Kelly McClymer's Blog

Okay, after getting the kissoff from Agent #1 (on my birthday), I decided my first book was DOA (yes, despite the fact that I had gotten an actual, encouraging rejection from a real live editor, I did). I finished my second book.

I belonged to a writer’s group, to which an agent came to speak. She was local. I shyly asked if I could send her my book. She graciously said yes (with zero expectations, as that is necessary for agent mental health). She called and arranged to meet me at the local Borders coffee shop, where she told me she loved my book. It was fabulous. NOTE: this sounds even better in person over a latte than it does on the phone when you still have fresh dishpan hands.

Having learned that agent enthusiasm wanes if editorial interest does not develop, I took a deep breath, crossed all my fingers and toes, and waited to see what the editors would say. I sent my agent five pristine copies of my new manuscript, and she sent them to five editors. We got five nos. Polite and positive nos, but still…no. I learned the downside to actually meeting with your agent on a regular basis over a cup of coffee or at a writer’s meeting — you both have to smile and pretend the nos are just a bump in the road. At five, you both have to pretend the road is not getting very bumpy.

However, my agent was determined, and she still thought my book was fabulous (she said this over coffee, with a smile, how could I doubt her?). When she heard a publisher was looking for historical romance novels to publish as a series, she instructed me to write up some follow up book ideas (mini proposals) for the siblings of my heroine (I had never thought of this book as a series, and had written it to stand alone — and lonely — forevermore). Not being a complete idiot, I did as my agent asked, and conceptualized and wrote mini-synopses of six more stories for my heroine’s siblings. In one day.

The editor asked me to expand my mini-synopses into longer 3-5 page synopses. I did. In three days.

And then I waited. I also worried. I was due to see my agent at a writer’s meeting that Saturday. Could we both smile and pretend when we hadn’t heard any news? What if it was a no? Yet another bump? Was I going to get the “it’s not me, it’s you” kissoff in person this time?

She greeted me at the meeting with balloons. To celebrate my three book sale.

I got busy writing the second two books in the series, not really sure what I’d worked for had really happened. Getting editorial revision letters, deadlines, contracts, galleys, and bound books cured my disbelief. Seeing my first book on the shelves at the very Borders where my agent and I had first met: priceless.

Life was good. My agent made a million dollar deal for one of her other clients and her business took off. She took on a junior agent. A friend of mine. I felt like a small wheel on a mac truck, and suggested the junior agent should handle my new contract negotiations. I half-hoped my agent would disagree. She thought it was a great idea. Or so she said. Over coffee at Borders. We were both smiling at the time.

HINDSIGHT: when a strong new agency makes its first big deal, expect things to get out of whack for a while (in good and bad ways). Don’t take it personally. It isn’t. It’s just business.

Next up — Agent #3