Q&A Thursday

Subject Lines et al

Hi friends!

Here’s some answers to this week’s questions!

A asks: Can you tell us more about your relationship with your boss/company and how typical/atypical it is? I guess I wasn’t imagining literary agencies as a sort of “mentorship” type of company, but on reflection it does make sense. 

Absolutely!! Literary agencies are 100% a place of mentorship, or at least they should be. There’s no other way to learn how to be an agent except to do it and watch other people doing it. There’s no degree or certificate program or even a comprehensive How To Be An Agent book (and besides it would be out of date before it went to print). Anyone can be an agent, but if you sign with someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing, they’ll cause more harm than good. Howard Morhaim has taught me just about everything I know and even outside of things he’s directly told me, I’ve be able to learn how to do my job better by reading contracts he negotiated, even years ago. I’d say it’s VERY typical that newer agents are mentored/apprenticed to more experienced agents, whether as an assistant or something like a junior agent—and if they’re not, I’d take that as a huge red flag. If you’re signing up with a new-to-the-business agent, make SURE they will be mentored by someone at their company, closely. Even outside of my relationship with Howard, I frequently ask my colleagues here at HMLA and my friends at other agencies questions about their experiences with editors, genres, contracts, negotiations. Once an agent has a good handle on things, they will likely work more and more independently, but we all still ask each other questoins and for second opinions. Agents are very supportive of one another!

K asks: Could you talk a bit about query subject lines? If the agent or agency doesn’t specify a format, is it enough to write “Query: TITLE”? And if you receive an offer of representation and want to follow up with your agent list to let them know, would it make sense to update the title to something like “Offer of Rep FYI for Query: TITLE” when replying to initial emails?

Yes and yes. Query: TITLE is a great subject line for a query. You don’t need to put your name (or MY name) because they’re already there in the To and From email addresses. Simpler is always better when it comes to subject lines. And you will not be automatically rejected because you put TITLE: Query or something like that.

If you are updating someone with new information, it’s a great idea to add that info to the subject line and Offer of Rep FYI for Query: TITLE is a great way to do that. Remember, you do not need to update an agent because you got a request for a full. It’s better to update when you’ve gotten an offer, or especially if you’ve accepted an offer.

Don’t overthink this! The subject line is pretty minor in the grand scheme of things.

Have you gotten your vaccine yet? I hope so, or that you will soon!

OXOXOX,

Kate