interesting when agents come on the podcast to ask them about the sort of different ways in which agents and agencies approach submissions.
00:09:27
Speaker
First question, as Claire Wallace's assistant,
00:09:32
Speaker
Are you often the first person to see the submissions that would eventually reach Claire?
00:09:39
Speaker
Yeah, I can be.
00:09:40
Speaker
I mean, I think it depends.
00:09:41
Speaker
We have a few, I mean, we have a children's inbox where people submit to and that's
00:09:48
Speaker
I share that with Lydia, who's an agent, also at the agency.
00:09:52
Speaker
So we both have kind of first look on that, depending on who dips into the submissions inbox.
00:09:57
Speaker
And then Claire receives a lot of her own submissions, and that's kind of her own email address.
00:10:03
Speaker
And she'll take a look at those.
00:10:04
Speaker
But sometimes we share.
00:10:05
Speaker
It depends on kind of workload, how our weeks are looking.
00:10:09
Speaker
So I can be the first person to see them sometimes, and sometimes it's Claire or Lydia who take a look.
00:10:14
Speaker
It just depends, really.
00:10:16
Speaker
Yeah.
00:10:17
Speaker
As your role has changed and you are now a junior agent building your own list, is there less of a sort of, I mean, it obviously put you in such great stead having already had so much sort of experience and practice going through submissions.
00:10:33
Speaker
But now that you are building your own list, do you still pass submissions on to Claire or Lydia or whoever it is?
00:10:42
Speaker
Or if you really like something, is it now you get first dibs?
00:10:46
Speaker
Yeah.
00:10:47
Speaker
I mean, I think we all work really well as a team and we all have really different, we don't really overlap.
00:10:54
Speaker
So there's no kind of sense of competition or anything like that.
00:10:58
Speaker
Okay.
00:11:01
Speaker
I mean, if I think if I really like something, I would send it to them for a second opinion just to get their thoughts.
00:11:08
Speaker
Um, cause it's always just really helpful to get someone else's thoughts on something on a submission.
00:11:12
Speaker
Um, but if I really loved it, then I could just, I could go ahead and take it, take it on.
00:11:17
Speaker
Um, and I have done quite a few times now.
00:11:19
Speaker
Um, so, you know, I don't really, I don't need anyone's kind of permission or anything.
00:11:25
Speaker
Um, you know, if I love something, then I can just go for it.
00:11:28
Speaker
Awesome.
00:11:28
Speaker
That is, that's so exciting.
00:11:30
Speaker
I love it.
00:11:30
Speaker
Email the author.
00:11:31
Speaker
Let's talk.
00:11:34
Speaker
Yeah.
00:11:34
Speaker
Yeah.
00:11:35
Speaker
It's, it's so exciting.
00:11:36
Speaker
The first few times I did it, I was just like the first time I took a client on, I was over the moon.
00:11:40
Speaker
I was so excited to do a little kind of happy dance around, around my house.
00:11:45
Speaker
Um, yeah, it's so exciting.
00:11:46
Speaker
Yeah.
00:11:47
Speaker
Amazing.
00:11:48
Speaker
Okay.
00:11:48
Speaker
So you've had a lot of experience looking through submissions, um, now building your endless.
00:11:53
Speaker
When you go to look at submissions, when you, and the submission package at Darley Anderson, it's pretty standard for the industry.
00:12:04
Speaker
It's for fiction, first three chapters are 20 pages, a one page synopsis.
00:12:10
Speaker
Then nonfiction is just the proposal chapter list, sample chapters.
00:12:14
Speaker
Obviously with the cover letter on top.
00:12:16
Speaker
So when you head over to your emails, you open up,
00:12:20
Speaker
Pandora's submission box to go through them.
00:12:23
Speaker
What order do you go through the submission and how much focus do you give to each of the parts?
00:12:30
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, obviously it depends for everyone, but for me, I mean, I always go to the cover letter first just to get, you know, a sense of what kind of story the author is pitching and
00:12:43
Speaker
is it something that I've been looking for, that I'd be interested in?
00:12:47
Speaker
You know, I want to see the pitch, any comp titles that have been included.
00:12:52
Speaker
And having read that, then I would move on to the sample chapters.
00:12:56
Speaker
You know, I just want to get a sense of,
00:12:59
Speaker
the author's writing style, the voice in the writing.
00:13:04
Speaker
You know, is it something that I am going to really love?
00:13:08
Speaker
And if I really enjoy it, then I would go to the synopsis and see, you know, how it's, how the story is going to pan out.
00:13:15
Speaker
If there are any major curve balls, um,
00:13:19
Speaker
So yeah, that's kind of the way I would do it normally.
00:13:22
Speaker
Okay.
00:13:23
Speaker
Are there any sort of red flags that you sometimes sort of see in maybe the cover letter?
00:13:33
Speaker
I don't know about red flags.
00:13:34
Speaker
I mean, there are things that we always look for.
00:13:37
Speaker
You know, we want a great pitch.
00:13:41
Speaker
Comp titles, if you have any.
00:13:42
Speaker
It's not essential, but if you do have a great comp title, then definitely include it.
00:13:47
Speaker
And I think it also shows...
00:13:49
Speaker
that you've done kind of market research and that you're aware of what's out there on the shelves.
00:13:54
Speaker
Obviously, you know, if it's a modern title, we usually tend to kind of like the comp titles to be a bit more contemporary.
00:14:01
Speaker
Yeah.
00:14:02
Speaker
And I think it's always quite nice to see a personalized cover letter.
00:14:06
Speaker
You know, it doesn't have to be.
00:14:07
Speaker
I would never, ever reject anything if, you know, if the cover letter wasn't personalized to me.
00:14:12
Speaker
But it's always nice to see that an author has done their research and that they...
00:14:18
Speaker
they've given reasons about why they think their submission might be right for you and why you might be the right agent for them.
00:14:24
Speaker
That always kind of,
00:14:26
Speaker
makes me sit up and listen a tiny bit more.
00:14:28
Speaker
But again, you know, I would never reject anything that wasn't personalized.
00:14:32
Speaker
I, I, I don't think there are any kind of red flags really.
00:14:34
Speaker
And everyone has their different styles.
00:14:36
Speaker
Everyone's different.
00:14:37
Speaker
Yeah.
00:14:37
Speaker
Um,
Collaborative Process and Market Research
00:14:38
Speaker
so, you know, I, I love hearing about the author as well.
00:14:41
Speaker
Just, you know, you want a little bit about them, um, just to know, you know, who they are basically and why, maybe like why they've written this story and why it's, why it's important to them.
00:14:51
Speaker
Um,
00:14:52
Speaker
But yeah, I mean, no major red flags as such, I don't think.
00:14:56
Speaker
Does it add, sort of, does it grab your attention more if you see in the cover letter that they have, you know, been long-listed, short-listed or entered lots of awards and things?
00:15:08
Speaker
I mean, it's always nice to see, but...
00:15:12
Speaker
I mean, I wouldn't reject anything that hadn't been long listed or, you know, shortlisted or, you know, that hadn't won an award.
00:15:18
Speaker
Yeah, of course.
00:15:19
Speaker
But, you know, if you have entered a competition and have been shortlisted or have had success, then definitely include that because, you know, that's pertinent information and it's something that we should probably know.
00:15:30
Speaker
Yeah.
00:15:31
Speaker
And I know it's quite, it made me laugh is on the, uh, on the, on the agency website for the submission process, it does say, um, one page synopsis.
00:15:43
Speaker
And then there's a note afterwards that says, please do include all spoilers.
00:15:48
Speaker
Yeah.
00:15:49
Speaker
Yeah.
00:15:49
Speaker
Is that something that, because I've spoken to agents who don't want to see the spoilers, I've also spoken to agents who go straight to the synopsis to read the spoilers before they even read the chapters.
00:16:02
Speaker
Where do you land on the sort of like wanting to know the spoilers versus not, or wanting to sort of experience the prose before you read the synopsis?
00:16:13
Speaker
I mean, I want spoilers.
00:16:15
Speaker
I want to know what happens.
00:16:18
Speaker
I don't know, I just, I feel like for me, it just makes everything clearer in my head if I know where it's going and what the outcomes are.
00:16:24
Speaker
Yeah.
00:16:26
Speaker
And I guess, you know, our time is kind of limited and sometimes we're super busy and that just helps us get a faster sense of what the book is about.
00:16:35
Speaker
Yeah.
00:16:37
Speaker
So I think everyone at Dali Anderson Children's Book Agency anyway wants to know the spoilers.
00:16:43
Speaker
I think all of my colleagues like to work that way.
00:16:45
Speaker
Yeah, it just makes things a lot easier for us.
00:16:50
Speaker
We can get a sense of where it's going, where the story's going.
00:16:53
Speaker
yeah it's it's it's only logical that you would do that and and any properly written synopsis it by its very nature contains all of the spoilers for whatever the whatever the book is but it's always interesting to know that um there are some agents who just sometimes don't even bother with the synopsis yeah i find that really interesting actually or people who just don't want spoilers um yeah i think it's quite funny i mean i don't think i could work like that but
00:17:21
Speaker
I get why some people prefer that.
00:17:23
Speaker
It's just, yeah, it's kind of funny to think about.
00:17:26
Speaker
Yeah.
00:17:27
Speaker
I can understand the argument.
00:17:28
Speaker
It's that you want, they want to experience the book in the way that a reader would experience it to get the authentic feel of the writing and stuff.
00:17:38
Speaker
Yeah.
00:17:39
Speaker
And I think for me, I still, I can still feel that even,
00:17:43
Speaker
even knowing what's going to happen.
00:17:45
Speaker
I don't feel that kind of kills it for me.
00:17:49
Speaker
So that's kind of what I'd prefer to know really.
00:17:52
Speaker
I watched a long video essay a while back about how it was impossible to spoil a high quality story.
00:18:02
Speaker
And they referenced things like the Sixth Sense or Fight Club.
00:18:07
Speaker
And they say, if someone told you beforehand the big twist,
00:18:12
Speaker
you would still enjoy that movie.
00:18:14
Speaker
You would just enjoy it in a completely different way from having not been told the twist.
00:18:19
Speaker
Yeah.
00:18:19
Speaker
And I think, you know, great writing speaks for itself really.
00:18:23
Speaker
And as you say, you can still enjoy it for what it is.
00:18:25
Speaker
And, you know, you can spot a great story even knowing what's going to happen.
00:18:30
Speaker
Yeah.
00:18:31
Speaker
And sometimes knowing what's gonna happen, you get that extra level of dramatic irony where you're then trying to put all the pieces together and think, well, how are we gonna end up?
00:18:43
Speaker
I know we're ending up at point B, but how are we getting there from point A?
00:18:47
Speaker
Which is cool.
00:18:48
Speaker
Definitely.
00:18:49
Speaker
So with that submission stuff fresh in our minds, September, 2022, you are open to submissions and actively building your list.
Diversity and Perseverance in Publishing
00:18:59
Speaker
Um, we know the wider scope of what you're looking for generally middle grade, but some YA romance.
00:19:07
Speaker
Is there any more specific things that you're looking for?
00:19:10
Speaker
Maybe like specific characters or storylines, uh, that you'd love to see in the sort of latter months of this year?
00:19:19
Speaker
Um, I mean, I'm, I'm always really keen to see anything from kind of people from underrepresented backgrounds.
00:19:27
Speaker
Um,
00:19:28
Speaker
you know, maybe kind of less, just kind of families of all shapes and sizes.
00:19:35
Speaker
I think anything that's kind of super relatable to children nowadays, you know, we get, you know, parents from, you know, all around the world.
00:19:44
Speaker
And, you know, my mom's Mexican.
00:19:47
Speaker
And I often didn't see books where parents were from different countries, for example, when I was growing up.
00:19:54
Speaker
So I'm always interested in that or in anything that kind of
00:19:58
Speaker
anything with different kind of cultural references, you know, things that have a new, stories that have a new angle perspective, voices that we haven't maybe heard before.
00:20:13
Speaker
I'm really open to that.
00:20:16
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, to be honest, it's, I'm not really looking for any kind of specific plot lines or anything like that.
00:20:24
Speaker
Just something that will,
00:20:27
Speaker
make me feel something if that's super vague, but I just want something to kind of hit me right in the feels.
00:20:34
Speaker
And like, yeah, I just want to be able to feel the soul of the book.
00:20:39
Speaker
Um, and I, I do love kind of heartwarming.
00:20:42
Speaker
I love,
00:20:43
Speaker
I love kind of stories that celebrate quiet children because I was also really quiet as a child.
00:20:48
Speaker
I was super shy.
00:20:50
Speaker
So I love, you know, not every child is going to be loud and bouncy and full of energy.
00:20:56
Speaker
And I love books that celebrate children that maybe aren't that, maybe that are quieter, that don't have so much confidence, where we see them kind of coming out of their shells and learning that they are enough.
00:21:07
Speaker
I love anything like that, really.
00:21:11
Speaker
That's great.
00:21:11
Speaker
Well, that's really helpful and it's really nice to hear.
00:21:15
Speaker
And on from that, there are a lot of authors out there about to start querying or already querying.
00:21:25
Speaker
What advice would you have to people in the middle of their submitting to agents?
00:21:32
Speaker
I mean, first of all, I know it can be such a slog and a disheartening process.
00:21:38
Speaker
So I think that
00:21:40
Speaker
my main advice really is to keep going and to not try.
00:21:45
Speaker
I know it's hard, try not to be too disheartened by rejections.
00:21:48
Speaker
You know, they're hard for us too.
00:21:50
Speaker
We don't like doing it.
00:21:52
Speaker
But I guess, yeah, yeah.
00:21:54
Speaker
Kind of keep going.
00:21:55
Speaker
And also kind of pat yourself on the back because you've already done something that's really hard and really brave.
00:22:02
Speaker
you know, putting yourself out there.
00:22:05
Speaker
I think also just make sure that you know which agents, you know, open submissions, who wants what, make sure that you're, you're kind of tailoring your submission to the agents.
00:22:16
Speaker
I think more than anything,
00:22:18
Speaker
I know it's so hard.
00:22:19
Speaker
That's the thing.
00:22:20
Speaker
I know it's such a hard process for authors.
00:22:24
Speaker
So just, yeah, keep going and maybe don't compare yourself to anyone else on social media because it's always a slippery slope, I think.
00:22:34
Speaker
Yeah, it's so easy to do.
00:22:37
Speaker
And it's so easy to forget that when you see the bookseller headline of brand new author signs six figure deal in massive bidding war, it's like that's one in a
Chloe's Industry Role and Editorial Process
00:22:50
Speaker
million.
00:22:50
Speaker
Don't compare yourself to that.
00:22:52
Speaker
If it happens, amazing.
00:22:54
Speaker
But yeah.
00:22:54
Speaker
It's one in a million that that happens.
00:22:56
Speaker
Yeah.
00:22:56
Speaker
I think, you know, what, what we see on social media is just people's highlights really.
00:23:00
Speaker
Yeah.
00:23:01
Speaker
You don't see all the rest, all the kind of heartbreak and all the bad times behind it all.
00:23:05
Speaker
So yeah, definitely.
00:23:07
Speaker
I would say don't compare yourself to anyone on social media.
00:23:10
Speaker
Everyone's got their own journey.
00:23:12
Speaker
Yeah.
00:23:12
Speaker
Yeah.
00:23:13
Speaker
Very, very good advice.
00:23:14
Speaker
Persevere.
00:23:15
Speaker
Yes.
00:23:17
Speaker
Before we get onto the, the final question, the much dreaded desert Island question, I have to ask,
00:23:24
Speaker
You have worked in publishing through a number of different roles.
00:23:29
Speaker
Have you ever wanted to write yourself?
00:23:33
Speaker
No, definitely not.
00:23:35
Speaker
No, that's something I've never, ever been good at.
00:23:37
Speaker
I've never been...
00:23:38
Speaker
good at creative writing.
00:23:40
Speaker
I tried as a, as a child and no, it just didn't go well.
00:23:44
Speaker
Um, I just don't have that, those skills and I really admire everyone who does.
00:23:48
Speaker
Cause I, I definitely don't.
00:23:50
Speaker
Um, I think that's why I'm this side of, of the industry, not on the writing side.
00:23:53
Speaker
Um, yeah, that's, I don't think you'll ever, ever see a book with my name on the cover ever.
00:24:00
Speaker
Yeah.
00:24:01
Speaker
Oh, well, I mean, it's a very different skill, being creative writing and editorial.
00:24:08
Speaker
Are you quite editorial with your authors?
00:24:11
Speaker
Yes.
00:24:11
Speaker
Yeah, definitely.
00:24:12
Speaker
As an agency, we're all really hands-on.
00:24:14
Speaker
I think we're all really talented at what we do.
00:24:18
Speaker
And we do work really closely with our authors.
00:24:20
Speaker
I mean, obviously, it's kind of led by the author and what they want and what works for them.
00:24:26
Speaker
So it kind of depends.
00:24:27
Speaker
Some authors want to brainstorm.
00:24:30
Speaker
And we're happy to do that with them or others just go off and write something and come to us when it's ready.
00:24:35
Speaker
But we would always, always work with them to get it in the best shape possible to send it out.
00:24:39
Speaker
And we, you know, we've been known in the past to work with authors for, you know, up to a year on a text just to make sure that it's as kind of watertight as possible.
00:24:49
Speaker
So, yeah, we love working really editorially with our with our authors.
00:24:53
Speaker
Yeah, and I mean, it's good to know that you're willing to sort of put in the time with an author to not send a submission to a publisher before it's ready.
00:25:05
Speaker
Yeah, yeah.
00:25:05
Speaker
No, we're always really happy to do that.
00:25:08
Speaker
And that's not just me, but that's Claire and Lydia and Becca as well, the other agents at the agency.
00:25:13
Speaker
We all love working really closely with our authors.
00:25:14
Speaker
And that's something that I think that just makes us all really happy and satisfied.
00:25:20
Speaker
And we want our authors to know that we're here for them as well.
00:25:23
Speaker
And we're happy to listen to anything.
00:25:26
Speaker
And we like hearing their thoughts about their manuscripts.
00:25:30
Speaker
Yeah, that's something that's really important to us.
00:25:33
Speaker
Awesome.
00:25:34
Speaker
That sounds like a really great environment and sort of very welcoming as well to authors who probably haven't experienced, you know, when you first come into an agency and then you're on this whole rollercoaster of publishing, it's nice to know that you guys have that sort of, we'll work on it until it's ready and that very supportive atmosphere.
00:25:56
Speaker
Yeah, definitely.
00:25:57
Speaker
And we all
00:25:58
Speaker
we all support each other and each other's clients and we all work really closely together.
00:26:03
Speaker
So hopefully, yeah, I mean, I think we'd like to think that we've created a nice environment for everyone and hopefully our authors feel that too.
00:26:10
Speaker
Amazing.
00:26:11
Speaker
Awesome.
00:26:12
Speaker
Well, that brings us to the final question, which as always is, Chloe, if you were stranded on a desert island with a single book, which book would it be?
Personal Preferences and Escapism in Literature
00:26:23
Speaker
This is such a hard question.
00:26:25
Speaker
I know everyone says that and I've been giving it some thought.
00:26:29
Speaker
But I just, it's so hard to pin down one book.
00:26:31
Speaker
And I think because I'm not the kind of person, like I don't really read books.
00:26:36
Speaker
So once I've enjoyed it, I kind of put it down and that's that.
00:26:40
Speaker
And it's like, it lives in my memory, but I don't feel the need to pick it up again.
00:26:44
Speaker
So that makes it tricky.
00:26:46
Speaker
But I mean, I feel like,
00:26:50
Speaker
I don't think I could pin it down to one, but maybe the only thing I could think of really was like something really long to keep you going.
00:26:55
Speaker
You know, if you don't want to be able to finish it in an hour and then have to reread it, that would be really dull.
00:27:00
Speaker
So I was thinking, what did I, what have I loved in the past?
00:27:04
Speaker
And when I was a child or maybe not a child, but kind of teenager, I
00:27:08
Speaker
um i remember i loved reading watching dickens adaptations on tv and then reading the books so i thought maybe a really long dickens book like david copperfield something that felt kind of comforting but was also long so that you know that could keep me going for a while and then i could you know put it down and then start again and that would take me another you know a couple of weeks maybe um so something wrong like that um but yeah i mean i i
00:27:35
Speaker
I just couldn't pin it down to one thing.
00:27:37
Speaker
It's just, it's too hard.
00:27:39
Speaker
What if you could take a complete works?
00:27:42
Speaker
So let's say the complete works of Dickens.
00:27:44
Speaker
Would it be Dickens if you could take a complete works?
00:27:48
Speaker
I don't know.
00:27:48
Speaker
I mean, to be honest, recently I've really enjoyed Taylor Jenkins Reid and all her books.
00:27:56
Speaker
I might take all of her books actually.
00:27:58
Speaker
I feel like that would be a good set of books to have.
00:28:00
Speaker
Something really escapist to make you forget the head of what you're living through.
00:28:04
Speaker
Yeah, probably for the best.
00:28:07
Speaker
Yeah.
00:28:08
Speaker
Well, that's great.
00:28:09
Speaker
I like that you really thought that one through and it seemed to cause you only a little bit of anxiety.
00:28:15
Speaker
Yeah, there was a lot of discussion of this with colleagues and family members trying to figure out what I was going to say.
Closing Remarks and Social Media
00:28:22
Speaker
Amazing.
00:28:22
Speaker
Well, thank you so much, Chloe, for coming on the podcast and sharing your experience in the publishing industry and your work as an agent with me and everyone listening.
00:28:31
Speaker
It's been really interesting chatting with you.
00:28:33
Speaker
Yeah, no, thank you for having me on.
00:28:34
Speaker
It's been, yeah, it's been fun.
00:28:36
Speaker
It's been really good.
00:28:37
Speaker
And for anyone listening, if you want to keep up with what Chloe's doing, you can follow her on Twitter at ChloeMDavis95 or on Instagram at ChloeDavisAgent.
00:28:48
Speaker
To make sure you don't miss an episode of this podcast, follow us on Twitter at RightAndWrongUK or on Instagram at RightAndWrongPodcast.
00:28:55
Speaker
Thanks again to Chloe and thanks to everyone listening.
00:28:57
Speaker
We'll catch you in the next episode.
00:29:00
Speaker
Thanks again for supporting the show and we'll see you in the next episode.