Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Bookends YouTube channel. I'm James McGowan. I'm Jessica Faust. And we are literary agents who have taken our popular blog about all things publishing to YouTube. We are live. Yes. So if this is your first time here, or if it's your 100th time here and you haven't subscribed, don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss a single video. But today we are talking all

Speaker 2: about author-agent communication. Probably the most important thing in an author-agent relationship, or to be truthful, in any relationship that you have. It's all about the communication. Yeah. So for those who are maybe very new, a literary agent is an author's representative, but most importantly an author's business partner. And I think if you write that on a post-it and stick it on your computer, it makes a huge difference in how you view the relationship between the author and agent. Because if you view somebody as the business partner, I would hope the word partner frees you up to be more comfortable in communication with the agent. Yes, because what you're saying is

Speaker 1: you're taking yourself out of the sort of, I need that person to do all of this for me, and you're making yourself an equal to the agent. And when you're equal to the agent, then you know that you have a right to all of the information about your business, which is what you're doing as a writer or illustrator, and you have a right to know

Speaker 2: what's happening, when it's happening, and how it's happening. Yeah, I would say the one question I have probably consistently got in nearly every offer call with an author, when I call to offer representation, I would say the one thing that we always discuss is, how do you communicate? Now, one thing that's interesting is the author always asks that question to me. And maybe there should be, you know, and I always say, you know, is that what you like? But I also think it's not just, how do you communicate to me? But it should also be, well, do you do this? Because I prefer this, or I prefer phone calls, or I don't like the phone. Is that okay with you? Or I love Zoom or whatever it is. I think you need to know how you communicate best to and let the agent know that.

Speaker 1: Yeah, it's almost like that. It's an interview question. But we should also be asking the same of the client, because that's the only way that any relationship will be successful is if we both sort of work with each other to communicate properly.

Speaker 2: Right. So for me, my answer to that is email. You know, I prefer email. I don't text. I don't DM primarily because I will lose a text. I will forget to respond. I don't do social media DMs with clients, because again, that will get lost and buried, or I will never see it because it's not something I check. In email, I can keep a running thread of our conversation. I can go back to check it. I can file it. You know, it's easy for me to follow up on that. And it's also the way I track things with you. So I always say that. I do sometimes make phone calls. There are times when I am just tired of typing. There are times when a back and forth of brainstorming is important. Or I Zoom, depending on the author. But if I'm saying all this to you, and you're the author, and you're thinking, Hmm, I don't like phone, but I really like Zoom, then I think it's fair to say, well, how do you feel about Zoom? Because if that agent says, I will absolutely never do Zoom, then you have to consider if that's a partnership that's going to work.

Speaker 1: Right. And you said, you think it's fair to say, but I think you absolutely should say that is what you absolutely should be doing in that offer call is making clear how you like to communicate and trying to find a middle ground with that agent. It could be the same exact way. You'd be like, Well, I'm not really a Zoomer, but we can do it this way or something like that. Yeah. Just finding that middle ground and knowing before you even go in and sign any contract, this is how we will communicate with each other. Yeah. But I also think it's more than just how you communicate, but what you communicate.

Speaker 2: Absolutely. I think what you communicate, I think how can be a little bit more adaptable.

Speaker 1: Yes, exactly.

Speaker 2: I think what can very easily become one sided and problematic, if not handled fairly.

Speaker 1: Yeah. So I always say when I'm getting on the offer call that like the three most important things are communication, honesty, and transparency. So I try to live up to that all around. Like, you should know who your book is on submission with, you should know sort of where you are in my reading queue, and when I can get back to you on things. And it shouldn't take me forever to respond to something unless like it's going to take me more time to sort of work through. So I try to be upfront about all of that.

Speaker 2: I think the most important thing is that the author needs to feel comfortable asking the agent anything.

Speaker 1: Yeah.

Speaker 2: And we're often one of the things I've heard authors say so many times over the years is, well, I have this agent, but I'm afraid of them. Or I was afraid to ask my agent or, you know, my agent wouldn't respond to me, which is, I guess, a different thing. But if you are on that, I mean, when you get that offer call, you're going to be nervous. I mean, I get nervous. Yeah, absolutely. We're nervous. And I, you know, I mean, you're interviewing somebody to become your business partner. I mean, heck, when I was interviewing people to come work at bookends, I was a nervous wreck. I mean, I'm just as nervous as the interviewee, I'm afraid. But you also get a sense of, am I just naturally nervous? Or is this person making me uncomfortable to speak my voice? And there's a big difference there.

Speaker 1: And you're not wrong. Like if that's how you're feeling, it's not a wrong way to feel. It's actually something you should be listening to and sort of harvesting while you're trying to make this decision.

Speaker 2: Because again, business partner, and if I'm going to entrust my career and my finances and contracts to somebody, I need to feel comfortable having the hard conversations and asking the hard questions. And then also definitely feel comfortable asking the easy questions that sort of run down, you started it a little bit those things that an agent should definitely be transparent about and what you should expect to be able to ask about and to get an answer on.

Speaker 1: Yeah, I think first and foremost, the most important things are book submissions, money and contracts.

Speaker 2: Who your, who your manuscript or your book is going out on submission to. Responses. And yes, and not only should you be told, we got responses.

Speaker 1: You should see them.

Speaker 2: I believe you should see them. I forward even the harshest of passes to my clients and let them know because I think it's important part of the writing process to understand why people might be passing.

Speaker 1: Yes, it's important to the writing process. But I also think it's important to every writer's growth, because I think eventually that book is going to hit a shelf and you're going to get that from reviewers and readers everywhere. And you need to sort of build up a less emotional response to it. I don't know if that's the right way to say it, but you have to be able to accept them and move on.

Speaker 2: I always say rejections from agents and editors are just preparing you for reviews.

Speaker 1: Yeah, it's true, because they are usually, they're usually like surface level and reviews get in there. So, so in addition to your submission status, we'll call it anything money and contract related, you should absolutely feel 100% confident and comfortable speaking to your agent about,

Speaker 2: you know, I just got the contract. I have questions. I don't understand this. Can you explain this term? You know, have we seen payment on this yet? Do you know when it's due? Can I get an extension on my due date? Anything like that is fair game. And you should be able to have an honest and open conversation. I mean, you should be able to have an honest and open conversation with your agent. At the very least, you should get an answer. I know sometimes agents have been known to ghost writers, and that's unacceptable. This is just part of the business. I've agreed to be your business partner. My job is to answer business questions.

Speaker 1: Right. And I'm a big fan of not everybody knows everything, right? Like it's just inevitable that not everybody's going to know every single answer to your question. I'm a big fan of I have this on my radar. I don't know, I'm gonna find out. I'll get back to you. Yeah, I think that is important. So I personally don't like to leave any client waiting that long for a response on anything. So I will send one of those or I'm looking into this, I'll be doing one of doing one of the things that you've asked me to do, and I will get back to you. And I think that's important to sort of having an expectation of when you will have the answers that you want.

Speaker 2: What I will tell you is when I offer representation, the one thing I say to every client is, and this is for me personally, this isn't going to be the same for every agent, is that you will hear back from me in, you know, two days, whether it's a phone call or an email, if you haven't, feel free to follow up something fell through the cracks. It could be that the email ended up in spam. It could be that I the phone message got buried under my desk. It could be frankly, you know, when an author sends me, I am notorious for this. When they send their manuscript, I'm like, Oh, great. And then I flag it. And then I go on to what I was doing. And I forget to acknowledge the fact that I got it every single time.

Speaker 1: I am the worst mental responder, I will get something and I'm just like, okay, this, this, this, this and this, and then not actually send that.

Speaker 2: And for a new client, that's especially stressful. For my older clients, or the ones that have been with me for long now, I think they just know. But you know, but but that is because we've established trust. Right. But you know, other things, you know, I do reply to I think I reply in a timely manner. And if I haven't, I always say something slipped through the cracks, and you deserve a chance to follow up and get an answer the second time.

Speaker 1: Right. And I think that everybody's scared. I'm going to annoy my agent.

Speaker 2: That makes me so sad when I hear that.

Speaker 1: Me too, because that's their job. Yeah, you're paying them. It's true. I should never be nervous to reach out to you and say, how's that revision coming? Or your due dates coming up? Because that's your job in this. So don't be nervous. This is literally their job is to sort of manage your career. And you deserve that update whenever you want. They should not get annoyed at all.

Speaker 2: No, and I feel like it's sort of like this. I don't have a word for that. So it's like this. Like when you're with when you're with an author, there will be periods of time where things are happening. And you are in a lot of communication, you know, maybe it's because you're discussing the cover and the title, or maybe it's because it's just gone out on submission, or you're negotiating a contract. And then there will be periods of time where you really have no use for me. You're just writing your book. And I know you're writing your book. And I've got nothing to do right now. Because until that book is done, I'm just waiting, just like your editor is waiting. So there are periods of times when we don't talk that often. And, and then there are periods of times where I'll have an author just like, hey, checking in, I haven't heard anything. And I'm like, well, because sadly, there's nothing to tell. But I'm glad you checked in. Because now you know, there's nothing to tell. And isn't that better than wondering?

Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think that's something that I know a lot of authors or clients will feel nervous doing, like just checking in.

Speaker 2: But which is crazy, because the answer takes me less than five minutes.

Speaker 1: And I think that having that check in is what's going to sort of contribute to the better communication that you want. Yeah. So I mean, if I don't get a response on, say, I'm submitting Jessica's book, and I don't get a response on Jessica's book last week, and this week, it's not on my mind to update Jessica that I didn't get this book, but I have nothing to say, there's nothing to say everything is status quo from the last time I updated you, but I'm happy to update you.

Speaker 2: But there's, but there's no reason for you to think you can't ask either, right? You don't know that nothing's going on. You know, I'm doing other things because I have, you haven't sort of popped in my face, whether it's with your submission or from an editor or something else. But now you did and just said, Hey, just thinking about my book, because I'm obsessed. And I know you're not.

Speaker 1: I was gonna say anxious author here. I know. We are obsessed. It's just the only thing like plays on a loop. And sometimes you need that. Tell me just tell me nothing happened yet. And that makes you feel so much better. So I'm all for those because they're necessary. They make you feel better. And they take your mind off of it. So you can go create and do other stuff.

Speaker 2: But I also think it's really important to remember that this is a partnership. So in any partnership, you know, you each sort of have your jobs, and you trust the other person to do your jobs. But I also think the best partnerships work collaboratively, which means that when you deliver your manuscript to your editor, you can say to your agent, just deliver it to the editor, you can CC them on it, or do you need a file to sell for foreign or for audio? Or have we pitched to audio yet? I mean, it's also, you know, at the end of the day, it's your career. It's my career, too. But it's also your career. And, you know, the best authors can take charge of that and say, Hey, agent, how are we doing on this? Not just the book sale, but how are we doing on the rest of the stuff? Are there any concerns? You know, when I send a contract to clients, sometimes I'll just get, is there anything I should be concerned about? I mean, at the end of the day, what I would say when it comes to your author agent relationship is that at the beginning, it's a brand new relationship, and you are building trust. And over time, that relationship is going to change because you're both going to have a better understanding of how the other person works, and how they communicate. But you should feel comfortable asking your agent anything, you know, and, and your agent is there to be on board with you. You know, I will get emails from clients who say, I need an extension. Do you think it's going to be a problem? And I usually say, No, I don't think so. But here's my suggestion. Would you like to go to the editor with it? Or would you like me to? Neither is the wrong answer. Yeah, it really depends on the author's comfort level. Maybe the author is just too panicked to even talk to the editor and would rather have me do it so they can write. And, you know, but maybe the author has a super close relationship with their editor, and they just wanted to give me a heads up. And all of that is fine, because all of that is my

Speaker 1: job. Right. So keep in mind, if you ever have anything, I think that asking those questions and being communicative with your agent is not only going to help them learn how you communicate, but also going to help them realize what are your priorities and how they can better serve you.

Speaker 2: And I would also say, if you are feeling like you are not getting the communication you want, then you have to have a conversation with the agent or decide, Am I trusting this person because the two go hand in hand. And if the communication is falling off, and you're starting to question whether you can trust the agent, then it's a problem. You know, if it's you just haven't adapted to the way the two of you communicate yet, that can be fine. You can give that time, but you may never adapt.

Speaker 1: So it's it's knowing when it's working for you. And that's the hardest thing to do. But hopefully, everything that we've said in this video gives you a clearer picture of what is that good author-agent communication, and what you should be looking for whenever you are working with your agent.

Speaker 2: And that you should feel like you can ask anything.

Speaker 1: Yes, stitch it on a pillow.

Speaker 2: Partnership, business partner.

Speaker 1: Right. Well, we hope this was helpful. Again, don't forget to like and subscribe this video and we hope to see you back here next week.

Speaker 2: Bye.