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#153 - Rebeka Finch
684 Plays1 year ago
Literary agent, Rebeka Finch joins us for the first recording of 2024, chatting about her start as an Darley Anderson’s assistant and how she started building her list, what she’s looking for and how she tackles submissions.
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Transcript
Introduction: The Role of Writing in Storytelling
00:00:00
Speaker
Oh, a spicy question.
00:00:02
Speaker
I love it.
00:00:02
Speaker
Because the writing is sort of everything, right?
00:00:04
Speaker
You can fix plot holes, but if the writer... So some readers love that and some readers are like, but I wanted more of this.
00:00:11
Speaker
So it's kind of a gamble.
Guest Introduction: Rebecca Finch, Associate Agent
00:00:14
Speaker
Hello, and welcome back to the first recording of 2024 for the Right and Wrong podcast.
00:00:20
Speaker
And I'm very excited to be here with associate agent of the Darley Anderson Agency, Rebecca Finch.
00:00:26
Speaker
Hello.
00:00:26
Speaker
Thanks so much for joining me.
00:00:28
Speaker
Hi, happy new year.
00:00:29
Speaker
Thanks for having me.
00:00:31
Speaker
You're so welcome.
Rebecca's Journey in Publishing
00:00:33
Speaker
I'm feeling oddly rusty actually, now that we've started about doing these interviews.
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Speaker
I haven't done one for a while now.
00:00:39
Speaker
But anyway, let's get right into it.
00:00:41
Speaker
Associate agent at DA, am I right in thinking you started at the end of 2019?
00:00:46
Speaker
Yeah, so I started November 19 as Dali's assistant.
00:00:53
Speaker
Yeah, had sort of six months before the pandemic hit.
00:00:58
Speaker
And yeah, first job on publishing and been here ever since.
00:01:02
Speaker
Wow.
00:01:02
Speaker
And just to clarify for everyone listening, when you say Dali's assistant, you were specifically talking about Dali Anderson of the Dali Anderson agency.
00:01:12
Speaker
Yes, I am specifically talking about him.
00:01:14
Speaker
Okay.
00:01:15
Speaker
You weren't like an agency wide assistant.
00:01:17
Speaker
No, no, I was his personal assistant and sort of still work across his list of authors and closely with him.
00:01:25
Speaker
Yeah.
00:01:26
Speaker
On a lot of different bits and pieces.
Career Paths in Literature: Editorial to Agent
00:01:28
Speaker
Yeah.
00:01:28
Speaker
Because so from, from the agents that I've spoken to previously,
00:01:33
Speaker
it feels a bit like they're sort of the two most tried and tested ways of becoming a literary agent are either moving sideways into it from another publishing role, usually editorial, or you start out as an agent assistant, agency assistant, and then that role kind of grows and shifts eventually into being a literary agent.
00:01:54
Speaker
Is that kind of where you are?
00:01:56
Speaker
Yeah, I would say so.
00:01:57
Speaker
I think from, I mean, obviously I've only got certain examples to pull from, but it kind of seems that there is that natural link, obviously with the editorial side, both of sort of publishing in-house and then the editorial work that we do as agents.
00:02:14
Speaker
So there is a really good fit there.
00:02:17
Speaker
And for everyone at our agency really has kind of started working
00:02:23
Speaker
either coming straight in as that sort of in Tanner's case or with myself and my colleague Jade, who, you know, both started out as assistants and then sort of developed and started building our own list within the agency.
00:02:35
Speaker
Yeah.
Balancing Assistant Duties with Author List Building
00:02:36
Speaker
The industry kind of works on a sort of apprenticeship style thing where it's like you do the stuff, you do the stuff so you know how everything runs and how it all works.
00:02:44
Speaker
And in the meantime, you're obviously working closely with, you know, people like Darlie Anderson or any of the other agents at the, at the agency.
00:02:52
Speaker
And that's how you kind of learn to do it.
00:02:53
Speaker
And then you slowly kind of transfer.
00:02:56
Speaker
Is there a sort of phase and this, I guess this is kind of where you're at now where you're doing,
00:03:02
Speaker
two roles.
00:03:02
Speaker
You're kind of, you're still doing assistant stuff, but you are also now building your list.
00:03:07
Speaker
Yeah, I think it's conversations that I've had with lots of other, you know, sort of assistants that are in a similar position.
00:03:14
Speaker
And yeah, you kind of get to a point where, you know, I've got a few authors on my list now, but you know, I am still very actively working with Dali and his authors.
00:03:24
Speaker
And I suppose kind of
00:03:27
Speaker
I think my role has changed slightly in that.
00:03:31
Speaker
I'm probably not doing quite so much of the admin side, but it's nice to have that kind of back up the security that knowing that I have a full team behind me as I'm kind of taking new steps forward.
00:03:45
Speaker
And actually, I'm enjoying the balance of working across kind of two actually very, very different lists.
00:03:52
Speaker
All of Dali's authors are
00:03:54
Speaker
very successful, very established and being able to see kind of what I would hope to maybe, you know, look to achieve in like 20 years time with my authors sort of, yeah, having it both more towards the end and more towards the beginning is really interesting dynamic and balance.
00:04:11
Speaker
Yeah.
00:04:11
Speaker
So in your assistant work for Dali, do you do a lot of the kind of similar things that you would do with your own authors or do you, is it more kind of like admin-y stuff and Dali does a lot of that?
00:04:23
Speaker
To be honest, it's quite, I would say it's quite similar across both.
00:04:27
Speaker
I mean, again, sort of with, I mean, I...
00:04:31
Speaker
I'm more editorially focused and, you know, sort of with my authors, but I still do, you know, stuff like that for Dali.
00:04:40
Speaker
It's obviously he is the front runner in all of this, but yeah, you know, he's given me so many opportunities to work editorially on, you know, client care to do, you know, I've learned a lot about contracts, you know, about just, I suppose a lot of the,
00:04:59
Speaker
background that is needed to kind of set up an author that I had, well, obviously no experience
00:05:06
Speaker
I wouldn't, yeah, I had no clue how much kind of stuff.
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Speaker
I just sort of like, oh, a manuscript comes in and then you're like, oh, amazing.
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Speaker
Like, cool.
00:05:16
Speaker
We'll just pass that on to the publishers.
Focus on Commercial Fiction at Darlie Anderson
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Speaker
Whereas he's taken a really active role in kind of nurturing me in the agency and sort of the wider industry.
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Speaker
And yeah, giving me the kind of like starting building blocks to actually work.
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Speaker
going forth and applying the things that I've learned from him to the work with my own author.
00:05:36
Speaker
So there's, yeah, certainly now it's actually quite similar work across the two.
00:05:42
Speaker
Wow.
00:05:43
Speaker
That's amazing.
00:05:44
Speaker
And what an incredible kind of like established person within the industry to be kind of mentoring you in that way.
00:05:49
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely.
00:05:51
Speaker
You know, I'm incredibly lucky in that sense.
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Speaker
And I think in terms of the wider agency, you know, I absolutely fell on
00:06:01
Speaker
fell on my feet in terms of the commercial nature of the books that we do.
00:06:06
Speaker
It's firmly where my passion lies.
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Speaker
And actually, I often say that if I had started out somewhere different, I'm not necessarily sure that I...
00:06:18
Speaker
would have enjoyed it or would have continued on in the same way.
00:06:21
Speaker
You know, he's got such a clear focus on what it is that makes, you know, successful commercial fiction.
00:06:27
Speaker
And it's quite refreshing to be able to just have amazing sort of conversations and discussions about that rather than necessarily like, oh, this book is going to be groundbreaking for X or Y reasons.
00:06:40
Speaker
Like, no, like this book is simply amazing and entertaining and that's what the readers want from it.
00:06:46
Speaker
And that's, yeah, it's something that I'll never get tired of.
00:06:49
Speaker
Yeah.
00:06:49
Speaker
I mean, yeah.
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Speaker
Incredible opportunity.
00:06:51
Speaker
As you say, you really landed on your feet there.
00:06:53
Speaker
So when did you start?
Signing the First Author: Donna Marchetti
00:06:56
Speaker
Um, and I appreciate this might be a kind of loose date, but when did you start building your list?
00:07:02
Speaker
Um, so I guess we could go from your foot, the first author you signed.
00:07:07
Speaker
Yeah.
00:07:07
Speaker
So, um, the first author I signed was, uh, Donna Marchetti in, uh,
00:07:13
Speaker
I think it was right at the end of 2021.
00:07:17
Speaker
Okay.
00:07:18
Speaker
Okay.
00:07:19
Speaker
Yeah.
00:07:19
Speaker
I think I kind of been doing like two, roughly like two years of assistant work purely.
00:07:27
Speaker
And then, yeah, discovered her manuscript and kind of fell in love with it.
00:07:33
Speaker
And yeah,
00:07:33
Speaker
That was the first person that I signed and then worked on that.
00:07:38
Speaker
It was a kind of, it was a slower process.
00:07:40
Speaker
I was learning an awful lot and then more sort of like from last year onwards, then kind of started to more actively build authors and, you know, sort of getting ready now to like really hit the ground running with taking things out on submission.
00:07:55
Speaker
Okay.
00:07:55
Speaker
So, so how many authors do you, you have on your, on your list now?
00:08:00
Speaker
Uh, so I've got four now.
00:08:02
Speaker
Um, uh, yeah.
Opening Up to Submissions
00:08:04
Speaker
And I think when I first started taking on clients, it was very much, you know, um, I wasn't actively open for submissions and sort of looking for things in that sense.
00:08:14
Speaker
So it was more, you know, um, I've been incredibly fortunate with, um,
00:08:20
Speaker
Yeah, having the support of agents like Tanner at Simons.
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Speaker
And she, you know, if things sort of felt like, oh, actually, like this could really work for you, you know, she was brilliant about sending stuff on.
00:08:32
Speaker
So that was where I kind of started out.
00:08:35
Speaker
Whereas now, yeah, sort of in the last...
00:08:38
Speaker
I don't know, maybe eight months or so have fully opened up to submissions.
00:08:41
Speaker
And that's been great.
00:08:42
Speaker
It's been really amazing to sort of see people and they're like, oh, we, you know, we found you for this reason.
00:08:47
Speaker
And, you know, we think really like this because, you know, you really like these books.
00:08:52
Speaker
So, yeah, that's, I think, sort of where the, it really, like I started to push forward and actively look for more authors.
00:08:59
Speaker
It's really good to hear that.
00:09:01
Speaker
And I think this happens a lot of agencies, but it's easy for authors, especially querying authors to forget because it can be quite a daunting thing, but do kind of all of the agents, if they get a submission and they think this isn't for me, but wait, let me send this to one of the other agents.
00:09:17
Speaker
Is that quite a common thing?
00:09:19
Speaker
Yeah.
00:09:19
Speaker
I mean, within DA, we are hugely collaborative in that sense.
00:09:24
Speaker
You know, like
00:09:25
Speaker
I think it, you know, it goes the same sort of for those agents focusing on crime and then also sort of the agents focusing more on romance.
00:09:33
Speaker
But we do have very clear interests and sort of delineations.
00:09:38
Speaker
And Tanner and I were very clear when we set up and what I was looking for.
00:09:43
Speaker
And if, you know, stuff that came to me, but actually really wasn't for me, that would go to her.
00:09:47
Speaker
And it's been brilliant.
00:09:49
Speaker
I think, yeah,
00:09:51
Speaker
I don't know.
00:09:52
Speaker
I mean, I'm sure it does happen everywhere, but yeah, I think in terms of the support that I've had and also, you know, from people that are a few years, a few years on from me, a little bit more senior than me, it's just nice to know that there is that collaborative aspect as well as there kind of being a hierarchical one at the same time.
00:10:10
Speaker
Yes.
00:10:10
Speaker
Yeah.
00:10:11
Speaker
And now, I mean, now's a great time for us to talk about who and what is actually on your list, the kind of books that you are looking for, the kind of authors that you are,
Preference for Romance-Heavy Books
00:10:19
Speaker
you are trying to sign.
00:10:21
Speaker
So I would say that at the moment my list is, well, I mean, my list will always be very romance heavy, but the way that I often will sort of try and like pitch it to people would be that I look for books at the kind of new adult, like sort of 20 something, maybe into like early thirties market.
00:10:46
Speaker
More books that are like straight up,
00:10:50
Speaker
Romance novels that have that romantic storyline absolutely at their core.
00:10:55
Speaker
Not that I don't enjoy reading things that have a higher sort of story narrative that goes deeper into you.
00:11:02
Speaker
I don't know, other themes and sort of emotional backstory and context, but I just want things that are really fun, really escapist, you know, that kind of work for those people that are absolutely insatiable romance readers, you know, that will pick up a book and read it in an afternoon and then look for the next one and look for the next one.
00:11:20
Speaker
And I think that particularly of that,
00:11:26
Speaker
really coming to the fore with like you know with book talk and all of the information and sort of accessibility of so many titles now I think there's such a space to be able to to tap into that and to bring those stories that perhaps previously had been neglected is the wrong word because there's always authors that have been writing in that space but I think are guessing the recognition that they actually deserve now and it's really exciting to be part of that
00:11:50
Speaker
Yeah.
00:11:51
Speaker
So romance very much the core of kind of what, what you like, what you're looking for, but you would be open to something that where maybe romance was the B plot.
00:12:02
Speaker
Yeah, I think that would very much be more... I am looking on the sort of fantasy end of the spectrum and where I think that's kind of where that would sit in terms of like your general contemporary kind of rom-coms.
00:12:16
Speaker
Like I definitely want the romance to be the central line.
00:12:19
Speaker
But in terms of a, yeah, sort of romance-y fantasy story, having that incredible sort of world-building aspect of really...
00:12:30
Speaker
strong, intelligent, core character that's going to kind of take the plot forward and then having romance as a theme that is running throughout.
00:12:38
Speaker
That's kind of, yeah, I feel like there's more
00:12:41
Speaker
there's more space within that to be able to play around with different themes and lots of other stuff, you know, found families or people coming into their own different power dynamics and sort of bringing in maybe some more like contextual ideas and sort of how it could relate to maybe current political themes, but all in very much like a commercial and fun way.
00:13:04
Speaker
Yeah.
00:13:05
Speaker
Is there ever a world where you would sign a story that has no romance?
00:13:13
Speaker
to be honest I mean probably not I think yeah it's I think there are so many smarter more qualified people to be able to bring those kind of books voices narratives to the fore it's not an area at all that I excel in and it's I suppose it's not an area that I massively read and I think that that's
00:13:40
Speaker
you know, if I'm pitching to authors and stuff, that that's one of my things I will always say is that I sign the books that I read.
00:13:48
Speaker
I absolutely am obsessed with romance books.
00:13:52
Speaker
Like anyone that knows me knows that I almost never read outside of the genre.
00:13:58
Speaker
You know, every once in a while, I'll pick up something because I know that actually it will kind of test me a bit and like push my
00:14:04
Speaker
intellectual horizons but overall I really just want the books that I know that I'm going to enjoy sort of like thinking about books more as I think about tv shows something that's genuinely going to like really entertain me
00:14:17
Speaker
Okay.
00:14:18
Speaker
Okay.
00:14:18
Speaker
That makes sense.
00:14:19
Speaker
So on from that, something that is always interesting, especially for any writers listening who are querying or looking at which agents they want to query is how you approach your submissions.
Submission Process at Darlie Anderson
00:14:32
Speaker
So at Dali Anderson, the query package is what you would normally expect, cover letter, synopsis, first three chapters.
00:14:41
Speaker
And it's only fiction, right?
00:14:43
Speaker
There's no nonfiction at Dali Anderson.
00:14:45
Speaker
No, I mean, we have done sort of some nonfiction projects in the past, but yeah, our primary focus is commercial fiction.
00:14:53
Speaker
Okay.
00:14:54
Speaker
And all of that is done through the website, dalianderson.com on the submissions page.
00:14:58
Speaker
It's all kind of built into the form and things like that.
00:15:00
Speaker
So it's very easy to get everything right.
00:15:03
Speaker
You tick the agents that you want, et cetera, et cetera.
00:15:05
Speaker
So when you sit down to have a session with your submissions of the different parts, the cover letter, synopsis, and the manuscript itself, where do you start and what are you looking for in each part?
00:15:19
Speaker
So I will always start with a brief scan of the cover letter.
00:15:23
Speaker
You know, I just generally want to know maybe a couple of sentences, like what the actual hook of the story is, if there are any key bits of information that I need to pick out.
00:15:33
Speaker
You know, is it a queer romance?
00:15:36
Speaker
Is it, is there some other underlying threads that will sort of be really important?
00:15:41
Speaker
And I want to know about pretty much as soon as I start the novel.
00:15:45
Speaker
And also any comp titles.
00:15:47
Speaker
I find that so useful to
00:15:48
Speaker
know you know how the author sees what they've written in terms of where it sits on a shelf versus how I'm actually reading it so I'll do that it will be a very very brief scan and it also then helps me to pick out ones that I'm like okay I really want to prioritize reading this so yeah then we'll kind of separate things out have high priorities and then other ones that you know I really do want to read but
00:16:14
Speaker
perhaps yeah they might sit slightly lower and then from there I need it to be like completely death quiet um and we'll just sit and sort of have like a couple of hours that I just kind of read and go through everything and if it's something that I like I flag it uh sit on it for a day and then
00:16:37
Speaker
If I can still remember every aspect of the story and, you know, I'm constantly coming back to think about it, then I will request further.
00:16:44
Speaker
The only thing that I don't tend to read is the synopsis.
00:16:49
Speaker
If I'm really on the fence about something, then I'll read it.
00:16:52
Speaker
And that's kind of why we ask for it at DA.
00:16:56
Speaker
But I don't tend to read them straight up.
00:16:59
Speaker
I don't really want to know.
00:17:03
Speaker
a reader would.
00:17:04
Speaker
So I, yeah, I don't read a synopsis.
00:17:06
Speaker
If you've got a really extensive blurb in a cover letter, I also try and skim that.
00:17:11
Speaker
Um, so that it's just a few sentences, like it would be on the back cover if I was picking it up in a bookshop.
00:17:17
Speaker
Okay.
00:17:17
Speaker
So the synopsis is kind of a, the tiebreaker for you.
00:17:20
Speaker
Yeah.
00:17:21
Speaker
If I, if I kind of like where something's going,
Importance of Market Awareness in Submissions
00:17:24
Speaker
but I'm not really sure what the, you know, if the hook hasn't like
00:17:29
Speaker
really been introduced or perhaps one of the main characters hasn't been introduced that's when I'll look at the synopsis and be like okay right I see where you're going with this and I'm you know yeah I really want to persevere or okay that's not quite where I thought that that was going but I can you know work that into sort of some feedback and send back to them if they wanted to resubmit that kind of thing
00:17:51
Speaker
Okay.
00:17:51
Speaker
Okay.
00:17:52
Speaker
And you mentioned, uh, you love to see comparison titles in the cover letter.
00:17:58
Speaker
What do you have any kind of like do's and don'ts for comparison titles?
00:18:03
Speaker
Um, I would say that what I really want and I would, this probably goes for everyone at the agency, but we are very commercial agency.
00:18:12
Speaker
So I want to see titles generally that,
00:18:16
Speaker
Yeah, equate to that, that are in the charts or they're an author that, you know, has been a big brand, is a big brand, you know, has had a big book.
00:18:25
Speaker
And generally speaking, ones that are up to date, you
00:18:30
Speaker
you know, I will always kind of, you know, you can recognize and pick out big titles from kind of 20 years ago, but I think particularly in genres that I'm working on, everything has changed and is moving very quickly.
00:18:44
Speaker
So actually, you know, titles that were very big, sort of like five, 10 years ago and authors that
00:18:52
Speaker
through.
00:18:53
Speaker
And I kind of want to see that you've done your research, that you've looked at what it is that, you know, I represent and the wider agency represents and have fed that back in.
00:19:03
Speaker
Okay.
00:19:04
Speaker
Is there ever a danger of, cause I know a lot of agents, there's sometimes a danger of like going too big with your comparison title.
00:19:11
Speaker
And the one that people often use as an example is like, stop comparing yourself to Stephen King.
00:19:16
Speaker
Do you ever get that kind of thing?
00:19:20
Speaker
Um, I don't know.
00:19:21
Speaker
I suppose,
00:19:24
Speaker
I think actually, depending on the context of the rest of your cover letter, go big.
00:19:31
Speaker
You've got to be the person that's going to be backing yourself.
00:19:35
Speaker
And I think that it's actually a very attractive quality in an author if you're... It's not arrogance, but a firm belief in yourself because doubtless there will be so many other people coming back to you with no's.
00:19:49
Speaker
that you've got to be the person that's actually going to advocate for yourself and to kind of stay the course in the face of all of that.
00:19:56
Speaker
So no, it doesn't really bother me that much.
00:19:59
Speaker
I think if it comes along the lines of this is the best book you've ever read and the, you know, I am the new Stephen King, then that's perhaps slightly different.
00:20:09
Speaker
Yeah.
00:20:09
Speaker
Yeah.
00:20:10
Speaker
I can see what you mean.
00:20:10
Speaker
Don't say that you're, you're like better than.
00:20:13
Speaker
Exactly.
00:20:14
Speaker
These are the people that I aspire to.
00:20:16
Speaker
Yes, I aspire to.
00:20:17
Speaker
And the other thing I've heard is don't say that there's nothing like this on the market.
00:20:21
Speaker
It's very unhelpful.
00:20:23
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, because guaranteed there will be.
00:20:27
Speaker
And I think, you know, there's something to be said for having a unique plot, but some of the best books that
00:20:34
Speaker
think of a lot of other titles that you know draw comparisons with but that doesn't make it any less entertaining any less readable you know if you've got if you've got a voice if you've got characters and overall if you've got a romantic plot line that people are going to get invested in then actually the kind of main plot of the story doesn't matter as much it's only kind of there is or at least how i say it sometimes is that it's only really there to kind of
00:21:00
Speaker
draw you in on that initial bit it's like oh okay I see that tagline that sounds quite interesting I like the blurb I'll get into it but for me like the stories that will stick with me for much longer are the ones where I'm like I was so invested in their relationship those characters have like left me with you know a real sense of
00:21:20
Speaker
satisfaction or you know like a real emotional tie and actually I couldn't tell you really what happens in the story it's yeah them that I've been focused on and I think especially if because you very much and the whole agency works very much in the commercial space that you know that's an audience that wants something that is familiar but with you know a new direction or like a new twist on it absolutely I think you
00:21:49
Speaker
can flick on to whatever streaming service that you know they've got and be bombarded with a million other kind of easily watchable and digestible shows they're going out they're doing other things you know reading is a low priority so actually you want something that you kind of you know what you're going to expect you know you don't want to sit down there's nothing worse than sitting down and reading a book and realizing actually i've wasted a load of time on that and i didn't really enjoy it
00:22:18
Speaker
you know, readers in this space are certainly looking for something that I'll go, okay, I know what I'm going to get.
00:22:24
Speaker
I'm going to sit down, I'm going to read it, I'm going to enjoy it.
00:22:26
Speaker
And then I'm going to sort of put it down and get on with the rest of my day.
Interest in Diverse Romance Genres
00:22:29
Speaker
Yeah, for sure.
00:22:30
Speaker
I totally agree.
00:22:31
Speaker
Um, that's really great.
00:22:33
Speaker
I did, I did want to ask, I noticed on the, on the submission form page on the website, there is a box that says, have you submitted to us before?
00:22:41
Speaker
Is a yes or no in that box?
00:22:43
Speaker
Does that kind of change at all how you view a submission?
00:22:47
Speaker
No, not really.
00:22:48
Speaker
I think it's more for us in terms of sometimes we will get multiple submissions to agents.
00:22:57
Speaker
Oh, sorry, other agents.
00:22:58
Speaker
So like, you know, Tanner and I have certainly had it where an author has submitted to both myself and to her and it's just good for us.
00:23:06
Speaker
you know, if something's working for one, but not the other, or just so that we can have that conversation and we're not doubling up on feedback or in the unlikely scenario that we're both, you know, trying to offer rep for the same thing.
00:23:21
Speaker
So it's just, it's good to have that and sometimes get it where we have people that will be submitting, you know, kind of like 10, 20 plus submissions to us.
00:23:29
Speaker
And actually at that point, if there was probably something that we would see in the writing that we'd be like, okay, I'm
00:23:35
Speaker
this book isn't for us, but I want to flag you as somebody that if you resubmitted, I'd be really keen to read it.
00:23:42
Speaker
Or conversely, like actually we've read a lot of your submissions now and we're just probably not the right agency for you.
00:23:49
Speaker
It's good to have that.
00:23:50
Speaker
Okay.
00:23:51
Speaker
And when people do submit to the agency, do you encourage people to just submit to one agent or is submitting to two agents fine?
00:23:59
Speaker
We...
00:24:01
Speaker
Always really say just submit to one.
00:24:03
Speaker
I think because we do share a lot in-house and actually we do have different tastes.
00:24:08
Speaker
Yeah, that makes sense.
00:24:09
Speaker
Because it's easier for you guys.
00:24:11
Speaker
If you receive something and you say, oh, this would be great for so-and-so, I'm actually going to pass it along.
00:24:15
Speaker
Yeah, exactly.
00:24:17
Speaker
So heading towards the end of the episode, we are at the beginning of 2024.
00:24:22
Speaker
You are open to submissions.
00:24:25
Speaker
Are there any specific stories or characters or settings that you would love to see in your inbox this year?
00:24:31
Speaker
Oh, I mean, generally, I think on the sort of romance side of things, I would love to see some more queer romance.
00:24:42
Speaker
I've got a brilliant one that I'm working on at the moment.
00:24:45
Speaker
And it's just, it's been such a joy.
00:24:48
Speaker
And just to have a sort of like deeply commercial story, but told in a slightly different way.
00:24:55
Speaker
And to get to know the characters and stuff.
00:24:56
Speaker
It's been great.
00:24:57
Speaker
And I would love to
00:24:59
Speaker
I'd love to do that more and to kind of bring wildly sort of underrepresented in the romance genre.
00:25:05
Speaker
Yeah.
00:25:05
Speaker
To have that more in the present.
00:25:08
Speaker
Um, and at the top of my list, that is something that I'm very, very much looking for.
00:25:12
Speaker
Um, I would also really like a kind of like a spy romance.
00:25:18
Speaker
Okay.
00:25:21
Speaker
I just read, um,
00:25:23
Speaker
Ali Carter's new one and I absolutely loved her when I was growing up the Gallagher girls were some of my favorite books and just something that's like kind of slightly different a bit um Catherine Senter's new one the bodyguard I thought that was a brilliant twist so yeah maybe like an an action romance would be fun and then I think on the fantasy romantic side I am so desperate for a pirate
00:25:50
Speaker
fantasy kind of setting.
00:25:52
Speaker
I just think like actually sort of having the seas, the camaraderie of the crew, having like that really tight knit community would be so fun.
00:26:02
Speaker
You know, perhaps a different play on the kind of like traditional Captain Hook villain and, you know, Wendy type female.
00:26:11
Speaker
I would just love to see something in that space and equally perhaps...
00:26:15
Speaker
I don't know why, I'm just very obsessed with a desert, really hot setting for something like that.
00:26:23
Speaker
I think we see a lot of ones that feel almost like they could be set in Ireland or the mountains of Scotland or something.
00:26:31
Speaker
Having something really hot and arid would be amazing.
00:26:34
Speaker
Like a fun dune.
00:26:36
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely.
00:26:37
Speaker
If it was actually fun and people were smiling.
00:26:40
Speaker
Yeah.
00:26:40
Speaker
You know, June, but just like with a bit of sparkle.
00:26:45
Speaker
If everyone was just not so like intense.
00:26:48
Speaker
Yeah.
00:26:48
Speaker
Just, you know, like June, but like they crack a smile.
00:26:52
Speaker
That would be fun.
00:26:53
Speaker
Okay.
00:26:54
Speaker
That sounds really interesting.
00:26:55
Speaker
As someone who pays a lot of attention to upcoming films and TV and stuff like that, Pirates, we've got, there is a new Pirates of the Caribbean in the works.
00:27:03
Speaker
So that's interesting that you picked that.
00:27:04
Speaker
And there's also a Mr. and Mrs. Smith television series coming out.
00:27:09
Speaker
Oh my gosh, is there?
00:27:10
Speaker
Yeah.
00:27:10
Speaker
So you're on the money.
00:27:11
Speaker
That is huge.
00:27:12
Speaker
Okay, great.
00:27:13
Speaker
That will be firmly at the top of my list.
00:27:15
Speaker
I think to be honest, the most of the stuff that I want now are kind of ones that I maybe read when I was younger and I actually just want an adult version of, which I'm sure is something that a lot of people can relate to.
00:27:27
Speaker
Yeah, for sure.
Desert Island Book Choice: 'A Court of Silver Flames'
00:27:29
Speaker
Amazing.
00:27:29
Speaker
Would that, I mean, lots of great specifics, lots of, lots of exciting ideas for anyone listening to, to kind of maybe spark some inspiration from.
00:27:38
Speaker
Um, and that brings us to, to the final question of the episode, which as always is, um,
00:27:44
Speaker
Rebecca, if you were stranded on a desert island with a single book, which book do you hope that it would be?
00:27:51
Speaker
So I've been thinking about this a lot.
00:27:54
Speaker
I've been trying to gather what other people might read and then realise that what everyone else was suggesting I definitely wouldn't want.
00:28:02
Speaker
But I think I'm a massive, massive rereader.
00:28:06
Speaker
Some of my favourite books I've read probably like 20 times.
00:28:10
Speaker
And I think the top one of that...
00:28:13
Speaker
would be A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J Maas.
00:28:17
Speaker
I think that I would take her entire works with me and I genuinely would be quite happy to be deserted on an island with them all.
00:28:25
Speaker
But that's, I think, the only one that you could pick out as a semi-standalone.
00:28:29
Speaker
And every time I go back to it, the central character, Nesta, she has so many nuances.
00:28:36
Speaker
If I'm in one mood, I read it one way.
00:28:37
Speaker
If I'm in a different mood, I read it another way.
00:28:40
Speaker
Yeah, I could read it, you know, a million more times and I would still find it so endlessly enjoyable.
00:28:46
Speaker
So yeah, that would probably be mine.
00:28:48
Speaker
Is it more of a, you picked that one because it's a standalone.
00:28:50
Speaker
If you could, you would take, you know, one of the longer series.
00:28:54
Speaker
If I could take, I mean, that A Court of Thorns and Roses series as a whole is my favourite one of hers.
Impact of 'A Monster Calls' on Personal Lives
00:29:00
Speaker
And so I would take that when she finishes it in its entirety.
00:29:05
Speaker
But I think that is my favourite of that series.
00:29:10
Speaker
So yeah, like gun to my head if I had to pick one.
00:29:13
Speaker
Yeah.
00:29:14
Speaker
I did see on a, I think it was on the blog post on the DA website.
00:29:18
Speaker
You, you had a few like honorable mentions on a similar kind of question.
00:29:22
Speaker
And you mentioned, uh, a monster calls, Patrick Ness.
00:29:27
Speaker
I think that's probably the book that has had... You know, like when people say, like, oh, what's a book that changed your life or something?
00:29:34
Speaker
And I was actually listening to Felicity Truth's episode and sort of listening to her talking about it.
00:29:42
Speaker
I completely agree.
00:29:43
Speaker
I think it's something that everyone should read.
00:29:47
Speaker
I think it doesn't matter, you know, if it's the specific sort of scenario in the book is something that you're facing or if it's just...
00:29:55
Speaker
you know, you want something that actually gets to, it's just got so much heart and it just brings forward so much emotion, but in a way that's so intelligently done and also actually so accessible, you know, you don't get to the end and you go, gosh, what on earth happened?
00:30:12
Speaker
It's,
00:30:16
Speaker
just remarkable.
00:30:17
Speaker
Yeah.
00:30:17
Speaker
I did a whole sort of like art project on it at school.
00:30:20
Speaker
Like the illustrations add so much to it.
00:30:24
Speaker
Um, I'm not sure I've seen many of the illustrations for it.
00:30:27
Speaker
They are incredible.
00:30:28
Speaker
And I think because it's a, you know, it is like a young adult book really.
00:30:32
Speaker
Um, and so it feels quite novel to have something that is so intensely illustrated in what is actually like a longer form book.
00:30:41
Speaker
Um, yeah.
00:30:43
Speaker
So that would, that would be another one if I could take it.
00:30:45
Speaker
Yeah, that's it.
00:30:47
Speaker
Just, I had to mention that one because that I'm the same way that when, when someone asked me like, what's a book that like affected you and like kind of changed the way that you view yourself in the world, like that, that book's the first one that comes to mind.
00:30:59
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:31:00
Speaker
It leaves you with this, for me at least so much introspection after reading it and just kind of like looking back at myself and how I kind of interact and interface with challenges and things in life.
00:31:11
Speaker
Yeah.
00:31:11
Speaker
And I think sort of like the mini stories within that were just so you can read them in so many different ways and you know, what you think is one thing is actually so different.
00:31:23
Speaker
And yeah, I could talk about it forever.
00:31:26
Speaker
Yeah.
00:31:27
Speaker
I was going to say we could, we could just gush about this for hours.
00:31:29
Speaker
Yeah.
00:31:30
Speaker
For anyone who hasn't read a monster calls, you must, you must, I think it's, if it's, it's probably not the book I would take to the desert island, but I think it is the book.
00:31:40
Speaker
It's the book that I recommend to people the most, I think by far.
00:31:45
Speaker
Definitely.
00:31:46
Speaker
When people ask me for book recommendations or if I just feel like giving unsolicited book recommendations.
00:31:52
Speaker
Yeah, really shoving it down people's throats.
00:31:54
Speaker
Like you must read this.
00:31:56
Speaker
Because I honestly think everyone should read it.
00:31:59
Speaker
You're right.
00:32:00
Speaker
100% right.
00:32:01
Speaker
Anyway, enough gushing.
Conclusion and Social Media Follow-Up
00:32:04
Speaker
brings us to the end of the episode.
00:32:06
Speaker
And thank you so much, Rebecca, for coming on and telling us all about your kind of journey and what you're doing in DA and everything that you're looking for in your list.
00:32:16
Speaker
It's been awesome chatting with you.
00:32:18
Speaker
No, thank you for having me.
00:32:19
Speaker
It's been great.
00:32:20
Speaker
And for anyone wanting to keep up with what Rebecca is doing, you can follow her on Twitter at Becca underscore Finch.
00:32:27
Speaker
That's Becca with one K and on Instagram at Rebecca dot Finch.
00:32:31
Speaker
Again, Rebecca with one K. To make sure you don't miss an episode of this podcast, follow along on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook.
00:32:37
Speaker
You can support the show on Patreon and for more Bookish Chat, check out my other podcasts, The Chosen Ones and Other Tropes.
00:32:42
Speaker
Thanks again to Rebecca and thanks to everyone listening.
00:32:44
Speaker
We'll catch you on the next episode.