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73 Sandra Sawicka | Literary Agent
535 Plays3 years ago
Literary Agent, Sandra Sawicka drops in this week to tell us all about her work as an agent and foreign rights manager over at Marjacq Literary Agency. We go deep on the submission process, the dos and don't as well as what she is looking to add to her list. A really great episode for anyone querying their work and looking to tighten up their submission.
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Transcript
Introduction & Sponsor Announcement
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.
00:00:15
Speaker
Are these your notes?
00:00:16
Speaker
These.
00:00:17
Speaker
Are these your notes about what we're going to say?
00:00:19
Speaker
Anything.
00:00:19
Speaker
Nailed it.
00:00:20
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 good 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
I'll write it here first.
00:00:40
Speaker
What?
Guest Introduction: Sandra Savitska
00:00:43
Speaker
Hello and welcome back to the Right and Wrong podcast.
00:00:45
Speaker
I'm Jamie and I'm very excited to be joined today by the wonderful Sandra Savitska, who is both agent and foreign rights manager over at Marzak.
00:00:56
Speaker
Hi, Sandra.
00:00:57
Speaker
Welcome to the show.
00:00:58
Speaker
Hello, hello.
00:00:59
Speaker
How are you doing?
00:00:59
Speaker
Thank you for having me here.
00:01:01
Speaker
That's very exciting.
00:01:02
Speaker
Oh, it's my pleasure.
00:01:03
Speaker
You're most welcome.
00:01:04
Speaker
Thanks for coming.
00:01:05
Speaker
I actually had the pleasure of meeting one of your authors recently.
00:01:09
Speaker
Oh, which one?
00:01:10
Speaker
I had a lovely chat with Amy McCaw, um, Mina and the undead for listening at the NYA lit festival.
00:01:19
Speaker
It was really good.
00:01:20
Speaker
Yeah.
00:01:20
Speaker
She did a really good panel.
00:01:22
Speaker
Yeah, she's very good.
00:01:23
Speaker
Uh, she's also a blogger.
00:01:24
Speaker
So, um, uh, she's very slick and also, you know, a lovely person.
00:01:30
Speaker
So she is yes.
00:01:32
Speaker
And, and the, if anyone listening is a fan, the sequel, Mina and the Slayers is out in September.
00:01:38
Speaker
Yes.
00:01:38
Speaker
Right.
00:01:38
Speaker
I'm ready for Halloween.
00:01:40
Speaker
Oh, perfect.
00:01:42
Speaker
Yeah.
00:01:42
Speaker
Well, it's a theme with a book, so it's a perfect time.
00:01:46
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Sandra's Career Journey
00:01:47
Speaker
Bringing it back to you, agent and foreign rights manager at Marjack since 2014, is it?
00:01:55
Speaker
Yes.
00:01:55
Speaker
I think March, 2014, I joined right before our London book fair, which was fun.
00:02:01
Speaker
That's a wild time to join a literary agency.
00:02:04
Speaker
Yes, I mean, for anyone who doesn't know, London Book Fair and Frankfurt Book Fair are two sort of big fairs that kind of publishing calendar hinges on.
00:02:16
Speaker
So I think I had like two weeks to learn our entire list to pitch to foreign publishers, which was great, actually, because, you know, it sort of forces you to do it.
00:02:29
Speaker
And then once you do it, you kind of, you know, you just update it with new titles.
00:02:33
Speaker
Yeah.
00:02:34
Speaker
Were you always an agent and the foreign rights manager?
00:02:40
Speaker
No, I think, you know, somebody very early on in my kind of publishing career said that publishing careers are very, very linear.
00:02:50
Speaker
So you start in one department and then you kind of just wander off into the other one.
00:02:56
Speaker
So I started at reception at a publisher that no longer exists at the moment.
00:03:04
Speaker
It was Anova, Anova.
00:03:06
Speaker
They later became Pavilion and now they're part of HarperCollins.
00:03:10
Speaker
I think it's still under Pavilion.
00:03:12
Speaker
And then I went to, I stayed there and did a sales job.
00:03:18
Speaker
a sales assistant.
00:03:20
Speaker
Then I went to Michael Mara and did foreign rights for the first time, um, for a bit.
00:03:26
Speaker
And then I joined Margek and I became foreign rights, uh, sort of exec there.
00:03:31
Speaker
Um, but I also always wanted to be an agent.
00:03:34
Speaker
So, um, they were very lovely and supportive of me, um, building my own lists, um, just from the get go.
00:03:43
Speaker
So yeah, so that was, that was really, really cool of them that they kind of let me run with it along my kind of foreign rights duties.
00:03:54
Speaker
That was, that was really, really great.
00:03:56
Speaker
And really sort of brave of them to kind of let me, let me do my own thing from the very, very beginning.
00:04:03
Speaker
Yeah.
00:04:03
Speaker
Well, I mean, I guess as long, as long as you're doing the main thing that you were there for, which is the foreign rights, like they can see if the agent thing works out and it did obviously.
00:04:11
Speaker
Yeah, yeah.
00:04:12
Speaker
But they were also, you know, super supportive of it and they kind of encouraged me to do it rather than just sort of making me do foreign rights primarily.
00:04:23
Speaker
And then sort of in my spare time, my agenting, it was always sort of from the very beginning, it was kind of maybe 80-20 at the very beginning and then sort of progressed to being sort of 50-50 on foreign.
00:04:33
Speaker
Yeah.
00:04:35
Speaker
So it was quite a lateral career path that you took.
00:04:39
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely.
00:04:40
Speaker
Which I think it's not that uncommon in publishing at all.
00:04:44
Speaker
I think everyone is slightly... And also it actually gives you a nice overview of the entire process of book production.
00:04:53
Speaker
I really value my time in sales, for example, because I've learned things that I probably wouldn't have...
00:05:01
Speaker
had I not worked in sales before.
00:05:03
Speaker
So it's, it's nice.
00:05:05
Speaker
It's nice to kind of, um, learn, um,
00:05:08
Speaker
how different departments tick and what kind of makes it work and how it kind of becomes a cohesive process at the end of it, hopefully.
00:05:15
Speaker
Yeah.
00:05:16
Speaker
I imagine as an agent as well, that's invaluable kind of lessons because obviously when you're pitching to an editor, to a publisher, the sales team is going to have a say and you're knowing kind of how they operate, what they're looking for is really going to help you in that pitch.
00:05:33
Speaker
Oh, absolutely.
00:05:35
Speaker
That's kind of one facet of it that you sort of know how they will think about it while pitching to salespeople in Waterstones and other sort of retailers.
00:05:48
Speaker
But also just how the department works and how they think about, you know, how they look at covers, for example.
00:05:56
Speaker
Sometimes it's a very different process, and especially when you compare it to how foreign covers work.
00:06:03
Speaker
They are completely, even if you look at American covers and UK covers, most of the time they differ so much purely because, you know, consumers tend to be drawn to different things.
00:06:16
Speaker
We have different aesthetics and kind of culturally we're kind of programmed to...
00:06:20
Speaker
to find different things attractive.
00:06:23
Speaker
So knowing what sales think about a cover and how they will present it to buyers in different retailers, it's invaluable as you say.
00:06:34
Speaker
Yeah.
Managing Translation Rights & Book Fairs
00:06:35
Speaker
Am I right in thinking that you do all of the translation rights for the whole of Marjok?
00:06:43
Speaker
Yes.
00:06:44
Speaker
Yes, I do.
00:06:44
Speaker
That sounds like a massive job.
00:06:47
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, it is and it isn't.
00:06:52
Speaker
I think, you know, mail merge is my friend.
00:06:55
Speaker
I'm not going to lie.
00:06:56
Speaker
So, you know, you have to be quite, quite organized, I suppose.
00:07:02
Speaker
And I do love an Excel spreadsheet.
00:07:04
Speaker
So I think once you, you sort of find the system and I am a fan of systems as well.
00:07:11
Speaker
It's, it's, it's, it's very manageable.
00:07:15
Speaker
I think,
00:07:17
Speaker
it becomes less manageable around book fairs.
00:07:19
Speaker
As I said, it's, you know, that that's, that's when it gets a bit, um, when I get a bit ratty with my,
00:07:27
Speaker
clients when they um um so i think two weeks before and two weeks after i tend to like not read submissions at all and just you know focus on on the fair um but other than that you know like for example summer is pretty um pretty relaxed on on foreign rights front because half of
00:07:49
Speaker
European publishers actually have holidays.
00:07:51
Speaker
So it's a six weeks time when nothing really moves.
00:07:55
Speaker
So yeah, it sort of, it comes in waves.
00:08:00
Speaker
Yes.
00:08:00
Speaker
Yeah.
Evaluating Submissions
00:08:01
Speaker
Yeah.
00:08:01
Speaker
Yeah.
00:08:01
Speaker
Ups and downs.
00:08:02
Speaker
Yeah.
00:08:03
Speaker
Yeah.
00:08:04
Speaker
And speaking of, um, submissions currently open to submissions.
00:08:11
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:08:11
Speaker
Very much so.
00:08:13
Speaker
Okay.
00:08:13
Speaker
Very exciting.
00:08:15
Speaker
And when it comes to submissions itself, and this is something I ask all of the agents that come on the show at Marzak, it's a cover letter, 50 pages, synopsis, pretty standard in line with the sort of industry for the submission.
00:08:31
Speaker
When you open up your inbox and dive into a submission, what order do you go through the component parts and where do you attribute the most weight?
00:08:42
Speaker
Yeah, so I'm probably a little bit weird on this front.
00:08:47
Speaker
So I tend to skim read the cover letter and really I can't stress the importance of actually putting the most important information at the very beginning of your letter.
00:08:58
Speaker
So the title, the word count and the genre should really be in the first paragraph so that
00:09:05
Speaker
when it pops up in my email box, I can see it from the very beginning.
00:09:10
Speaker
So I kind of skim read the blurb and see whether that excites me or just a kind of general first impression.
00:09:18
Speaker
I don't read synopsis at all most of the time.
00:09:21
Speaker
I only read synopsis when I'm on the fence of whether I should call it in or not.
00:09:26
Speaker
So if something has quite like a groundbreaking idea or it says it has like a immense hook
00:09:35
Speaker
And the writing is brilliant and I really love it, but I'm not quite sure whether it will deliver on the promise.
00:09:41
Speaker
I will then read the synopsis.
00:09:42
Speaker
But most of the time I actually try not to read it just because I want to have that sort of firsthand experience of a reader's experience.
00:09:50
Speaker
experience, like without the spoilers, you know, like whether all the kind of the beats of the story, did they, do they hit the right notes or not?
00:09:59
Speaker
If I know it, if I come into it knowing already what's going to happen, I might be like, well, this was obvious.
00:10:06
Speaker
Yeah.
00:10:06
Speaker
But would I, without reading the synopsis?
00:10:08
Speaker
So I try to not be tainted by it.
00:10:12
Speaker
Uh, but obviously do submit to submit the synopsis just in case it's that one in a hundred situations where, where I actually want to see whether, you know, uh, it doesn't fall off a cliff.
00:10:23
Speaker
Um, yes.
00:10:24
Speaker
Midway through.
00:10:25
Speaker
And I would say 98% importance is on the first three chapters or 50 pages, whichever, you know, is, is more logical to send.
00:10:36
Speaker
I think unless the cover letter is abysmal, you know, that will not really sway me either way.
00:10:45
Speaker
It could be the best cover letter in the world if the writing is not up to, you know, a certain standard, then it's not going to be one for me.
00:10:56
Speaker
At the end of the day, you know, like we want books that are amazing and that readers will love.
00:11:01
Speaker
Yeah.
00:11:02
Speaker
a good cover letter is not going to make
00:11:07
Speaker
Okay.
00:11:07
Speaker
Yeah.
00:11:07
Speaker
So the cover letter is very much a sort of statement of intent.
00:11:11
Speaker
It's just, this is what it is.
00:11:13
Speaker
Get into the, and then you jump into the pages.
00:11:15
Speaker
Yeah.
00:11:15
Speaker
Yeah.
00:11:16
Speaker
Yeah.
00:11:16
Speaker
I think it's nice when it's laid out nicely, just, just because, you know, when you look at it and it's really dense.
00:11:22
Speaker
Yeah.
00:11:22
Speaker
I like a short, I'm a fan of a short, concise cover letter that, that just kind of like, as you say, just states what it is.
00:11:30
Speaker
And then once we're sort of done with that, I'm kind of straight into the sample chapters.
00:11:36
Speaker
And do you, do you, are you sort of interested if the author writes a bit about themselves in the cover letter or is that?
00:11:43
Speaker
Yes, absolutely.
00:11:44
Speaker
I think, I think, um, that's probably the only bit that I read quite roughly.
00:11:51
Speaker
Um, uh, it's nice if they include whether they have any sort of accolades or, you know, a short story published in some magazine or,
00:12:02
Speaker
um you know if it's a thriller set in I don't know a lab and somebody is a marine biologist then it's nice to know that but you know they know what they're writing about because I certainly don't um so you know um
00:12:22
Speaker
Um, but if, if somebody is completely green and it's their first attempt, that's also absolutely fine.
00:12:27
Speaker
Just, just write something about you and what you like to read, for example, that's, that's always a nice kind of icebreaker if you will.
00:12:35
Speaker
Um, so yeah, not too long, but, but just like, exactly like a blurb on the book.
00:12:44
Speaker
They're, they're really, you know, three pages, but they give you a flavor of a person.
00:12:48
Speaker
Yeah, yeah.
00:12:49
Speaker
You just want, you want a bit of, you want to know that it's like a genuine person that's either, as you said, like knowledgeable about the field that the book is set in, or if, you know, if they're just a huge fan of literature and reading and what they like.
00:13:05
Speaker
Yeah, exactly.
00:13:07
Speaker
Okay.
00:13:07
Speaker
And do you have any, so when you, when you start reading, um, do you have any sort of pet peeves that you come across and you're like, Oh, I don't know about this.
00:13:18
Speaker
How much time do we have?
00:13:21
Speaker
So my, my first one is probably a bit obscure, but when I say it, you will notice it from now on every time.
00:13:29
Speaker
I can't unhear this.
00:13:30
Speaker
Um, so books that begin with the description of a sky, um,
00:13:35
Speaker
Of the sky.
00:13:36
Speaker
I don't know why so many people do this.
00:13:40
Speaker
Well, I think my theory is that it's, it's, it comes from a, like a TV film thing that we sometimes have that kind of horizontal panning in on something thing, but from the big, from the sort of macro view into the micro.
00:13:56
Speaker
Mm-hmm.
00:13:57
Speaker
but it's just so boring.
00:13:58
Speaker
You know, it's so static.
00:14:00
Speaker
It doesn't give me much.
00:14:02
Speaker
Yeah.
00:14:03
Speaker
I really like when something is mid action, like mid thing, you know, not a person waking up of this, which we all know is, is a no, no, something sort of,
00:14:15
Speaker
Something just kind of that, that will unsettle me in a way.
00:14:18
Speaker
Um, so that's definitely my pet peeve, uh, opening with a big fight scene or like chase when we don't actually know someone, their stakes are diminished because we don't really care about that person, the protagonist, presumably.
00:14:33
Speaker
Um, so I, I, I like something that will leave me with a question and, um,
00:14:40
Speaker
I don't really care what the question is.
00:14:42
Speaker
Um, it could be what happened next or who did this or why did this happen?
00:14:50
Speaker
I, I really don't, I'm not fascinated by whatever the question is, but if, if, if I'm left with all the answers and I'm not really
00:15:01
Speaker
I don't really need to read on in a way.
00:15:03
Speaker
Yeah.
00:15:04
Speaker
That's, that's kind of like too prescriptive, obviously, you know, too much exposition.
00:15:09
Speaker
That's kind of like a standard thing, too much dialogue in the very, like to the point that it actually looks like a screenplay.
00:15:16
Speaker
Yeah.
00:15:17
Speaker
That's, that's probably not great.
00:15:21
Speaker
Obviously if it's really messy and, and, and kind of full of typos that doesn't,
00:15:26
Speaker
bode very well.
00:15:28
Speaker
I always like to say that, you know, treat it as your, you wouldn't come into a job interview wearing tracks with bottoms and a ratty t-shirt.
00:15:37
Speaker
Yeah.
00:15:38
Speaker
That's the same thing with this.
00:15:40
Speaker
You would want, you want to present the best
00:15:44
Speaker
your best self and your best manuscript.
00:15:47
Speaker
So make sure it's clean.
00:15:49
Speaker
If it, if, if it has like a one or two typos and 50 pages, I'm not going to reject it on that basis.
00:15:55
Speaker
Yeah.
00:15:56
Speaker
But if it's, you know, if it doesn't have capital letters and no commas, for example, then that will make me, you know, a little bit angry.
00:16:05
Speaker
Yeah.
00:16:06
Speaker
Yeah.
00:16:07
Speaker
Oh yeah.
00:16:08
Speaker
I think, I think these are the kind of the main, uh,
00:16:11
Speaker
the main piece in, in the, in the sample itself.
00:16:18
Speaker
And the letter it's probably mostly like,
00:16:21
Speaker
you know, when people compare themselves to Dostoevsky.
00:16:24
Speaker
Have you had someone compare themselves to Dostoevsky?
00:16:29
Speaker
Oh my God, you'd be surprised.
00:16:31
Speaker
So many.
00:16:32
Speaker
Dostoevsky or Stephen King are probably the most common ones.
00:16:36
Speaker
I've heard Stephen King a lot.
00:16:38
Speaker
Yeah, but it's kind of weird how, you know, completely different end of the spectrum those two guys are.
00:16:46
Speaker
But yeah, so many times.
00:16:49
Speaker
Okay.
00:16:50
Speaker
How do you feel about comparisons in the cover letter?
00:16:52
Speaker
Is that useful?
00:16:54
Speaker
It is useful.
00:16:55
Speaker
Um, but it could work against you sometimes.
00:16:58
Speaker
So, um, if, if somebody pitches something that is, um, you know, like within my
00:17:09
Speaker
as much as I hate that word, like that saying, but like in my wheelhouse, then great.
00:17:14
Speaker
You know, I will probably maybe get to it a bit quicker if something sounds really exciting, but also if somebody gives, gives you a comp, like, I don't know, Anna Karenina and space, um,
00:17:31
Speaker
Which is so ridiculous.
00:17:32
Speaker
You know, it's, it's just, how does that even work?
00:17:35
Speaker
Then I'm kind of, I'm going to think that it's just not, it doesn't know what it is.
00:17:39
Speaker
And if it doesn't know what it is, then I won't know what it is.
00:17:42
Speaker
And I won't know who, who the editors who might want to read it are.
00:17:47
Speaker
So, so that's something to think about if, if don't try and force comps that just wouldn't work.
00:17:56
Speaker
Yeah.
00:17:56
Speaker
Yeah.
00:17:57
Speaker
Yeah.
00:17:57
Speaker
Cause it's more confusing than helpful at this stage.
00:18:00
Speaker
Yeah, because if you're going to make a kind of big comp, especially if it uses like a classic, say something like Lord of the Flies in space, it needs to be, it needs to ask a question so that then you or whoever that's being sent to says, oh, I wonder what that looks like, but understanding that it could work.
00:18:20
Speaker
Yes, yes.
00:18:22
Speaker
And, you know, as with everything in publishing, there is no fast rule about that.
00:18:30
Speaker
I think a book that recently sold was a queer Titanic in space or something, you know, which I guess it could work if it's, you know, on the space ship.
00:18:42
Speaker
Actually, no.
00:18:43
Speaker
I said that actually.
00:18:47
Speaker
But on paper, when I read it, I was like, what?
00:18:49
Speaker
There's too much going on there.
00:18:51
Speaker
But no, no, no, no.
00:18:52
Speaker
I can now see how that... Now we think about it.
00:18:54
Speaker
It makes quite a lot of sense.
00:18:56
Speaker
Yeah.
00:18:58
Speaker
But you know what I mean?
00:18:59
Speaker
I think maybe there were zombies thrown in actually there.
00:19:02
Speaker
There was something that really tripped me as I was reading it.
00:19:04
Speaker
Because I remember, I think it was like a publisher's weekly announcement.
00:19:09
Speaker
And I read it three times.
00:19:10
Speaker
I was like...
00:19:12
Speaker
But yeah, so keep it kind of simple but intriguing is probably the short advice on that one.
00:19:19
Speaker
But as you said, there's no rule.
00:19:21
Speaker
Sometimes these mad, insane comps get through.
00:19:24
Speaker
There's a movie called Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.
00:19:28
Speaker
So, you know, anything can work.
00:19:32
Speaker
Yes, yes, yes, yes.
00:19:33
Speaker
I mean, you know, it's publishing.
00:19:35
Speaker
It's very much a subjective industry.
00:19:38
Speaker
So it all depends on...
00:19:41
Speaker
you know, whether the taste of the person that you send it to aligns with your own.
00:19:47
Speaker
Yes, exactly.
00:19:49
Speaker
There's quite a lot of editors and quite a lot of agents.
00:19:51
Speaker
So the chances are, you know, there is a person out there that might think, Oh, that sounds really great.
00:19:57
Speaker
Yeah.
00:19:57
Speaker
You just got to find the right match.
00:19:59
Speaker
Yeah.
00:19:59
Speaker
So that's the submissions.
00:20:01
Speaker
That's the early part of the submissions process.
00:20:03
Speaker
The next step.
Offering Representation
00:20:04
Speaker
So let's say, um, and I'm curious about this is let's say that you, uh, you've got a good manuscript, you've requested the full it's good.
00:20:13
Speaker
And you're considering offering representation, which I presumably that means that you're looking to either meet with them in person or, or do a sort of online, uh, video call or something.
00:20:25
Speaker
Yes.
00:20:25
Speaker
So it would be ideal to have a chat purely because it's a long haul thing.
00:20:36
Speaker
It's usually not for a month, but it's for years.
00:20:40
Speaker
And it would be nice to see whether we actually get on.
00:20:42
Speaker
We kind of understand each other.
00:20:46
Speaker
It's a very rare situation when even if I love a manuscript, I wouldn't suggest any changes.
00:20:52
Speaker
So I always want to make sure that
00:20:55
Speaker
the author is comfortable with making those changes and kind of we're on the same page where we see with where we see the manuscripts going and what it kind of is to become and just you know just generally whether we kind of like each other as cheesy as that sounds yeah
00:21:16
Speaker
But also I do have authors I've never actually spoken to on the phone just because they are uncomfortable and they live somewhere far away and they prefer emailing.
00:21:26
Speaker
And so that's fine, you know, I'm happy to kind of take the author's lead on that.
00:21:36
Speaker
But ideally, yes, if they live sort of London-ish or if it's sort of
00:21:45
Speaker
you know, an hour away on the train idea that trip or, or as you say, zoom or phone call are also viable options.
00:21:55
Speaker
So then we have a, we have a chat and we see whether this could work.
00:22:00
Speaker
If it does, um, I send a client letter, which is like a one pager document, just kind of a state on of intent where,
00:22:11
Speaker
what my kind of duties as an agent would be and what our commission is and sort of terms of how to terminate it if we don't
00:22:23
Speaker
think it works so it's it's a three paragraph thing yeah yeah yeah very standard just hanging out this is this is what the deal is and and like here's your here's the get out of jail here's the yeah exactly i think people feel much more comfortable when that is it's sort of uh known from the get-go yeah you're not trapped yeah
00:22:45
Speaker
Yeah, exactly.
00:22:46
Speaker
It's not a kind of binding document that you don't have to sign any blood.
00:22:50
Speaker
So, um, so that's kind of the next, next step.
00:22:56
Speaker
Yeah.
00:22:57
Speaker
So when you, when you do meet with them, I mean, beyond the manuscript and the writing itself, you said it's very rare, but are there other factors that you take into account when deciding whether to offer representation, say maybe like a social media presence?
00:23:14
Speaker
Um, for nonfiction, I would, I think, um, it's, it's slightly different and there is more need to have a platform in nonfiction.
00:23:23
Speaker
Um,
00:23:25
Speaker
Although, you know, it's also not a prerequisite and I wouldn't, if, if, if somebody had an amazing idea for a nonfiction book and had no social media presence, I would still go for it.
00:23:37
Speaker
Yeah.
00:23:37
Speaker
I loved it enough.
00:23:38
Speaker
Um, but, um, I mean, it certainly helps as you say with Amy McCall, I think her social media presence is, has done well.
00:23:50
Speaker
wonders for uh for reena um so it's it's always nice to have it but it's it's like um a bonus you know yeah exactly it's like a bonus it's not it's not something i will it kind of be all or end all thing um another thing i usually ask is is um what is their next thing um okay
00:24:11
Speaker
So if, say, somebody wrote a crime novel and that's the one I love and I want to sign, and then they were to write a middle grade, you know, fiction.
00:24:30
Speaker
Yeah.
00:24:33
Speaker
I might flag it that it might not be... Well, maybe not middle grade because that's still something I do.
00:24:39
Speaker
But if they said, oh, I'm writing a spiritual guide in the vein of Carlo Coelho, I would...
00:24:47
Speaker
I would, that would give me pause, you know, like I, I would probably have to be quite honest and say, okay, that that's just absolutely not something I would do.
00:24:57
Speaker
Um, uh, but if it's something that is still within the realm of, of my kind of interest and then of course that's, that's
Story Preferences
00:25:07
Speaker
great.
00:25:07
Speaker
But I like to know what's sort of on the horizon.
00:25:10
Speaker
Would it sort of worry you if you were talking to a prospective client and they said they didn't really have any ideas for a follow-up novel?
00:25:22
Speaker
Yeah, I guess it would slightly worry me, but also not to the point.
00:25:28
Speaker
Unless it was a series, like a first in the series and they said like, oh, I have no idea where to go with this.
00:25:34
Speaker
Then you'll be like, hmm, why did you write the series then?
00:25:38
Speaker
But no, I think it would slightly worry me, but not to the point that I wouldn't offer a presentation if I really loved the book.
00:25:45
Speaker
Because, you know, there are writers who write really slowly and that's also fine.
00:25:50
Speaker
I'm sure, you know,
00:25:52
Speaker
if it was the next secret history, Donna Tartt didn't write another book for 10 years.
00:25:57
Speaker
And I'm sure her agent is pretty happy with her.
00:26:00
Speaker
I imagine so.
00:26:01
Speaker
Yeah, exactly.
00:26:02
Speaker
So, um, well, yeah, you know, it would be a shame, but, but also I would understand.
00:26:09
Speaker
But I mean, in my experience, all the authors that I know have at least five, 10, maybe 50 more ideas for books written down in various notepads and things.
00:26:21
Speaker
Yeah, exactly.
00:26:21
Speaker
So submissions are open.
00:26:23
Speaker
Are there any particular stories or character types that you're looking to add to your list this year?
00:26:30
Speaker
Oh, good question.
00:26:32
Speaker
I really like to find something quite gothic-y, but...
00:26:38
Speaker
not too gory, like just, just sort of, just kind of creepy and spooky, but not to the, but there is no such genre, but sort of like a cozy horror thing.
00:26:50
Speaker
Like, you know, the thing that it's like, um, like a story told at a campfire, you know, that kind of thing.
00:26:59
Speaker
I'd love something like that.
00:27:00
Speaker
I really like like small town mysteries.
00:27:04
Speaker
I'd love one.
00:27:06
Speaker
Um, that would,
00:27:08
Speaker
would give me the kind of the sort of community secrets.
00:27:13
Speaker
Okay.
00:27:14
Speaker
Um, anything kind of high concept, but not too far into the future would be nice.
00:27:22
Speaker
Um, what else?
00:27:24
Speaker
I really like kind of, I would like a crime novel, but,
00:27:31
Speaker
One that does something slightly different.
00:27:33
Speaker
And I have no, I don't want to be too prescriptive on that because I don't know.
00:27:37
Speaker
You're going to be surprised, right?
00:27:38
Speaker
Yeah.
00:27:39
Speaker
I don't really know what I'm looking for until I see it, you know?
00:27:43
Speaker
The kind of strong voice, I suppose, like a quite different protagonist would be great.
00:27:48
Speaker
But just something that would give me pause in a good way.
00:27:53
Speaker
Yeah.
00:27:54
Speaker
Okay.
00:27:54
Speaker
And anyone listening, thinking about subbing to Sandra, you can go on the Marjack website and there is a list of things that Sandra represents, a list of things that she does not amusingly want mixed in amongst the genres of things you don't represent is beautiful writing with no plot.
00:28:15
Speaker
I think we all know what we, what that means, right?
00:28:20
Speaker
You know, it's the kind of literary novel that, oh, I'm not going to, I'm not going to give you examples, but I was going to, but actually no.
00:28:29
Speaker
You know, the ones that, that if somebody asks you, what's it about?
00:28:33
Speaker
You, you're not able to actually say, or you've been forgotten a month later.
00:28:40
Speaker
So yeah, not
Desert Island Book Choice
00:28:41
Speaker
for me.
00:28:41
Speaker
And that brings us to the final question, which is, Sandra, if you were stranded on a desert island with a single book, which book would you take?
00:28:54
Speaker
Well, probably actually The Secret History, just because I've read it only once so far and I've always wanted to...
00:29:05
Speaker
reread it and I just don't have time and it's quite a chunky book so you need you need a chunky book for for you know for your situation um yeah I think I think it would definitely be a reread I wouldn't want anything I would want something familiar but just so you just so you know you don't want to risk taking something that you're you you think you might like but actually oh god I don't like this yeah it's terrible if it's like a palo curlier wannabe so you're not taking the alchemist
00:29:35
Speaker
Oh my God, I've read it.
00:29:36
Speaker
I've read The Alchemist.
00:29:37
Speaker
So, you know, that criteria would be fulfilled, but Jesus, no, no.
00:29:44
Speaker
Okay.
00:29:45
Speaker
Okay.
00:29:46
Speaker
Amazing.
00:29:46
Speaker
I mean, Donatar is fantastic.
00:29:49
Speaker
And as you say, she's good enough that she can take 10 years between books and we'll all still buy the next one.
00:29:55
Speaker
Thank you so much, Sandra, for coming on and sharing all of your experience and chatting to us about your work.
00:30:02
Speaker
No, absolute pleasure.
00:30:03
Speaker
Thank you for talking to me and inviting me on.
00:30:07
Speaker
Oh, it's been great.
Follow & Submit Information
00:30:08
Speaker
It's been lovely.
00:30:08
Speaker
And for everyone listening who wants to keep up with what Sandra's doing, you can follow her on Twitter at S-A-N-S-A-W-I-C-K-A.
00:30:19
Speaker
If you're looking to submit to Sandra or anyone else at Marjack, head over to the website, make sure you read through the guidelines, make sure you read what the agents are looking for and what they're not looking for.
00:30:31
Speaker
Diana Beaumont, also of Marjok, has been on this podcast.
00:30:34
Speaker
You can go back and listen to that episode if you're interested in something to her.
00:30:38
Speaker
To make sure you don't miss an episode of this podcast, follow us on Twitter at RightAndWrongUK and on Instagram at RightAndWrongPodcast.
00:30:45
Speaker
You can also follow us on Facebook.
00:30:47
Speaker
Thanks again, Sandra, and thanks to everybody listening.
00:30:50
Speaker
We'll catch you in the next episode.
00:30:55
Speaker
Thanks again for supporting the show and we'll see you in the next episode.