Kelsey: Lois, you’re both an agent and an author. Some people might see that as a match made in heaven, but I imagine your two roles clash at times. Can you share with us the three skills you think are most important in each role?

Lois: Interestingly enough, there are some people who feel being both an agent and an author is a conflict of interest.  I suppose that’s why so many agents who also write do so under closely guarded pseudonyms.  You’d be surprised by how many agents and editors are also published authors.  I don’t view the two sides of my life in the publishing world as a conflict of interest because I don’t represent my own work.  And rather than clashing, I find that these two sides complement each other. 

The three skills I believe are most important to an author would be creativity (the ability to come up with a unique story, populated by interesting characters); technical prowess (the ability to write that story in a way that will make for a compelling read); and patience (the ability to weather the lengthy process — often years — from the point where you first type THE END until you finally get the call.  

The three skills I believe are most important for an agent are vision (the ability to recognize a well-written, commercially viable manuscript); perseverance (the ability to keep championing a client’s work even after repeated rejections); and business acumen (the ability to  deal with the various issues that are involved in not only selling a client’s work but advancing the client’s career.)

Kelsey: How do you (or do you have to) disengage your “business brain” during the writing process?  If so, when and how do you allow your agent persona to take over with regard to your own work?

Lois: I’m not sure I ever disengage my “business brain” when I write.  I am the sum of all my various parts.  My writing is a reflection of my life experiences.  “Write what you know” isn’t just about giving your heroine the same profession as you or setting your novel in a town similar to one where you’ve lived.  You can always research professions and locales.  To me, “Write what you Know” means infusing your work with all the emotions and experiences that have made you the person you are.  So even when I’m submerged in the creative, the “business brain” side of me is always somewhere in the background, looking over my shoulder and occasionally putting in its two cents.

Kelsey: What strategies might you recommend to writers to enable them to turn off the internal editor? At what point should that internal editor return to the forefront?

Lois: The internal editor is not necessarily a bad thing.  If you saw some of the submissions I receive, you’d understand why I wish more authors had and used one.  Balance is always key, though.  You don’t want that internal editor to get in the way to the point that you never finish anything.  I know writers who have never gotten beyond the first few chapters of a manuscript because they’re constantly reworking those same chapters.  If you want to be a published author, you first have to finish a manuscript. 

There’s also such a thing as overworking a manuscript.  Some people wind up editing all the creative voice and style out of their work because they take every piece of criticism they receive as gospel.  So each time they get a critique back from a critique group or a score sheet back from a contest or a rejection letter from an agent or editor, they go back and completely revise based on those comments.  What they don’t realize is that even editors and agents have different takes on the same work.  If a writer is repeatedly receiving the same comments regarding a certain area of her work, then she probably needs to work on that area.  But what one editor or agent praises in a work can often be the reason that another rejects it.  Taste is very subjective.

What I do recommend is that whenever a writer finishes a manuscript, she should put it aside for at least a week.  Get some distance between yourself and your baby.  Then go back and read it as if it were someone else’s baby.  In other words, try to read with as objective an eye as possible.  The objective eye is your internal editor, and this is the point where you need to let her lose on your manuscript.

Kelsey: How does being a writer impact the way you agent other authors?

Lois: Because I was an unpublished author before I became an agent, I believe I’m more empathetic.  I’ve been where unagented authors are.  I know what it’s like to receive a form rejection letter.  I know what it’s like to get your hopes up, thinking you’ve got a sale, only to have someone further up the editorial chain dash those hopes with a rejection.  I know what it’s like to wait and wait and wait for the mail (or e-mail) with fingers crossed.  I know what it’s like to lose an editor and find her replacement isn’t at all enthusiastic about your work.  I know what it’s like to lose out on an offer because the publisher has decided to fold a line.  For those reasons and more, I totally understand what it’s like on the other side of the table.

Kelsey: What characteristics make for a successful and congenial agent-author relationship?

Lois: Being able to communicate with each other is essential.  Neither the agent nor the author is a mind reader.  For the author, if you’re unhappy with the way your agent is handling something, tell her!  Don’t gripe to your friends and fellow authors, especially on writing loops.  You never know who’s going to pass your comments along to your agent.  No agent wants to learn that her client has been complaining about her behind her back.  I’ve seen this happen many times.  Too many authors are afraid to speak up to their agents.  They’re so grateful that someone is willing to represent them, that they don’t want to rock the boat.  You have to remember that in the author-agent relationship, the author is the employer and the agent is the employee.  If you want your agent to handle something differently, or you don’t think she’s spending enough time submitting your work, or you feel she’s not submitting to the right editors, pick up the phone and start a dialogue on the subject.

On the other hand, the author must remember that the author-agent relationship is a business relationship.  The agent is not your BFF, your surrogate mother, nor your confessor.  You may get along terrifically, but at the end of the day, it’s still business.  Always act as a professional in all your dealings with your agent as well as all other industry professionals.

Kelsey: Do you consider yourself an editorial agent? If so, do you consult with your client on the WIP during the writing process or only after?

Lois: I was asked to join the agency because of my editorial skills.  I’m a hands-on agent.  Generally, I don’t see my clients’ work until they’re ready to have me make submissions.  However, they all know that if they’re having a problem with a certain aspect of the WIP, I’m more than happy to give it a read and offer suggestions.

For prospective clients, if I see a work that has potential but isn’t quite there yet, I’ll give a detailed analysis of the work.  If the author is willing to revise and does so successfully, that’s an author I want as a client.  If the author isn’t willing to revise, I won’t offer representation.  That said, though, there are many successful, well-respected agents who don’t feel that it’s their job to offer editorial input.  An author has to decide what she wants the author-agent relationship to be and target those agents whose style works best for them.

Kelsey: What’s your advice for gaining an agent’s interest in this tight economy?

Lois: Write something spectacular.  If you’re the next J.K. Rowling or Stephanie Meyer, agents will be fighting over you.

Kelsey: Can you share any specifics on what hooks you on a manuscript?

Lois: Voice!  You can have the greatest plot idea in the world, but if your voice is dull or bland, I won’t read beyond the first few pages.  In addition to voice, I want to see tight writing and fast pacing.  Nothing drags a story down faster than pages and pages of description that have nothing to do with the scene at hand and/or dialogue that’s nothing more than useless chit-chat.  Finally, if you can make me laugh out loud as I’m reading, you increase your odds exponentially.  That’s not to say I only want humorous books.  One of my authors writes horror.  However, in my personal reading, I find myself drawn mostly to humorous contemporary novels.

Lois, thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts on being both an agent and a writer. And to our RU readers, we’re wishing you spectacular writing!

Please join Tracey and author Shannon Butcher on Monday for a discussion about Support System for Writers.

Award-winning author and literary agent Lois Winston has published humorous, cross-genre, contemporary novels, romantic suspense and non-fiction essays.  She also writes mysteries, women’s fiction, and middle grade books, often drawing upon her extensive experience as an artist and crafts designer for her source material. 

Winston’s published novels have received accolades from readers, librarians, booksellers, reviewers, and fellow authors.  TALK GERTIE TO ME was the recipient of the Readers and Book Buyers Best Award, took second place in both the Beacon Awards and Laurel Wreath Awards, and was nominated for a Reviewers’ Choice Award and a Golden Leaf Award.   LOVE, LIES AND A DOUBLE SHOT OF DECEPTION was the winner of the Winter Rose Award for Excellence in Romantic Fiction, the More Than Magic Award, and the Laurie Award.  The book also took second place in the Beacon Awards and garnered Golden Leaf and Golden Quill nominations.  Her books have been called “smart,” “witty,” “fun,” “captivating,” “fresh,” “fast paced,” and “unable to put down” by bestselling authors Christina Skye, Kasey Michaels, Alesia Holliday, Lori Avocato, Lauren Baratz-Logsted, and Jan Coffey.

Winston has also contributed to several anthologies: DREAMS & DESIRES, VOL. 1, 2, and 3 and HOUSE UNAUTHORIZED. 

When not writing or designing, Winston can be found trudging through stacks of manuscripts as she hunts for diamonds in the slush piles for the Ashley Grayson Literary Agency.  She began her association with the agency as a client.  Several years ago she was invited to join the agency as an associate, opening what she likes to call their East Coast division.  She continues to be represented by one of the other agents in the agency.

The Ashley Grayson Literary Agency was established in 1976 and consists of four agents who handle both literary and commercial fiction, children’s fiction, and some non-fiction.  Recent sales have included romance, women’s fiction, urban fantasy, YA, and mysteries to Pocket, Harlequin, Grand Central Publishing, St. Martin’s Press, Harper Collins, Viking, Scholastic, Red Sage, and Dorchester, as well as children’s chapter books to Little Brown and Feiwel & Friends.