Charles Kiernan spoke with Megan Close Zavala, literary agent at Keller Media. Megan will be at the the Write Stuff Conference™ on Saturday, March 25, to take pitches from conference attendees (advance registration is required). Her passion lies not only in getting great books published, but in working closely with the authors who write them. Nothing is more exciting than a great new idea or story!
Megan is interested in working with both debut and previously published authors and enjoys forming long-lasting collaborations with them.
She looks forward to meeting talented writers who are offering something new and exciting and/or fresh takes on pre-existing subject matter. While she represents books in all genres, she is currently most interested in the following genres: Self-Help, Relationships, Pop Culture, Pop Psychology, Parenting, Management, Career, Entrepreneurship, Business, Personal Finance, and Fiction (especially Crime, Mystery/Suspense, and Literary).
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CK: As an agent, you work with writers, hopefully long-term, but who are strangers to you at first. Do you look at more than the work submitted to determine that relationship?
MCZ: Yes. Obviously a great book projects gets us the most excited, but we want to be able to have positive working relationships with our authors as well. Hopefully we will have gotten to know them a little via their query letters or book proposals, but it’s important that we work with people who are ready to do as much work for their book as we are. If it seems that an author is not ready to go the extra mile with their book (be open to revisions, continue to grow their platform, etc.), that may make us reconsider whether or not we take them on as clients. I think authors forget sometimes (or perhaps are not aware) that when we sell their books we are also selling them. Just as agents want to have successful long-term relationships with the authors they represent, so do editors.
CK: Writers often say they became writers because they have to write. What drew you to becoming an agent?
MCZ: I guess you could say if writers became writers because they have to write, you could say I become can agent because I had to be surrounded by books. To be brief, I had worked for several years in the entertainment industry, and while that certainly had its perks, I knew that it was not the right place for me. I have loved books and everything about them for my whole life, and I couldn’t imagine anything better than being involved with the process of getting them onto bookshelves for readers like me to buy. Embarrassingly enough, I didn’t know exactly what a literary agent did when I began working as an editorial assistant at an agency, but I quickly learned, and quickly realized that this would be a great career for me. I am a writer, too, so I feel like I can understand things from both sides of the picture, and I enjoy being an advocate for my clients.
CK: When you get a submission, how far into it do you get before you know this one is not for you?
MCZ: It really depends. If it’s a book proposal, I skim the overview and marketing plan to ascertain a) if the book idea is new/fresh and b) if the author has a platform that might be of interest to editors. If it seems like the author fits at least some of our criteria, I will go back and read through the document in detail. Otherwise, we will likely reject it. When it comes to fiction manuscripts, I usually read the first 15 pages or so and by then usually have a pretty good idea of whether or not I’m feeling a connection to the material. Sometimes I will read more (and obviously if I am interested in the project I will read the whole thing), but we get so many submissions that it can be difficult to find the time to do so.
CK: What trends in the publishing marketplace attract your attention? (Such as, what genres are hot? Where is electronic publishing going?)
MCZ: I’m always fascinated to see which trends are hot, and how quickly that changes. That’s really one of the trickiest aspects of choosing the projects to sell; something that is hot now may not be as hot in 12-18 months when the book would be published. I’ve had more than one project that was new, exciting, and different but which didn’t get sold because the editor had just acquired a similar project the day before. Sometimes it’s a lot like keeping an eye on the stock market, doing your research and knowing when to take a risk!
CK: For our conference we are Skyping you in, being that you are in California. Is the publishing industry different on the west coast than on the east? Is there a difference in style, or approach?
MCZ: Obviously there are higher concentrations of publishing houses and agents on the east coast, but the west coast still holds its own! There are lots of indie publishing companies out here, and many, many agents. I don’t know that the style or approach is much different, aside from the fact that we may do more of our work remotely. We still make trips to New York, meet with our editor friends, etc. so we’re still very much in the loop.
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Prior to her agenting career, Megan read, reviewed, edited, rejected and selected thousands of book and script projects for agencies, film companies and publishing companies. She uses her background in entertainment and legal affairs in negotiating the best deals for her clients and in helping them think outside of the box.
Megan is interested in working with both debut and previously published authors and enjoys forming long-lasting collaborations with them.
She is currently interested in: Self-Help, Relationships, Pop Culture, Pop Psychology, Parenting, Management, Career, Entrepreneurship, Business, Personal Finance, and Fiction (especially Crime, Mystery/Suspense, and Literary).
She is not interested in children’s, sci-fi, fantasy, poetry, or young adult.
You can find Megan at her link with Keller Media, and follow her on Twitter.
Greater Lehigh Valley Writers Group 