To give some historical perspective — 20 years ago the school and library market was very robust and, at the time, it was great if your children’s book sold in bookstores, obviously, but it wasn’t the focus.
Then Barnes and Noble and other superstores and Amazon came into the picture, and it became really important to be able to sell your books through those venues; a lot of weight was put on those sales. The focus shifted [from schools and libraries] to getting books onto the picture book wall at B&N. The children’s market began to rely heavily on those retail sales — which hadn’t traditionally been the case, and which was more in tune with how adult books were sold.
There still is a lot of weight put on those sales, but we’re back to having the school library market being really critical.
VP: So that would support your suggestion to aspiring authors that they engage their local librarians for advice and input.
EH: Yes. The picture book market is starting to tick back up, and it’s coinciding with all the buzz about standards and Common Core, and so now the teachers and the librarians and the school market are once again really important to the success of a book.
Schools and libraries never really lost their importance, but I think they’re back in the spotlight.
Independent Booksellers Effectively Selling Kid’s Books
VP: How have shifts in retail bookselling affected the children’s book market?
EH: One interesting thing is that independent booksellers have been compelled to be so much more nimble and creative to stay competitive and so many of them have gotten really good at selling picture books and middle-grade books.
There would sometimes be a situation when I’d hear that Barnes and Noble “passed” on an author’s book and it used to be devastating — devastating. I would have an inconsolable author and have nothing to really to be able to tell him or her. That’s become less and less the case.
Of course, it’s great if the book is at Barnes & Noble, but it doesn’t need to be there. If they pass — while it’s not ideal — between school, library and the indies, now we’re able to say, “That’s okay. There are other ways to sell the book.”
Advice About the Young Adult (YA) Market
VP: Young Adult has gotten so popular in recent years. Any words of wisdom for aspiring YA writers?
EH: First, I’d caution anyone writing for that audience that I think YA readers can sniff out things that are not authentic faster than anyone else. Again, that’s why I think it’s important to read — because it’s important to understand that your readers are complex, emotional, smart, interesting kids and your characters better be the same. You can’t get anything by a YA reader.
VP: Any personal recommendations for YA research reading?
EH: I think three of the cornerstones of YA are The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton, The Pigman by Paul Zindel, and The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier. Those happen to all have been represented by my Curtis Brown predecessor Marilyn Marlow, and they are absolutely great examples of excellence in the genre.
VP: No dystopian battles or vampires among those. Can you speak to Young Adult trends?
EH: The YA market is cyclical, like many. Right now there’s a trend toward contemporary — eventually, we’ll get back to dystopian, vampires and werewolves. Then fantasy, romance, and back to contemporary. Mermaids even had their moment for a bit.
The readers don’t disappear just because the trend changes — the readers are there!
Getting a Children’s or YA Literary Agent
VP: The conventional wisdom used to be that children’s authors don’t need an agent, but that seems to have changed pretty dramatically. Can you speak to today’s necessity of having an agent?
EH: It’s interesting but when I started almost 20 years ago, there weren’t so many agents handling children’s books, and the YA/teen market was much smaller than it is now, so there were fewer kids book agents and the author-editor relationship was forged directly, and there was a lot of intimacy in that.
I think the author-editor intimacy is still there, but making that initial connection is harder than it was when I started because the business is so much bigger now — there are so many more authors and editors. That’s where an agent comes in.
VP: You also represent illustrators. How does that differ from representing writers?
EH: It’s a little bit harder to represent an illustrator, only because you’re selling style, rather than a concrete manuscript.
As an illustrators’ agent [my getting them a book deal] is a lot of making sure that people have eyes on their portfolios. It’s also an outgrowth of my constantly talking to editors — sometimes it will come up as “I have a great manuscript about such-and-such topic — Do you know anyone who has that kind of look or feel?”
It’s a lot about staying in front of people, keeping the illustrator’s work under their noses.
Advice for Writers Looking For A Literary Agent
VP: What advice would you have for someone looking for a literary agent?
EH: Be professional. The level of querying since I started has gotten much more elevated — I think it’s because people are doing much more research, and there are many more opportunities to come to a site like yours and learn more about the process before taking a step out into the world…
But it’s surprising how many interactions I have with someone who doesn’t act professionally. Even if it’s someone who sends me an email query.
Email queries all start to look alike but if I email back and say I’d be interested in reading 50 pages, don’t send back a response in all caps “OMG!” You have to continue that professionalism — carry it through. It’s important — again going back to the fact that children’s book publishing is a business, it’s important.
VP: How do you find the authors you want to represent?
EH: I get a lot [of manuscripts] over the transom — I have a pretty big list at the moment so generally if I ask for material it’s either that I find the subject matter interesting or it fills a hole in my list — it’s something that I don’t have on my list.
I get a lot of referrals from other authors I represent, which is always very flattering.
I have four kids, so I don’t do a lot of conferences at the moment — but I used to do a ton, and I find them very energizing. I like meeting someone in person and putting a face to a name. Whether the material is right for me or not, I like to meet people.
I do think it’s important for aspiring authors to attend conferences — I do think they are worth it. As someone who has presented, I also feel they are worth it. At conferences, you’re among a group of people who are all there for the same reason — there is always an interesting dialogue.
VP: Say you have an offer from an agent. How can you tell if he or she is “the one”?
EH: Having an agent is a personal decision — and there are so many out there that I think it’s important to find someone who is similar to you in philosophy. Whether your and your agent have similar personalities, I think it’s important that you agree on how things should be handled. Some people may prefer someone who is really aggressive in the way they handle things; some people are more laid back and would prefer to have someone with a similar temperament.
It’s exciting for an agent to be interested in your work, but if it’s not the right agent for you, it’s not going to be a great experience.
VP: Thanks so much for your time and thoughts, Elizabeth!
To learn more about navigating the current book publishing landscape – including digital innovation and film and tv right sales – from these interviews with other Curtis Brown Ltd. literary agents.