What about my book did you respond to?

–The most important quality in an agent? They connect to your work on a real level and will be your passionate advocate. They’ll probably tell you why they like your book before you ask, but just in case: find out what about it most resounded with them.

Do you have editorial feedback?

–Now, I don’t give notes until a client has signed on the dotted line. That’s to protect myself so that the author can’t revise according to my suggestions and then take it somewhere else. That said, what I can (and do) give new authors is a rough estimate of how much revision there should be and what kind of work I am expecting. It’s helpful to know whether you’re jumping on board with someone who wants minimal changes versus someone who will ask you for major rewrites.

What’s your editorial style?

–Likewise, is this an agent who will go through draft after draft with you? Is their editorial feedback frontloaded? Will they be telling you changes you have to make? Will they just make suggestions? I’m a strong believe in the idea that there’s no single right way to edit a manuscript, but it can be very helpful to simply know what you should be expecting.

How long have you been with your agency?

–First note: there’s nothing wrong with signing with a brand new agent. Young agents are often the hungriest in the business, and that can be a deeply wonderful thing for their clients. Some of the first clients I signed back in 2002 are still among my most productive, bestselling authors. That said, if someone IS new, you want to then find out how much support they have within their agency. How are their connections? Do they know what they’re doing? Let’s take the flip side: an experienced agent might simply have less time for you than a new agent. If they’ve been doing this forever, try to get a sense of whether you believe they have adequate time to dedicate to YOU. Which brings me to:

How many clients do you have?

–This is another one with no right or wrong answer. Use the information to get a general feeling about someone. If their numbers sound very low, maybe ask if they are still building a list. If they’re very high, dig in a little and ask what kind of support staff they have or how much time they feel they can dedicate to each individual. You’re not looking for a specific number here. It’s more about hearing how agents discuss and think about their lists and their authors (and their time).

What is your typical response time to email/phone calls?

–For real, there is nothing I hear more complaints about regarding agents than how bad they are at communicating. This drives me completely insane. Yes, things occasionally go missing. Yes, some times are busier than others. But routinely making your clients wait for responses from you for a long time (or worse, not even responding) is wildly unfair and insanely unprofessional. Okay…stepping off my soapbox. Point is: ask the question. And really listen to the answer. Not just what is said, but how it is said. Does it sound honest? Does it sound reasonable? Also: fact check. This is something I’ll come back to later on.

How do you like to communicate (email vs. phone)? And how often do you communicate during a submission?

–Again, there isn’t a right answer here. I’m an email guy mostly, but some clients prefer the phone. My take on submissions is that I’ll be in touch only as necessary, but you’re always encouraged to check in for updates. If someone who is more of a phone person wants scheduled, regular updates? That works too. This is just about knowing what to expect and being able to prepare yourself for it.

What happens if you don’t sell this book?

–Sad fact: not every project an agent signs sells. I suspect this is true of every single agent. If there’s someone out there who has sold every book they’ve ever signed, let me know who it is so I can start making my dart board of their face. But the point is: if this book you’re going to work with an agent on doesn’t sell…then what? Do you revise? Do you try something new? Do you part ways? There are lots of valid answers—you’re looking for one that feels comfortable for you.

How many editors do you go to before giving up?

–I’ve heard people say that their agents submitted material to four editors and gave up when it didn’t sell. That is mind-blowing to me. Like…why even do the work to get a book ready to sell if you’re not going to really try? Regardless! Find out how their submission process works—how wide they go, what steps might occur along the way, etc.

What percentage of projects that you sign do you sell?

–I’m loath to include this because seriously, none of us want to talk about the books we weren’t able to sell. That said? It’s an entirely fair question.

How long is your average client relationship?

–I think the best agents are the ones looking to build long-term working relationships with their clients. Get a feel for how many authors they’ve worked with for long stretches and how much career-building is an important part of their process. Hope the answer to that last part is: “Very.”

Who do you work with to sell foreign/film rights? What is the agency’s support staff? Do you handle contracts? Rights? If not, who does?

–Again, every agency works differently. At DGLM, we have Lauren as our Rights Director, so she handles foreign sales (among many other things), but each agent negotiates their own contracts. At other places, your agent might be handling your translations but will have an in-house contracts person. Neither is “wrong,” but this is a good opportunity to find out who all at the agency will be working on your behalf, how much of your contact is with your agent directly, and how things will look moving forward.

What does your agency agreement look like?

–To me, the most important things are this: an agency’s commission is 15% and no money is ever paid by you until your book has been sold. If those two things are true, you’re starting at base level. After that, the most important question I have is what happens if the relationship doesn’t work out: can you get out of the agreement after the first project if you and the agent aren’t a match. It happens. It sucks, but it happens—being as close a relationship as it is, sometimes there are bad fits even when both sides are great at their jobs. And that’s okay—just make sure that you aren’t promising every piece of work you ever write to an agency ad infinitum.

Can I speak to one or two of your clients about their experiences working with you?

–SO important! And this is where I come back to what I said in the communications question—fact check us! Talk to some of our clients and find out if we’re telling the truth. Maybe even ask to speak to a specific client. Or reach out to a client on Twitter. I mean…chances are anyone we put you in touch with will be the person with the best things to say. Don’t be afraid to use the interwebs as your resource to find out more about us. And ask these clients specifically for any criticism of their agent. Everyone probably has SOMEthing they wish their agent was better at. And that’s okay. But what they choose will likely be telling.

[Specific to any author who wants to work in more than one genre]: Are you open to authors who work in multiple genres? And are there genres/age groups/etc. that you don’t represent? If I write something in one of those, what then happens?

–So important! If you want to write middle grade in the future and this agent doesn’t do that…what happens?! Can you look for another agent? Is there someone else at the agency you could work with? Are you just plum out of luck? This is a good chance to discuss the future—your plans, their thoughts, and all that fun stuff.

And lastly, I have a very brief what NOT to ask:

How much can you sell my book for? How long will it take to sell my book?

–This is such a fickle business sometimes. Advances are all over the place. Editors’ response times are subject to time of year, how many projects are being submitted at any given time, what their relationship with the agent is. I think anyone who gives you a definitive answer to either of these questions is guessing. I have goals for how much I want for books and how long I want the sale to take (a million dollars and a single day, for the record), but whatever my expectations are, I don’t think it’s my place to share them. Because if the advance is any lower or the response time any slower, you’re automatically disappointed. An agent can give you some general thoughts (“It feels like a really big book”) and estimates on response time (“We’ll likely start hearing back in two weeks”) but I’d be deeply suspicious of anything more specific than that.

So there we have it. To anyone who has occasion to use this list: congrats on your offer of representation! Now dig in!

Through that connection, I also met another client. A dynamic author and career success coach named Kathy Caprino who followed her passion to find a career she loves and helps others to do the same. She is also a contributor for Forbes.com and writes about women, work, female empowerment and all of those great topics we love.

When I spoke with Kathy recently about her column, I mentioned yet another client, a very talented and prolific author named Cecilia Galante whose first adult novel, THE INVISIBLES, had just been released. I knew from speaking with Cecilia and hosting a book club at my house with her where she inspired everyone in the room that she would be someone who might be of interest to Kathy and her column so I introduced the two of them and this compelling interview on Forbes.com is the result.

There is a lot to digest here, and much of it is advice we’ve heard before because it works. But Cecilia has such a way with words that it feels fresh and important. Some of it I’ve even talked about here on the DGLM blog before. But not quite in this way: “I’d tell other writers that if they want to write, they need to sit in the damn chair every day and write.” Same goes for the realities of making a living as a writer: “Betting on a lucrative career as an author is like waiting for lightening to strike.”

What’s your favorite bit of advice from Cecilia? Anything else to add to her pearls of wisdom? She’s definitely doing something right because while the lightning bolt might not have hit just yet, she’s under contract for another adult novel and two more middle grades!

I discovered one of my favorite books because the author called our store and charmed the living daylights out of me. I found another in a box of old books that my Russian literature professor left outside his office to give away. So while I do think that you should read the canon if it interests you, I think it’s more important that you read the books that find their own way into your hands.

What follows is a lovely and inspiring meditation on the many ways books wander into our lives, when we’re paying attention to them. And between the lines of the essay is a message for authors who have a book to promote – the best marketing for your work is a reader who’s in love with your story.

You should read the book that you see someone reading for hours in a coffee shop — there when you got there and still there when you left — that made you envious because you were working instead of absorbed in a book.

That’s how the excitement spills from the quiet act of reading to everyone that you meet throughout the day.

This essay is a great relief to those of us with stacks of unread books in our homes and award lists half-checked-off. Trends come and go, bestsellers burn up the charts and then fade into oblivion, but the joy of reading lasts through book after book after book.

Do you keep a TBR list? How did you discover your favorite author?

It took some creative thinking and a little bit of ask the audience, but in the end we figured out all the book titles. I’m always a fan of puzzles that seem completely absurd and impossible at first glance, but when, after some real thinking and concentration, become glaringly obvious—the thrill of an answer becoming clear in the mind can make anyone feel like a genius.

It’s funny, these literary puzzles, games, checklists and whatever else is out there on the internet that I haven’t yet discovered. Whenever I solve the entire thing, I feel validated in my choice of major in college, career path, declared passion, but then I look back and realize that I’ve maybe only actually read about half to three-quarters of the book titles that are the answers. Whether it’s a cover recognition test, a match the characters to the book, or a crazy fun rebus-esque enigma, much of my knowledge comes from who knows where, but certainly not personal experience from having gone through the books myself.

Sure, I can pick out the cover of Catch-22 anywhere, can tell you that Hester Prynne is the leading lady in The Scarlet Letter or that In the Name of the Rose was written by Umberto Eco, but I have never read any of those books (all three of which do happen to be frequent answers on these booky-type quizzes). It’s a similar bank of knowledge that I dip into for solving crosswords—four letter word for architect Saaranin? That’s EERO, and I’m 100% positive of that every time even though I have absolutely no other knowledge about the man.

It’s the kind of knowledge that’s dangerous, can make you believe you know more than you actually do—nay, understand more than you actually do. Sometimes I have to really think to figure out whether I actually have read a book or whether I’ve just heard so much about it and know enough of the basics to trick myself into thinking I have.

Before I get too down on myself, it’s good to remember that there’s a whole giant bunch of books that I have read (though still not that many architects that I’m intimately familiar with) and there are a great number of authors whose oeuvres I have devoured. It’s impossible to get through everything, I promise, so I suppose I should be grateful that the stories and titles that have somehow wedged their way into my referential knowledge are ready and available when I need them and I don’t have to worry about never having read them.

And, really, knowing the answers, no matter how you do, is the fun part, so enjoy your Fridays and take a crack at the puzzle!

I think the advice he offers in his piece to writers about questions to ask before quitting your day job is worth sharing with our readers. For many aspiring writers, writing remains a hobby for an often lengthy period of time until you break through to the next level. Even after th are published, there are many writers who still maintain a day job (including  bestselling ones like Jane O’Connor and Colin Harrison, both of whom are editors at major publishing houses).

Jeff interviews many writers and the anecdotal support he shares is educational and enlightening. I particularly like Ellyn Spragin’s comment that she is a full-time entrepreneur whose business is built around writing. Because writing in this market really is now about so much more than writing.

And even if you do not have the luxury of being able to choose to write full-time, Jeff’s advice is as always sound, accessible and practical which offers valuable food for thought. And much of it can be applied to anything you do, like coming up with a Plan B. That’s always a good idea, no matter what your job or financial situation!