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Home & Living | March 5, 2009

Ask a literary agent: Katherine Boyle tells you why you don't have to schmooze to get published

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SF Literary Culture Examiner

Katherine Boyle, founder of Veritas Literary Agency

Katherine Boyle is the head agent of SF-based Veritas Literary Agency, which she founded in 1995. A voracious reader herself, she has agented a diverse list of titles, from novels to memoirs to guidebooks.

Her successes include Rachel Pine's The Twins of Tribeca and Julie Gregory's critically acclaimed Sickened: A Memoir of a Lost Childhood.

For the SF Literary Culture Examiner, Boyle tells you what she looks for in a manuscript, how an MFA program may help you, and why you don't have to schmooze with the NY-based publishing world to get your work out there.

What do you look for within the first few pages when you open up a new manuscript?

Bright, engaging writing. The voice, pacing, imagery, sentence structure, cadence —  and whether or not the premise is unusual and interesting enough to make me want to read more. 

What kind of books is the publishing market most open to right now?

While I still love adult literary fiction, it's a tough market right now, as is the memoir arena. A NY-based colleague of mine recently stopped shopping fiction ("it's too brutal out there!") but genre fiction (i.e. mysteries, thrillers, and the like) are still relatively easy to place, as long as they're well-written and original. Young Adult fiction is also a healthy area. I'm a generalist and acquire just about everything except romances, sci fi, poetry, and military history.

How do you "make it" as a writer if you don't live in NY, schmoozing with the major publishers?
 
I don't know if schmoozing ever takes a writer that far. In the end, no matter who blurbs you, your work has to make its case on the page. While MFA programs are in no way a requirement for writing good fiction, they do instill a certain amount of discipline and the ability to self-edit.
 
Agents usually offer editorial guidance but it's no substitute for an author knowing how to redraft, tighten and polish. One of the best ways to catch an agent's or editor's attention is to build a resume of previously published work. I always pay attention when I see the best journals — Black Warrior Review, Ploughshares, Missouri Review, Narrative and the like. 
 
Any predictions on the future of print publishing in the digital age?
 
Kindle isn't going to go away, and most editors are now using Sony e-readers to review manuscripts. For me, the older the edition the better. I just can't imagine walls without bookshelves. Maybe it'll mean more used books for the rest of us.
  
Got a manuscript you want to send Katherine's way? Visit the Veritas Literary Agency site for submission guidelines.

 

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SF Literary Culture Examiner

Ling Ma is the Reads Editor of Venus Zine. She's also a Literary Scout at Veritas, a fiction Reader at Zoetrope All-Story, and a freelance writer....

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