TRANSCRIPT: Our Q&A with Literary Agent Daniel Lazar

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Who's Daniel Lazar?

Daniel Lazar is an agent at Writers House, a New York literary agency that represents such authors as Nora Roberts, Ken Follett, Stephen Hawking, Neil Gaiman, and Christopher Paolini.


During his time at the agency, Dan has served as assistant to Writers House chairman Albert Zuckerman. He is now building his own client list of literary and commercial fiction, women's fiction, gay and lesbian, young adult and narrative non-fiction authors.

I've been with Writers House for 3 years now and am eagerly building my own client list.

I'm a great fan of superb, distinct commercial and literary fiction, smart women's fiction, gay & lesbian and YA fiction. I'd also love to see lively, fun narrative non-fiction -- memoirs, pop-culture or even those quirky little gift books that will make me snort and smile.

If you think I'll laugh out loud and/or miss my subway stop reading your pages, I'd love to hear from you.

I can be reached by regular mail or email -- no attachments unless I request your work. Send a concise query letter (feel free to throw in 3-5 sample pages) with SASE.

My response time is one minute to several weeks.And please, dear writers, don't send your manuscript double sealed in bubble wrap. It's paper, not anthrax.Daniel LazarWriters House 21 West 26th StreetNew York, NY 10010

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P.S.Daniel Lazar was recently mentioned in Nadia Cornier's Blog
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QUESTION: book on auction

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Hi Dan, I'd like to ask you how some writers get their books on auction (and thus seem to get big bucks)?

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Would you, as the agent, decide to take the book on auction? Or the writer? Are there particular type of books that usually go on auction? (Literary? Commercial? Mystery?)

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Some agents, I'm told, send books out and say "I'm closing this submission on this date, and will be conducting an auction. Have your bids in by 10 am." Something like that.

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Well, to my mind, that's lovely! But I've never done it. Because how am I supposed to know something I send out is going to get 10 bites or no bites?

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An auction is what happens when an agent sends out a project and multiple publishers come in with bids. How and why that happens just depends on the project and the luck of the submission draw.

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An agent conducts how the auction is held (it can be done with highest - lowest bids, or with best bids) but in general it takes an agent far more powerful or just plain brash than myself to "set up" an auction without knowing if editors will even be able to come to the table!

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Best, Dan

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Question: your perfect client?

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I would like to ask you, what would your "perfect" client be like? Would you choose someone who has a great manuscript but has a bad attitude/you don't get along with? Or would you prefer someone you can work with but maybe has an "okay" manuscript you need to help edit? Anything else you would like your client to have/be?

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Hi, Friendly clients are certainly nice. They're understanding, they're patient, they're receptive to feedback. But they're not a requirement.

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I'm not doing this to make friends; it's my job. Although I do have to say, I've been very lucky that the people I work with are mostly a great bunch. So I take on projects that excite me, and the client (good, bad,whatever) comes with.

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If the client has an attitude, or is impatient-- well, I'm an adult, and I deal with it, the same way you all deal with obnoxious co-workers. If it becomes too much of a problem, then I can always let them go.

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I will say, however, that sometimes a bad attitude in a query letter will turn me off. Even if it's a great letter, but the writer says something like, "I'm sending this out in early July, and expect to hear back no later than Aug 1, or this submission is considered null"-- stuff like that. And yes, that happens! In that case, I'm like,"well lookatchu, Miss Thang!" and I'll probably just pass. Cuz if the client is that pushy while on submission, who needs that kind of headache if I sign them?

- Dan

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Question: online classes?

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I'd like to ask you if you have any online classes? I saw your name at either Gotham Writers or Barnes and Noble University as faculty.

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Yes, I teach a Gotham Writers Workshop class about getting published and writing a great query letter. It's a fun class, not a lot of pressure -- you get to read lectures, post questions on whatever you'd like, and submit two query letters for me (or the current teacher) to critique.

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I'm not quite sure how signing-up works. I'm sure you can do it from the Workshop's website, http://www.writingclasses.com/

- Dan

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QUESTION: Mechanics

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In another group I'm a member of -- we're in the midst of a heated discussion about dialogue tags -- when to use them and when not to use them. I've always been under the impression that in general; dialogue tags should be confined to using he/she 'said,' 'thought' or 'asked,' and then only when it's not completely clear who's speaking, or when there's more than two> speakers in the same conversation.

Another writer in the same group told us her work was rejected by an editor because she adhered to the above mentioned school of thought. I couldn't believe it. Now, is there a general rule on this aspect or is it more or less up to the editor or publisher to whom you're submitting?

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I'm not a copyeditor, so this is just my own opinion - but I'm used to seeing dialogue tags on anything that's spoken aloud. Whether it's said, asked, shouted, whatever. If it's out loud, it gets quotes. If it's thought, it's usually in italics.

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Or just without quotes and the context is clear. But no quotes. That's just what I'm used to seeing.

Hope that helps, Dan

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Question: commercial vs. literary fiction

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My question is, how would you define commercial fiction as opposed to literary fiction?

Would chick lit be commercial fiction? Would multi- cultural be literary fiction?

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Boy this one's a doozy.

I'm not a huge fan of classifying books in this way, and let me tell you - if you want to see my boss's head explode, ask him this question on a bad day. This is one of those topics that is kinda, sorta, basically nonsense, but that everyone gets in a big tiff about.

There are a few answers I can give.

1) It's like porn. You know it when you see it.

2) It's arrogant of me to even try and define literary vs. commercial, since only time will tell what is truly considered by society as high art vs. commerce.

There are many novelists hailed as the greatest thing of their day... who you've never heard of, because time just passed them by. And there are some books we're still reading today that, when they were published, who would have known? (Hello, "Valley of the Dolls"?)

3) It's essentially a marketing strategy.

A literary novel is a novel publishers are forced to throw out on the market and hope, pray, hope and pray some more, that reviewers notice it, hail it, and create buzz to carry the book that way.

A commerical novel -- even one with literary merits of pitch perfect beautiful prose and heart breaking sentences that make you read them twice, three times, more, just to appreciate the beauty of their construction -- is any novel that publishers can market by using some element outside the book itself to draw attention for the book. A good example of this is the recent success of PREP.

Prep initially started out as a "literary" novel -- a quiet coming of age story that the editor fell in love with, and that I would assume the publisher didn't have grandiose New York Times list expectations for. They threw it out there with a great package, true, but the reviewers caught on to it. Fell in love with it. Praised it to the sky.

(And all of this happened very quickly, which is another important aspect of a successful literary debut -- the synergy of many great reviews, all at the same time.)

And once the book starting selling really well, then the whole background outside the book, that of the author's history at prep school, and the big question, "is it autobiographical, is it not, did she... , didn't she..." all of that helped drive books sales.

Essentially, PREP becomes commercial because its sales are being driven by something outside of the actual novel. I hope that helps.

What's important is for writers not to get wrapped up in labels, and just sit down to write.

- Dan

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QUESTION: getting movie deals

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I'd also like to ask about how getting a movie deal works? Would you, as agent, have to take the manuscript to (movie) producers or are producers the ones who would contact you (if they hear you sold a manuscript to a publishing house)?

I suppose, I'm figuring, I like money. I like to write too. It seems getting my manuscript in auction and getting a movie deal brings in the money.

My bottom line is, do you have any tips on, how I can get my manuscript up to par for the auctioning table and get it right for a movie deal? (Do you know of any books I can check out with this info?)

What type of book is making the most money now?

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There's no easy formula for creating a manuscript that goes to auction at the publisher's side and gets optioned on the film side for a gazillion dollars.

If there was, hell, I wouldn't be here -- I'd be on my yacht in sunny, sunny Italy!

In general, the way it works (with book manuscripts) is that you get an agent who sells the book to a publisher.

Usually, that agent has a network of co-agents in LA they work with.

Here at Writers House, we work with agents at UTA, CAA, Brillstein-Grey, ICM, Gotham, etc etc.

We know these agents the way we know the editors, so we'll try to get on who will appreciate the project -- and who we trust knows the right producers who will be eager to read it.

The movie option is then mostly in that co-agents hands to direct, since that industry is their area of expertise.

Sometimes, though, I'm unable to secure an interested film agent. In which case, I can make a few submissions directly to producers to see if they'll bite. Or, once I announce the deal on Publishers Marketplace, I'll usually get inquiries directly from producers so I can send them the manuscript and wait to hear back. (Often enough, in Hollywood, they just take it and respond only if they're interested.)

Or sometimes, if it's a really "hot" commerical property, we can try and get a hot option on a manuscript on the film side -- use that buzz as leverage on the book side to get a bigger, faster deal.

So it really all depends on the book itself, and also an agent's ability to network and use her/his contacts effectively.

What's making money now?

Harry Potter, The Da Vinci Code, political books, Nora Roberts... Does that mean this is what will be making money in three years, and is what you should write?

Nope.

Books are fickle, business is strange, and writing to market without an actual book deal in hand is a risky venture. Hope this helps, Dan

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Question: Currently seeking?

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Are most of your clients obtained via referrals and conferences? Are you currently seeking any particular genre(s)?

Any genre(s) you don't consider? And, what is the one mistake you see writers making when contactingagents?

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Most of my clients so far have actually come through slush. Having watched my bosses, I suspect the longer I work, though, the more clients I'll get through referrals.

I've been to a few conferences (I'll be at the Columbus Writers Conference in August) but haven't ever taken on anyone that way - yet. I'm sure it'll happen.

The biggest mistake a writer can make (and, oh there are lots of little ones!) is writing a query letter that smacks of a general sense of... form letter.

That is obviously being sent out to everyone and anyone, and hasn't been sent to me for any special reason, even if it's actually addressed to me.

I think this usually happens when awriter constructs a query letter like a business proposal, as opposed to writing a letter of introduction that exploits what's special and unique -- the writer's actual voice.

- Dan

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Question: editorial suggestions?

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I'd like to know if you give your clients editorial help. Do you do line-by-line edit? If so, how do the client-agent communication work?

Do you meet with your client in person? Especially when you sign with the client, do you meet them in person first and see if you have compatible personalities?

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Janet, if I fall in love with a manuscript, I'm something of a nitpicker and my clients will tell you that I'll go through multiple drafts -- yes, even line editing -- before I send it out. I (and my bosses) do a lot of editorial work on our books. Sometimes I meet clients in person if they're in NY, or making a trip to NY... but it's not a requirement for me.

An agent you can get along with via phone or email is what you need. You're not going to be"dating" after all. You need to have respect and enough chemistry towork with each other.

If you can talk about girls/boys, movies andother fun stuff outside of work, well then that's great! But it's not something I'm looking for first thing.

- Dan

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Question: chick lit vs women's lit

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I feel like I started writing a chick lit but it evolved into a women's lit (more literary, not as playful in tone) so, I'd like to make sure I'm making the distinctions correctly.

How would you define a woman's literature?

What kind of women's literature are you looking for?

I checked out the list of your forthcoming books on your website but cannot find them on Amazon. Do you have any books I can look at to see what you like?

What you think is funny?

And maybe a list of the books you don't like?

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Cynthia, most of the books on my website are sales, so they're in production. They won't be on Amazon yet.

One of my first books is coming out soon called AND BABY MAKES TWO, by Judy Sheehan (Ballantine) and though it's listed on Amazon, I don't think there are reviews yet.

BROKEN FOR YOU is the first book I worked on (that my boss sold, I was still just an assistant) and that is the perfect example of smart women's fiction I love.

Watch me pat my own ego here-- it was a Today Show Book Club pick too, selected by Sue Mink Kiddin December. I can't praise that book enough.

In general, women's fiction vs. chick lit is a distinction that's more about marketing than it is about content.

But chick-lit is generally lighter in tone, yes.

- Dan

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Question: having different agents

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I have two manuscripts, a romance and a fantasy, and each one has been requested by different agents. Neither agent represents both genres. So, what happens if they both want to represent me?

I know, it's a one in a million chance, but my worry is, how to handle the situation with proper etiquette. Is it common for writers who write in different genres to have more than one agent?

Or does the agent usually make a concession for an author they've agreed to represent?

What questions should I ask either one of these agents if they chooseto represent me (fingers crossed here)?

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Cathy, you should definitely be up front with both agents, telling them you plan to write in different genres. I personally feel it's ok to have two different agents if you're writing, say, practical non-fiction and also romance, or kids books and adult books, since it's not likely submissions from one agent will double up on submissions of your other at the same imprint or even on the same editors desk.

But if you're going to be writing fiction, even in two different genres... it seems to me you should find an agent who can handle all your work in that regard. If both want to take you on, and both are ok with handling only one genre, and your confident with that, well then you're golden.

However you should know there are other agents out there who will do the research, make the calls and go to bat for your books that might not be their expertise -- but because they believe inyour work.

- Dan

FYI.FYI.FYI

Stephanie Kallos's BROKEN FOR YOU, said to be "in the John Irving/Anne Tyler vein," telling a moving story around a set of quirky but thoroughly authentic characters, to Lauren Wein at Grove/Atlantic, at auction, as their lead fiction title for spring 2004, by Simon Lipskar at Writers House

--the author was found by his assistant Daniel Lazar, who read a story of hers in an online literary magazine (world). Film rights are with Howard Sanders at UTA.slipskar@writershouse.com

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A Big Thanks to our Featured Literary Agent Daniel Lazar Dan, Let me just say, we love Writers House and we're so grateful you joined us today. For more on Literary Agent Daniel Lazar, please check his website:

http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/members/DanielLazar/

Cheers!

Shalla

http://shalladeguzman.blogspot.com/