In our interview today with literary agent, Andrea Somberg of Harvey Klinger, Inc, she shares her love of eBooks, what she’s doing to prep her authors for the economic changes and why she’s looking for Post-Apocalyptic fiction. Here is what she had to say:
What’s your official title and why are you the best agent in the universe?
I’m officially a Literary Agent, but as for why I’m the ‘best’, I have to admit, I’m much better at talking up my authors than I am myself! I do try to bring a certain amount of compassion to the job – I know that the industry can be rough on authors, and I try to make the road as easy on them as possible. At the same time, though, I’m not adverse to baring my fangs when the situation warrants it!
What have you done to brace yourself for the economic changes to the industry? What can authors do to avoid eating Ramen noodles and counting pennies?
I’m actually launching a new initiative within the coming weeks in which I plan to start providing more information and resources to my authors on how they can best promote themselves and their books. Some of my clients have a natural talent for this — others need a bit more help.
What do you think about all these technological changes happening? How have they changed the marketplace?
I’m cautiously optimistic. My primary concern – like many of my colleagues – is that authors remain fairly compensated for their work. There are several things about ebooks, though, that I find immensely heartening. One is their convenience. Like many of you out there, I have very little time to go to the bookstore these days. The fact that I can download an ebook, anywhere, anytime is huge. It helps transform a wide range of titles into impulse buys, available for purchase 24/7. I also think that this ease of convenience makes word-of-mouth, advertising, and promotion much more effective. The other aspect of ebooks that I find promising is that, although there is a very real concern with piracy, I tend to doubt it will ever be at the same level as the number of print books that are shared freely between family and friends. I, myself, am guilty of this! With ebooks, it’s potentially much tougher to do.
On a personal level, I bought a Kindle about a year ago, originally intended solely for manuscript reading. Since that time, I’ve bought more books for pleasure than I have in years. In the past, when I had a rare night free, I’d invariably end up watching tv. These days I download a book from the comfort of my couch. As for the iPad, it’s beautiful. I covet one. Badly.
What’s hot now, what are editors looking for? And what type of manuscripts and proposals are you currently looking for that never seem to get?
I’ve been hearing a lot of requests for post-apocalyptic fiction. I’d really love to find a great thriller, preferably with a female protagonist – but I’ve been looking for one of these for years, and haven’t found anything I’ve fallen in love with. I’d also love to add some popular science to my list. I do handle a wide range of material — fiction, nonfiction, literary, commercial, YA, middle grade, genre (romance, mystery, sf/fantasy) memoir, pop- culture, how-to, self-help, humor, interior design, cookbooks, business, travel, health & fitness. I like my list diverse – it makes every day different.
What’s the best way for writers to approach you? And what’s one of your pet peeves when writers query you?
Email query is best to andrea@harveyklinger.com Include a query letter and the first five pages of the manuscript embedded into the body of the email.
And finally, what is something about you that very few people know?
I’ve been playing quite a bit of street hockey lately. I’m fairly awful at scoring goals, but I play a mean defense.