**The following interview was conducting with Elaine based on questions Tawny Weber collected here at Cigars and elsewhere -- thanks Tawny and Elaine! There's a lot of good info here, so read on through and feel free to comment and ask more questions, as Elaine will stop by today to check in and chat with us. You can check out Elaine's webpage here***

What made you choose to become a literary agent, and why romance?
The true story is that I became a literary agent because I was bored with being a lawyer. I’d had a brief encounter with working as an agent when I first went into private practice. Not a good experience and it soured me for years. But after 15 or so years of practicing law and working with writers, much of it along side of agents, I finally decided that it wasn’t such a large leap for me and that it might bring a sense of renewed energy and creativity into my work world. I was right. I chose romance because romance and women’s fiction were something that I’d always loved to read. Also, at the moment I was making this decision, the agency I was managing had just lost an agent (Jenny Bent) to New York. She has been representing romance and no one else really wanted to pick up that area. It was ripe, therefore, for the taking. Also, I’d been outside counsel to the Washington Romance Writers for many years by that time and I had the support and encouragement of many of its members. Before I took on my first author, I spent a year studying the market, reading as much of the newly published material as I could, and starting to meet editors so I could educate myself on the market. I have never looked back. Even though I was just launching my new career in the fall of 2001 (not the most auspicious of times), I’ve never regretted my decision.

Would an American agent accept an Irish/English author?

Of course, if that author is a strong writer with compelling, marketable projects for the U.S. market. I have at least one author at the present time in Australia. Having said that that I would take on such representation, I will also say quickly thereafter that the tax reporting and withholding issues for non-U.S. residents can get to be quite burdensome for a small agency. But what agent is going to pass up a wonderful novel?

When you’re submitting to an agent what are they looking for? How much material?
I think it varies from agent to agent how much material he or she wants to see. For me, it takes a synopsis and the first three chapters before I begin to get a strong sense of the project and the author’s skills. I used to be more open in accepting submissions, but then the sheer number of them forced me to make certain changes. I now ask for an email query first. That allows me to easily knock out projects that are inappropriate for me. (It’s amazing how people just keep pitching non-fiction and children’s books despite the fact that my website and all other materials I have posted say I don’t represent those categories.) The query also allows me to see if the story is something that I find interesting and want to read more of. The query can also tell me a lot about the potential marketability of the story. So the query letter becomes a screening device to say “no” to those projects without having to have the author ship off all that paper to me and without having such large stacks sit around for months on my shelf. But for something that I like, it is only by seeing the author’s writing in the full manuscript that I can really evaluate its potential.
As for what I’m looking for – that’s harder to answer. All I can say is that I know it when I see it. I’m looking for compelling characters in an engaging story all written by a talented author with a fresh and unique voice that grabs me and keeps me entertained throughout the entire manuscript.

Does an agent read everything they receive?
When I first started, I did read everything, and was very proud of that fact. But I struggled with the reading for years, and my backlog grew larger and the response times grew embarrassingly longer. Finally, I had to face reality and accept the fact that I needed help. Remember that I also maintain a legal practice, so in theory, I have only half as much time to read anyway. So at the moment, I have in place a system of interns and an assistant who help out with the reading of submissions. I still handle all the queries. I try to read behind them on 90% or more of the submissions, but they do a first read and give me their comments. I check basically to see if I agree. Sometimes I don’t, and then I read the entire submission, but more often than not, I do agree with their evaluations. While I use interns to help with full manuscripts also, I read those myself as well. I think most agents have some level of assistance with the reading.

I hear it's an agent's market now, and I've been told that means that agents are looking for more authors who will move on to bestseller lists directly, rather than choosing authors who might need more career-building -- is this the case? If not, what does it mean for there to be an "agent's market" and how should authors approach agents in this time, when getting an agent seems much more difficult than it did a few years ago?
I’m not sure exactly what is meant by an “agent’s market.” I think agents have become more important because over the years fewer and fewer publishers (other than small independents) will accept unagented material. The publishers have, in effect, co-opted agents to become their readers. Also, at the same time, editors are looking more and more for perfectly polished manuscripts. It’s very rare today to find an editor who will really work with an author who has talent and a good idea to make their manuscript really sing. They expect it to be well on it’s way, if not there, when they buy it. So, I think all agents have been forced to take on more hands-on editorial work with their authors. I think of this as the trickle down theory to the new world of publishing. Of course, agents have to triage as well. Add to that the fact that there are more authors out there writing and all of them are competing for fewer published slots, you have a very competitive business.
While every agent would love to have a bestselling author, I think most agents realize that they don’t really happen overnight. (Stop and think about how many novels Dan Brown published before his name became a household world, or how many rejections John Grisham received before he even got started. Most overnight successes you hear about have really been struggling in the trenches for years.) So every agent I know is more than willing to find an author with talent and work with them to make things happen. In fact, I think for an agent the most creative rewarding part of the job is finding that unpublished author and helping him or her to get that first contract.

If an agent has rejected an author once, do you think it's okay for them to approach them again later with a different book?
I think unless the agent’s decision is clearly based on that particular novel or the agent asks to see more material from you, an author should not submit additional material to the same agent. For me it’s the author’s voice and style of story telling that either grabs me or it doesn’t. Those things are going to repeat from manuscript to manuscript, so if I’ve said “no” once, the odds are extremely likely that I’ll say “no” again. Why waste the time and energy?

Do you have any suggestions for cross-promoting an author who writes under more than one name and in difference genres?
I think you want to make sure you maximize your promotional energies and dollars by cross-promoting whenever possible. If you can co-ordinate release dates, do book signings where both books can be available. When you contact bookstores and booksellers about one title, don’t forget to mention the others. Get blurbs from authors who know you in that other genre. Use your website to make sure your readers know about all aspects of your writing.

When you take on a client and go out with their first submission (assuming they have more than one completed manuscript you like) and you don't make a sale with that book, does that make you reconsider working with that client. Or would you move on to the next book?
It’s always hard to give up on a project. Often, it’s really a situation of maybe putting it on the shelf for a while and trying again later. Sometimes editors will say it’s the writing, but more often it’s an issue of the marketplace. That particular kind of story isn’t selling well right now or sales are dropping off because of an over-saturated market. When a book doesn’t sell, I think it’s useful for both the agent and the author to try to assess what happened and why. It wouldn’t necessarily make me want to re-evaluate my choice of authors, but the experience should provide some good lessons for both of us to consider in selecting and marketing that second project.

A lot of people have the opinion that if you're planning on writing category romance only, there's no need for an agent. How do you feel about agenting category authors?
I personally would prefer to work with authors who, at least, have the goal of moving into a mainstream, single title market, but that’s just a personal preference of mine. As I said, I don’t have unlimited time to devote to my work as an agent, so I had to draw certain arbitrary lines as a means of self- and time-preservation. I made that choice for several reasons, among them the fact that it takes a lot of time and energy to keep up with all the changing category markets and guidelines. Also, there’s not much any agent can do when it comes to contract negotiations. Series contracts are deliberately kept uniform. But having said that, there are very good reasons for category authors to be represented. Among them are career planning, editorial advice, dealing with problems that arise – lines that end, editors who leave, etc., and simply knowing that you have an advocate when you need one. So I think each author should decide for him or herself whether they want to work with an agent. While it’s true that the wrong agent can be worse than no agent at all, I think each author who wants to be represented deserves to have good representation.

I'd like to know your opinion on new writers writing/targeting more than one genre. Is it better for new authors to focus on one genre until after they're published?
I think you have to start somewhere, and sometimes you have to experiment with different kinds of writing before your voice and where your best skills can be highlighted. But once you’ve started, it makes sense to establish yourself somewhere and build up a readership if you want to build your career. I know it’s fun (and sometimes essential to avoid burn-out) to write in more than one genre, but I would suggest that a brand new author not try to spread herself too thin. Write solid books in one genre, get noticed, start to build a base, and then introduce a second genre and hope your editor and readers understand and follow.

Do you see any change in the current trend toward hotter and hotter premises and story content?
Yes, the trend seems to be hotter and hotter. Maybe even moving into areas of sexual activity (threesomes, etc.) that are far from what some would consider the norm. Where’s the trend going to end? Who knows but I do think some of the fascination of erotica may already be starting to wane. It’s inevitable once the market gets saturated that sales start to decline and publishers start to look for that next new thing.

How do we make my book a best seller? If I'm going to have an agent work for me then I would want to know how they will go about promoting my book and making it sell.
This question raises an interesting issue about whether or not an agent should also act as a publicist. I know some of the larger agencies have publicists on staff who work with their author’s books to provide specialized promotional services above and beyond what the publishers are doing. For me, I have no real interest in becoming a publicist. Will I use my website to highlight my authors and their titles? Yes. Will I tell everyone I know, including my local bookstore owners, about my author’s latest releases? Yes. Will I actively sell foreign/movie or other retained rights? You bet. Will I offer suggestions on promotional ideas that the author can explore and implement? Will I recommend and help my authors to find publicists? All, yes. But I still believe that the best thing I can for my author is to find a great publisher for my author and her books, one who’s committed to making that author a best-seller, and then making sure the publisher lives up to all its commitments for printing, marketing, and selling each book. Creating a best-selling author, in my opinion, has to be a joint effort. Each party does its part and plays to its strengths. Today, the author has to do more than just write that great novel; they must get out there and promote it to the max as well. So must the publisher. And the agent is there as well helping to make things happen.