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2 Felicity Trew | Literary Agent
447 Plays4 years ago
Children's and YA literary agent, Felicity Trew shares the adventure of how she first learned about publishing agents and then became one herself. We learn all about the submission process, how she approaches submissions and what she thinks the publishing landscape will look like for the rest of the year. If you are interested in becoming an agent then you'll love this episode and if you aren't, then you probably will be by the end!
Update! Felicity has changed careers and is no longer a literary agent.
Signing up to the Patreon will give you access to the Discord server, where you'll be able to interact directly with Jamie as well as many of the previous agents, authors and editors who have been on the show. You'll also be able to see who the upcoming guests are and put forward questions for Jamie to ask them.
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The Chosen Ones and Other Tropes
Jamie, Melissa and Noami talk about the best and the worst writing tropes!
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Transcript
Introduction of Hosts and Podcast
00:00:00
Speaker
So our podcast is called Right and Wrong.
00:00:02
Speaker
Are these your notes?
00:00:03
Speaker
These are your notes about what we're going to say.
00:00:06
Speaker
What does it say?
00:00:06
Speaker
I thought it would be a good... I didn't even get the idea.
00:00:12
Speaker
Maybe I can just ask you the question.
00:00:16
Speaker
It's going well.
00:00:16
Speaker
It's going really well.
00:00:22
Speaker
Hello and welcome back to the Right and Wrong podcast.
00:00:25
Speaker
I'm
Podcast's Aim and Guest Introduction
00:00:26
Speaker
Jamie.
00:00:26
Speaker
And I'm Emma and we are super excited to be interviewing the wonderful Felicity True, agent at Caroline Sheldon Literary Agency.
00:00:35
Speaker
One of the things Jamie and I really wanted to do with this podcast was expand it to all aspects of storytelling and publishing.
00:00:43
Speaker
Yeah.
00:00:43
Speaker
Yeah.
00:00:44
Speaker
Because there are a lot of people out there who like really love books and reading, but don't necessarily want to be a writer or an illustrator.
00:00:52
Speaker
Exactly.
00:00:53
Speaker
They just want to work in the industry.
00:00:54
Speaker
Exactly.
00:00:55
Speaker
So we're so excited to have our very first agent on the show to tell us all about what it means to be really at the center of it all.
00:01:04
Speaker
Hello,
Felicity's Path to Becoming a Literary Agent
00:01:06
Speaker
Felicity.
00:01:06
Speaker
Welcome.
00:01:07
Speaker
Hello.
00:01:08
Speaker
Hello, hello, hello.
00:01:08
Speaker
Welcome.
00:01:10
Speaker
It's really great to have you.
00:01:11
Speaker
And I guess the best place to start is, could you just tell us about your path into becoming an agent?
00:01:20
Speaker
Oh, absolutely.
00:01:21
Speaker
It's a long story, so I'll try and be brief.
00:01:24
Speaker
Because I actually did not know what a literary agent was.
00:01:29
Speaker
I loved reading.
00:01:30
Speaker
I loved books.
00:01:32
Speaker
I had a passion for reading.
00:01:34
Speaker
I studied it at university.
00:01:35
Speaker
I did an MA in Renaissance Literature.
00:01:38
Speaker
I just knew that it was what I wanted to do.
00:01:42
Speaker
And anyway, I didn't know what a literary agent was.
00:01:45
Speaker
And so my journey actually started with knowing what an acting agent was.
00:01:48
Speaker
And she had an agent.
00:01:52
Speaker
And I watched her have this very confusing relationship with her agent, the fear of answering the phone.
00:01:59
Speaker
And I always knew that creatives need to have that representation.
00:02:03
Speaker
But as I watched it,
00:02:04
Speaker
with my sister, I thought there's got to be a better way.
00:02:07
Speaker
Why does this upset me so much?
00:02:08
Speaker
There has to be a really inspiring and positive way to be an agent.
00:02:13
Speaker
And I never thought much about it.
00:02:14
Speaker
And actually, I found out what a literary agent was, bizarrely, during the Egyptian revolution, where my family were totally unexpected.
00:02:27
Speaker
My brother-in-law is a British Egyptian and my sister
00:02:32
Speaker
is married to him and they went to Egypt, you know, for the revolution.
00:02:36
Speaker
He was born there, lived there and that was so important to him.
Challenges and Passion in Literary Agency
00:02:40
Speaker
And my other sister was a journalist and my sister, my oldest sister actually met a literary agent in Tashia Square who was there because the author was writing a book about the revolution and asked a little bit about what do you do, you know, and she called me and I visited Egypt a lot and
00:02:58
Speaker
when I could to be with my family and I grew up in the Middle East so it's a very important place for me and she described the job role as this incredible way of being passionate advocate supporting talent spotting contracts negotiator because my father was a lawyer and so I used to read contracts just for fun don't ask me I'm a strange person and it just
00:03:21
Speaker
sort of came together and she said, have you ever thought about being a literary agent?
00:03:27
Speaker
And that was it.
00:03:28
Speaker
That was it.
00:03:29
Speaker
I knew it in my heart of hearts that to look after straight away, straight away.
00:03:35
Speaker
I moved to London and I stayed in my, just wherever I could to intern in literary agencies.
Interests in Writing and Editing
00:03:45
Speaker
And that really was the beginning of my story.
00:03:47
Speaker
And I really feel like it found me.
00:03:51
Speaker
And I think that's honestly, I don't know how, it's a very special story to me because I just couldn't believe that there was a role out there that could be so nurturing, that could create and mix, you know, creativity with business and to protect people in that and to nurture people in that and to provide that positivity that I always felt I wanted to give to my sister, but couldn't.
00:04:18
Speaker
So that's the sort of like inspiration for it, if you like.
00:04:21
Speaker
It's a lovely story.
00:04:21
Speaker
That's great.
00:04:22
Speaker
I love that.
00:04:23
Speaker
What's the mechanics of it then?
00:04:25
Speaker
You said you did a number of internships.
00:04:28
Speaker
Was it quite a slog to kind
Role and Responsibilities of a Literary Agent
00:04:32
Speaker
of get your foot in the door?
00:04:33
Speaker
Yes, it was.
00:04:34
Speaker
And if it's one thing I remember, it's always thinking my mantra at the time was, it's not a waste of time.
00:04:41
Speaker
It's not a waste of time.
00:04:43
Speaker
I applied, actually.
00:04:45
Speaker
My first internship was...
00:04:47
Speaker
The first agency I ever approached was the Caroline Sheldon Literary Agency.
00:04:51
Speaker
Oh, wow.
00:04:53
Speaker
I sent off my CV.
00:04:55
Speaker
I'd done a lot of research into agencies and I thought Caroline looked superb.
00:05:02
Speaker
And I never got a response.
00:05:06
Speaker
And my first day when I got my first job at the Caroline Sheldon Literary Agency, I did go back and find my first ever job.
00:05:16
Speaker
uh cv sent off to agents and i looked at it and i went flisti no wonder that is a dreadful cv and i i learned a lot i learned a lot and and i realized you know um luckily caroline never put two and two together so i just never mentioned it well if she listens to this she's gonna figure out i know exactly she knows now she knows now exactly um
00:05:44
Speaker
You said that you were an avid reader and that was the kind of very, very, very small starting point of this whole rather inspiring journey.
00:05:51
Speaker
Did you ever want to write yourself?
00:05:54
Speaker
Such an interesting question.
00:05:58
Speaker
The real answer to this is no.
00:06:01
Speaker
And I say this to my authors a lot.
00:06:04
Speaker
I cannot get beyond my own voice in my head.
00:06:09
Speaker
I've tried to write myself.
00:06:11
Speaker
I can't.
00:06:12
Speaker
And, you know, we all have that voice in our head that sort of, that's ours, you know, and I find what's truly incredible about authors is how they can almost, you know, transcend themselves, see things in people.
00:06:27
Speaker
And I have such admiration for that.
00:06:32
Speaker
But the one thing I did realize that I had from my studies was an absolute fascination in
00:06:41
Speaker
the psychology of writing.
00:06:43
Speaker
I often start edits that I work on with my authors saying, so tell me why you wrote this.
00:06:48
Speaker
How did you feel when you wrote this?
00:06:50
Speaker
Because that helps the editorial process so much.
00:06:53
Speaker
Because when you read the manuscript, you go back and you go, I can feel you're worrying about this.
00:06:59
Speaker
And sometimes, for example, the beginning is often an author's very, very gentle way into starting.
00:07:07
Speaker
So a lot of the time it's, right, that prologue,
00:07:11
Speaker
Is that a prologue for yourself, an important part of the process?
00:07:15
Speaker
I think we can just start here.
00:07:18
Speaker
So I suddenly realized that no, my talent wasn't in doing something like that, which I admire so much.
00:07:25
Speaker
What I love to do is to look at the bigger picture, the bigger structures, to look at the way a manuscript sort of
00:07:35
Speaker
reflects the author but also I can see the structure I can see the plot I can see and also as an avid reader I know what I want um yeah so no is the short answer but I love love editing and ideas coming up with ideas with authors and wow sitting there saying what do you want to write
00:07:56
Speaker
You really have found your calling in the literary agency, haven't you?
00:08:01
Speaker
Yeah, definitely.
00:08:02
Speaker
I'm so lucky.
00:08:04
Speaker
Speaking of as a calling, Emma mentioned at the beginning that we wanted to create this podcast to sort of shed light on not just how to write a story and get it published or produced or whatever, but also how people get into the industry.
00:08:20
Speaker
For people listening who want to follow a similar path to you, become an agent or something similar,
00:08:26
Speaker
Can you share a little bit of detail on what perhaps they're getting themselves in for?
00:08:32
Speaker
What to expect if they do manage to get a foot in the door?
00:08:35
Speaker
You have to really, really, I think, kind of immerse yourself in it.
00:08:42
Speaker
There's no half in and half out.
00:08:46
Speaker
When I became an assistant to Caroline, I
00:08:51
Speaker
you know, quite honestly, I think I just would have become the oldest assistant ever to her because I loved the authors.
00:08:57
Speaker
I loved working with her and I just needed, needed, needed that job.
00:09:01
Speaker
You know, I, I, I could just, I just, it was a passion, but let's talk detail.
00:09:07
Speaker
As you say, you know, that meant that if there was an author event, I went to it.
00:09:12
Speaker
If, um, if there was something I could do, I did it.
00:09:15
Speaker
You know, I ended up
00:09:17
Speaker
permissions are very, very basic licenses when a publisher wants to use an author's poem in an anthology, but they are very, very minute, very important licenses that are the beginning of a contract, if you like.
00:09:30
Speaker
They're very sort of basic but crucial contracts to license poetry or something like that.
00:09:36
Speaker
So I got so involved in that.
00:09:38
Speaker
I was curious as to why, how does this clause, what does this mean?
00:09:43
Speaker
How are we thinking about this?
00:09:45
Speaker
this moment in the license that is basically expanded in a bigger contract.
00:09:50
Speaker
So I'd went to author events.
00:09:52
Speaker
I did as much as I could.
00:09:54
Speaker
And I listened and asked why and became very curious and watched.
00:10:02
Speaker
And I was so privileged to have, you know, Caroline take me on in that team because I, you know, number one, we're incredible friends, but I learned so much from her.
00:10:12
Speaker
And then you sort of figure out your own way of doing it as well.
00:10:16
Speaker
But I was lucky to have that fantastic mentoring beginning.
00:10:20
Speaker
So mentoring, mentoring, mentoring.
00:10:22
Speaker
I mean, even before I got my job at the Caroline Sheldon, I was lucky enough to, I spoke to agents, I approached them, don't be frightened.
00:10:30
Speaker
I've actually had Zoom calls with people throughout lockdown who said they're interested in
00:10:36
Speaker
becoming a literary agent and, you know, people do give you their time, you know, but you have to kind of immerse yourself, take that extra step, put yourself forward.
Talent Spotting and Support
00:10:45
Speaker
And I don't know if that helps, but I think that's, that's important for me is I was curious and hungry for knowledge and critical and questioning myself.
00:10:56
Speaker
Would I have done that?
00:10:57
Speaker
How, you know, I always find these things fascinating.
00:11:00
Speaker
Every single experience you might experience yourself one day,
00:11:05
Speaker
So I think that for me was really, really important, being curious about contracts and people and authors and events and just going that extra mile to be there.
00:11:15
Speaker
Yeah, definitely.
00:11:16
Speaker
You make it all sound so fascinating.
00:11:17
Speaker
I know, definitely.
00:11:18
Speaker
And I mean, so I mean, let's filter it down a little bit more.
00:11:22
Speaker
And could you explain the role of an agent for our listeners and I guess what your day-to-day is?
00:11:31
Speaker
Sure.
00:11:32
Speaker
Well, I actually have...
00:11:35
Speaker
I've carefully selected these words and I've used them throughout the whole time I've been an agent because I set myself the task of what is a literary agent?
00:11:43
Speaker
Because, you know, I didn't know the answer to that question at university and I felt it important to share.
00:11:49
Speaker
We are talent spotters.
00:11:51
Speaker
So we find, you know, unagented authors wherever.
00:11:56
Speaker
I've found not just reading the submissions, but parties or events or people or places that,
00:12:04
Speaker
Actually, one of my authors was my next door neighbor.
00:12:08
Speaker
She's now moved.
00:12:09
Speaker
But, you know, everywhere is this wonderful potential for talent.
00:12:14
Speaker
Then you have to become an advocate of that talent, nurturing them.
00:12:18
Speaker
What is the right path for them?
00:12:22
Speaker
Finding out what they want to write and really nurturing that talent and being an advocate of that talent.
00:12:26
Speaker
Because I think when you take someone on as an agent, that's precisely what you're saying.
00:12:30
Speaker
You're saying, I have faith in your writing for very long, long relationships.
00:12:34
Speaker
and that's going to have its highs and its lows and the market will do whatever, but my love of your work is unwavering.
00:12:41
Speaker
So you're a talent spotter, you're a counsellor.
00:12:45
Speaker
Lots and lots of times I'm on the phone with authors that say, I just can't write anymore.
00:12:50
Speaker
I don't know what I'm doing.
00:12:51
Speaker
Help me.
00:12:54
Speaker
And also life, life is complicated and life affects writing and it's very much supporting them in that.
00:13:00
Speaker
And of course, you're the
00:13:01
Speaker
contract negotiator, which is basically negotiating very complicated causes.
00:13:06
Speaker
But essentially, the contract is also, and I've always said this, a very living and breathing thing.
00:13:12
Speaker
There's no such thing as the perfect contract.
00:13:14
Speaker
Everything is evolving.
00:13:15
Speaker
We didn't know e-books were going to be around.
00:13:18
Speaker
You always have to think about the future of the book and the book is growing.
00:13:23
Speaker
So it's thinking about every eventuality, whether the book will be a massive success, how, you know, imagining all these things that haven't happened yet, but that the contract covers.
00:13:34
Speaker
So it's also contract negotiator.
00:13:37
Speaker
And I just think, you know, another word that I love to use is co-conspirator.
00:13:46
Speaker
I just have this image in my head of sort of two giggling girls, like thinking about, you know,
00:13:52
Speaker
you know, you're co-conspirator with them.
00:13:57
Speaker
If you have lots and lots of publishers, you've got to decide where they want their career to go.
00:14:01
Speaker
And you've got to make decisions that are best for the author because the author is always primarily first.
00:14:08
Speaker
So you've got to make complicated decisions and help them through them and strategies.
00:14:13
Speaker
And there is a little bit of whispering and giggling in there as well.
00:14:17
Speaker
So I love the word.
00:14:18
Speaker
Right.
00:14:19
Speaker
co-conspirator and finally I guess battle planning which is like strategizing an author's career you know you can't if you're an illustrator publish multiple you know hundreds of picture books every year because then you end up competing against yourself you know when someone walks into the shop then you know you've got to think about you're not going to compete against yourself in the market you're going to someone isn't just going to buy that book
00:14:47
Speaker
they've already got one of your books you know so it's all these
Reading Habits and Author Support
00:14:51
Speaker
things.
00:14:51
Speaker
No it makes sense and you know as you've mentioned before you love and immerse yourself heavily into words and the industry of sharing stories like how much do you have to read per week and do you get the chance to read in your own time and of your own choice?
00:15:10
Speaker
I see that's another thing I love is I get to read all the unpublished books you know
00:15:16
Speaker
And I get to read the first drafts of things that not even publishers will read because the authors will send me their manuscripts first.
00:15:23
Speaker
So there's a great privilege.
00:15:25
Speaker
It's very raw and it's very vulnerable.
00:15:27
Speaker
So it's important at that point to read it, you know, carefully and sensitively.
00:15:34
Speaker
But yes, a lot of reading.
00:15:37
Speaker
The submissions in books as an agency, I think we can get up to about, you know, 40 a day, if not more.
00:15:45
Speaker
So there's a lot of reading involved and then a lot of reading manuscripts that come through to authors.
00:15:51
Speaker
And also you want to know what's reading, what's working in the market.
00:15:55
Speaker
But it hasn't destroyed my love of reading because we are all, it just hasn't at all.
00:16:02
Speaker
I still settle down at the end of the day with the book.
00:16:06
Speaker
However, I might look at the copyright page and see who published it and maybe read
00:16:12
Speaker
read the acknowledgements page to see the agents mentioned in it and so I've always got that hat on but no not at all I mean it's it is a lot of reading but there's always time for books of course and some agents I guess are more editorial and some less um how involved do you like to get with your clients work very much so I love yeah
00:16:37
Speaker
I love talking to my authors and having lunches with them and talking about ideas as they're formulating in their minds.
00:16:45
Speaker
I mean, I've had authors send me literally mind maps of ideas.
00:16:50
Speaker
So I work, I love to be a monk.
00:16:54
Speaker
But as with everything in Agencia, I very much follow the lead of my authors and what they need from me.
00:17:01
Speaker
Some of my authors need to
00:17:04
Speaker
to almost write a whole first draft before I become involved, you know, but I love it.
00:17:10
Speaker
I love ideas and coming up with ideas and thoughts for books and, um, and it's, you know, and picture books as well.
00:17:18
Speaker
You know, we represent everything from picture books to, you know, adult fiction, you know, so we do the whole range.
Submission Process at the Agency
00:17:25
Speaker
And so it's lovely to have a conversation with an author that might be writing an adult fiction book, thinking about writing a picture book as well, you know, and these are all things that, that,
00:17:35
Speaker
the two of us having lunch together can kind of bring together.
00:17:37
Speaker
And it's an amazing feeling when the lunch is finished and you think, I think that's a book.
00:17:42
Speaker
We've got it.
00:17:43
Speaker
Now you just have to write it.
00:17:46
Speaker
Yeah, exactly.
00:17:47
Speaker
Yeah, now the hard bit.
00:17:48
Speaker
Yeah, I know.
00:17:49
Speaker
And I think it's like, you know, making someone's dreams come true, basically, or their story come to life is so lovely.
00:17:54
Speaker
And you said, you mentioned a little bit earlier, was it 40 submissions per day or week?
00:18:01
Speaker
Yeah.
00:18:02
Speaker
I think it could be even more as an agency.
00:18:07
Speaker
It's a lot.
00:18:08
Speaker
It's an awful lot.
00:18:09
Speaker
And I do do a lot of kind of, I do try and talk to authors as much as I can across, you know,
00:18:17
Speaker
writing the submissions letter in order to make it really, really stand out.
00:18:21
Speaker
And to, you know, because the thing that I think a lot of authors can easily forget if they don't know is that, you know, we write a submissions letter to the publishers and we have to stand out.
00:18:35
Speaker
So I'm a big believer in explaining the skills that I've learned by writing to publishers and sharing those with authors to make sure that there's a kind of openness about what it's like.
00:18:46
Speaker
A lot of the time you're reading the submissions, you know, on the train, on your commute, when you're home, in the evenings and weekends.
00:18:53
Speaker
It's not something, you know, when I'm working, I need to be working for my authors.
00:18:58
Speaker
So it's a very, very quick decision.
00:19:04
Speaker
And it's a lot of pressure on us as well because you always worry about the one that slips through the fingers, you know.
00:19:12
Speaker
But, yeah, it's a very, very competitive decision.
00:19:16
Speaker
space but i think that's just the beginning that that that gives you all the energy you need to really fight and challenge that in terms of the submission process at caroline sheldon you ask for uh it's a a short pitch the synopsis and then the first 10 000 words which is pretty standard i think among a lot of agencies um
00:19:40
Speaker
Of those three things, what order do you go through them?
00:19:44
Speaker
And then sort of how much weight do you attribute to the various different things?
00:19:50
Speaker
So the pitch is very important to us at the Caroline Sheldon History Agents.
00:19:56
Speaker
Caroline and I talked about this a lot because I think it's a good exercise to do for any author to ensure that you...
00:20:04
Speaker
If you could really get the heart of your book and distill it in those three lines, then the heartbeat works.
Evaluating Submissions
00:20:11
Speaker
You know, I think if you're struggling with it, then it's like, are there two stories that you're telling in the manuscript?
00:20:17
Speaker
Are there three?
00:20:18
Speaker
Do you know what the focus is?
00:20:20
Speaker
So it's not so much a pitch to sell as an exercise for authors to really make sure that the manuscript is ready.
00:20:29
Speaker
So that's very, very important.
00:20:31
Speaker
Yeah, I think that's a really healthy way of looking at it for authors, because I know a lot of people dread writing a pitch, but looking at it through that lens is a very healthy exercise.
00:20:40
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:20:41
Speaker
I've always felt that.
00:20:42
Speaker
And so the pitch is very important for yourself and to know your book.
00:20:47
Speaker
But I do probably go straight into the writing myself.
00:20:51
Speaker
I do glimpse, I look at the email or the cover letter, you know, whatever you want to call it.
00:20:57
Speaker
And then I do go straight into the writing because I
00:21:00
Speaker
you know, writing that grabs me, you know, it does feel like it's singing off the page, you know, and there are reasons why these cliches make sense.
00:21:11
Speaker
And every time I say a cliche, I catch myself, but they are really, really good truths.
00:21:18
Speaker
So I have to say, I probably read the cover letter just to make sure it sounds professional and like this is someone that I could have a cup of coffee with, you know,
00:21:29
Speaker
And then I will get into the writing itself.
00:21:35
Speaker
And then I'm completely there.
00:21:39
Speaker
And yeah.
00:21:40
Speaker
Okay.
00:21:41
Speaker
And the synopsis, you just throw it in the bin.
00:21:44
Speaker
Do you know what?
00:21:48
Speaker
The synopsis I get to once I'm hooked to the writing is
00:21:53
Speaker
Then I want to know, because the first three chapters for anyone, remember again, the first three chapters isn't just got to grab me.
00:22:01
Speaker
You know, someone has to pick that book off the shelf and read it and want to read more.
00:22:05
Speaker
So the first three chapters, if it's left me wanting to read more, then I rush to the synopsis because I have to know more.
00:22:15
Speaker
So it's not that I consider it any more or less important, but I think a lot of authors worry about the synopsis as well.
00:22:22
Speaker
And I would just say, just, you know, we just want to know how the story is going to end, you know, and whether it works.
00:22:28
Speaker
But you've got to grab them in the first three chapters because then it's like, it's like finishing a story and I don't know where it's going to end, you know?
Discovering Promising Manuscripts
00:22:37
Speaker
Yeah.
00:22:38
Speaker
So, yeah.
00:22:39
Speaker
Do you make a point of reading every submission in full or sometimes do you read a few pages and you just know that this is not going anywhere?
00:22:50
Speaker
I don't think...
00:22:52
Speaker
I, you know, I don't think it would be, I think you have to understand there's a wonderful thing in the submissions inbox that it really is open to everybody.
00:23:02
Speaker
And that's a wonderful thing.
00:23:04
Speaker
But therefore, sometimes there are submissions in there where someone wrote it last night that I thought it'd be ready for you this morning.
00:23:11
Speaker
You know, you have to see the very, the variations of, of, of, you have to know the context within which email is arriving.
00:23:19
Speaker
And so I, I, I,
00:23:22
Speaker
I would never say I read every single submission.
00:23:28
Speaker
I don't know if that would be... I just wouldn't... There's time and... I mean, every single one is read, but I wouldn't say that every single one is read in full.
00:23:39
Speaker
And I think you have to understand the wide variety that we're talking about here.
00:23:45
Speaker
And it just wouldn't be possible in the same way that we couldn't give...
00:23:50
Speaker
feedback to everybody, you know, um, yeah, it's just one of those things.
00:23:56
Speaker
Yeah.
00:23:57
Speaker
There's too many.
00:23:57
Speaker
But conversely, uh, do you find that when you find something that's a real hidden gem, do you know, how early on do you know, and what is it that really draws you into the writing or the story?
00:24:12
Speaker
Oh, you know, instantly.
00:24:14
Speaker
And my heart starts beating, um,
00:24:16
Speaker
and I'm reading it and I get to the end of the three chapters and sometimes it is like, I need to email this author right away.
00:24:24
Speaker
And I have to say why I have to read the full manuscript.
00:24:29
Speaker
I mean, it is, it is the energy in that moment is something special.
00:24:33
Speaker
And then I will stay up all night if need be to read it that night.
00:24:38
Speaker
I mean, I really will.
00:24:39
Speaker
And then straight up in the morning writing and hopefully writing
00:24:45
Speaker
a thoughtful gushing email as to why I think this is so important to me and to the world.
00:24:52
Speaker
And, um, it's, it's quite pressurized actually at that point.
00:24:56
Speaker
And especially when you just know that this is, this is one you really, really, really want to fight for.
00:25:02
Speaker
And, um, they always panic.
00:25:04
Speaker
I hope I haven't left it too late.
00:25:06
Speaker
You know, I hope I, I, so there's lots of anxiety and energy there as well, but how do you know?
00:25:13
Speaker
I've tried to answer this question so many different ways.
00:25:16
Speaker
And I think for me, it just has to be a very, very, again, cliched answer, but voice.
00:25:24
Speaker
It's when I feel like I'm reading something that someone else has expressed in my mind that I can't seem to do myself, you know, that I recognize immediately.
00:25:35
Speaker
I feel connected to what's being said.
00:25:39
Speaker
I just think, gosh, you know, why have I never seen it so plainly like that?
00:25:42
Speaker
Why have I never felt it so plainly like that?
00:25:45
Speaker
It's like a revelation.
00:25:46
Speaker
A revelation.
00:25:47
Speaker
Exactly.
00:25:49
Speaker
And that's just so, so important.
00:25:54
Speaker
And I don't know how you can, you know, it's something quite raw and it's something that you feel.
00:26:00
Speaker
And I get exactly the same feeling when reading picture books or reading a women's fiction novel or a psychological thriller.
00:26:07
Speaker
It's something that you haven't seen before, but that you recognize so intrinsically.
00:26:15
Speaker
It's really like it feels very human.
00:26:17
Speaker
And that's when your heart starts beating.
00:26:22
Speaker
You know you're going to be reading this until you've got to the end.
00:26:27
Speaker
And you're just typing that email to the author no matter what time of night it is, because this is something you really, really want, as it should be, you know.
00:26:35
Speaker
You
Genre Interests and Current Trends
00:26:36
Speaker
want an author to feel wanted.
00:26:38
Speaker
Well, I can tell you if I got an email from an agent and I looked at him and it said 3.45am, I'd be like, well, it's a little odd.
00:26:48
Speaker
Do you know what?
00:26:49
Speaker
You're right.
00:26:50
Speaker
I always leave them till the morning.
00:26:52
Speaker
I draft it.
00:26:54
Speaker
And I'm like, I'm going to leave it till the morning with a cup of coffee and I will send it to a car.
00:27:00
Speaker
Yeah, probably wise.
00:27:02
Speaker
Yeah.
00:27:03
Speaker
Yeah.
00:27:03
Speaker
I'd be like, oh, but at least they liked it.
00:27:05
Speaker
They stayed up until 3am to read it.
00:27:08
Speaker
You know, it's good.
00:27:09
Speaker
Yeah.
00:27:09
Speaker
And I guess, Felicity, this rolls on, I guess, to the million dollar question.
00:27:15
Speaker
What genres or styles of stories are you hoping to see in the second half of 2021?
00:27:20
Speaker
Well, I think we need, I think we need a lot of laughter, love, you know, healing and hopefulness.
00:27:36
Speaker
And I'm hearing this across, you know, because I always speak to publishers all the time.
00:27:40
Speaker
We have lots and lots of meetings.
00:27:41
Speaker
I ask them, you know, what are you looking for?
00:27:44
Speaker
You know, not that an author should ever write to a market because that's never going to work.
00:27:48
Speaker
But what am I looking for?
00:27:51
Speaker
You know, I think something with real kind of, I think on the one hand, bizarrely, I think one thing we probably really need is a lot of laughter and a lot of love and a lot of humor.
00:28:04
Speaker
And I think that's in picture books and I think that's in fiction.
00:28:09
Speaker
But I also think, on the other hand, there's, you know, when you have these extremes pushes to one, there's usually another push to another.
00:28:15
Speaker
So I'm actually really on the lookout for crime thriller at the moment.
00:28:18
Speaker
I kind of feel that there's a space where, like, I want to be either super scared or, like, super in love.
00:28:26
Speaker
or like absolutely giggling over something, you know, and I think there's lots of extremes happening at the moment.
00:28:36
Speaker
And I love that.
00:28:39
Speaker
And I think that's kind of probably reflecting how we're all feeling.
00:28:43
Speaker
I mean, you know, it's kind of like I feel these extreme extremes
00:28:47
Speaker
bursts of hopefulness and extreme bursts of anxiety and maybe I'm just sort of reflecting this need to explore both of those things now we felt them you know I don't know if that's helpful at all but I'd love an amazing epic romance and I'd love a good crime thriller domestic crime thriller would be fantastic you know I'm feeling that very much kind of push and pull of like you know marriage or murder
00:29:17
Speaker
there's a lot of there's still a lot of that out there in film at the moment as well i think like tv series as well isn't there definitely it's kind of a thing that obviously people are wanting to uh engage with at the moment um it's like pure escapism or pure gritty realism you know i think something in the middle or
00:29:40
Speaker
is kind of not really where we're at at the moment, which is really interesting.
00:29:45
Speaker
It's really like raw.
00:29:46
Speaker
Yeah.
Love for Reading and Book Preferences
00:29:48
Speaker
And for the listeners who are hearing this now and have a romantic crime thriller novel fusion for you, are you open to submissions at the moment?
00:30:00
Speaker
I'm open to submissions.
00:30:01
Speaker
We're always open to submissions.
00:30:03
Speaker
always open you hear that listeners and you represent picture books mgya and yes i represent everything picture books mgy y a um commercial women's fiction uh love a psychological thriller uh crime you know but but i think fiction is our heartland i think you know um
00:30:27
Speaker
I think that's kind of where we are.
00:30:29
Speaker
And, you know, if you always get bored, you can go on the website and see how many of our adult authors are also writing under pseudonyms children's books.
00:30:37
Speaker
You know, there is a reason why we do both.
00:30:40
Speaker
And it's, so I've such a privilege to be able to be involved in those kind of, you know, 800 word picture books and 80,000 word fiction.
00:30:48
Speaker
I mean,
00:30:51
Speaker
it's, it's amazing how I draw so much experience from both of those two opposing genres to edits and to all of it.
00:31:00
Speaker
So I think it's, I'm so lucky to be able to be building a list that enables me to do all those things.
00:31:08
Speaker
And I have such respect for each and every one of them.
00:31:12
Speaker
Um, and that, that's the way I think, um,
00:31:15
Speaker
publishing should be yeah amazing well that brings us i think onto our final question uh which is if you were stranded on a desert island and could only take a single book with you which book would you take
00:31:34
Speaker
oh god you know every time i listen to island disc do you know how many times i've tried to to do this with books i take about half an hour and i daydream in my mind this is why we ask the question we're just like you know okay well i i would very much ask to to be allowed to take the complete works of shakespeare as in as in
00:31:58
Speaker
just a given in the back pack.
00:31:59
Speaker
You're the second person that's asked for a complete works.
00:32:02
Speaker
I just think that's very, very important to me.
00:32:06
Speaker
And I really thought, I have thought long and hard about this because I've been absolutely dreading it.
00:32:11
Speaker
To be honest, this is the one book I've bought the most copies of in my life, which I think might be I've bought 15 to 20 copies of this book personally for people I love.
00:32:25
Speaker
And that is
00:32:26
Speaker
Oh, I thought you meant for you.
00:32:28
Speaker
No, no, no, no.
00:32:28
Speaker
I was about to say that's excessive.
00:32:29
Speaker
But not for me, probably.
00:32:31
Speaker
Different rooms.
00:32:33
Speaker
Exactly.
00:32:34
Speaker
It would be Monster Crawls, Patrick Ness, Corn Dad and Jim Kay.
00:32:40
Speaker
This book, I think, could teach me a lot on a desert island when I'm alone about humanity.
00:32:50
Speaker
And this book, it absolutely changed my life, I feel.
00:32:56
Speaker
I actually, you know, I lost my mother to cancer at the age of 21.
00:33:01
Speaker
And this book means everything to me.
00:33:05
Speaker
And I think Jim Kay's illustrations are beautiful.
00:33:08
Speaker
And for me, this is the perfect, perfect kind of, you know, object for something that really brings children and adults together on the page.
00:33:20
Speaker
And it's kind of everything that I feel so privileged to do, you know, working in children's books and adult fiction.
00:33:26
Speaker
And it just, just, where do you put this on the shelf?
00:33:29
Speaker
Do you know what I mean?
00:33:30
Speaker
Where, how do you know where to put this on the shelf?
00:33:34
Speaker
It's touched so many people that I, I think this is the one I'll be taking with me with my complete works of Shakespeare.
Episode Conclusion and Career Update
00:33:43
Speaker
are you taking two taking two for a million exactly exactly thank you so much thank you so much yeah for speaking to us today and you know sharing your knowledge and passion for the industry you're clearly very very passionate about it and it's it's lovely to hear that um very inspiring very inspiring yeah thank you for giving us the chance to talk
00:34:06
Speaker
Us agents are usually quite backstage, so it's lovely to talk to you guys.
00:34:11
Speaker
Oh, no, it's great.
00:34:13
Speaker
We're trying to get more agents on.
00:34:15
Speaker
Well, it's been so much fun.
00:34:18
Speaker
So thank you guys so much.
00:34:20
Speaker
Thank you.
00:34:20
Speaker
Thank you for listening.
00:34:21
Speaker
Thank you for your time.
00:34:27
Speaker
As of February 2022, Felicity is no longer a literary agent, though everything that she said in this episode and the second episode that she comes on later on is still brilliant and very useful for anyone who is writing, looking to submit or getting into the industry.
00:34:42
Speaker
To make sure you don't miss an episode of this podcast, follow us on Twitter at RightAndWrongUK and on Instagram at RightAndWrongPodcast.
00:34:49
Speaker
Thanks so much for tuning in and we'll see you in the next one.