"Personal" question(s) to John Jarrold

[AphroditeMSC]

Originally Posted by John Jarrold

Yes, it's an extremely thin line. Laurell Hamilton really kick-startd this supernatural thriller area, and Orbit in the UK, for instance, now publsh a number of authors in that area, ranging from Hamilton to Jim Butcher, Tanya Huff, Barb & JC Hendee and a number of others. Some are nearer the romantic end of the spectrum, others more tough thrillers. To some degree it will depend on the specific publisher and editor to whom your work is being submitted. One senior editor in London told me her company wanted to see the romantic supernatural stuff, but not the more - as they saw it - male-oriented supernatural thrillers...

Interesting. I have almost finished a book in this genre. It needs to be edited and re-written in a couple of places. But I would be interested in submitting it to any agents/editors that may be on the look-out for that type of work.

[John Jarrold]

Check out the specialist agents - you're welcome to submit the first six chapters to me. Have a look at the home page of my agency website (JOHN JARROLD - LITERARY AGENT AND SCRIPT DOCTOR) for details.

[AphroditeMSC]

Thanks John. I would love to submit some of it to yourself. But I'd be terrified that you'd hate it because it still needs some over-hauling lol

I have emailed you the general outline of it. Let me know what you think.

[John Jarrold]

Will do, but please send the first six chapters too. Publishers and agents need to love the writing, the characters, the dialogue, the ideas and the plotlines before taking a new author forward!

JJ

[AphroditeMSC]

Well...happy reading! lol

[itsmelen]

John, thank you so much for taking time to answer questions about the industry. Your answers are insightful and frank.

I have a question for you: Is the decision to pick up a new book affected at all by the author? Once a publisher decides that a book may be worth the risk, do they meet with the author and ask questions, do they try to gauge the marketability of that author? Or is it more standard practice that an agent gives a book to a publisher, the publisher reads it, could be intrigued by it, but ultimately decides yay or nay without ever having met the author?

Thanks so much.

[John Jarrold]

Yes, it's the book that matters. 99 times out of 100, when someone picks up a book in a bookshop - unless it's by a famous writer - it's the genre that matters, not the author. I think I met new authors twice before making offers over fifteen years. Obviously when one takes on a writer who has already been published elsewhere, as an editor you know them...

[scalem X]

Mmm it does make me wonder. If it's the book that matters, how come usually agents charge like 5% to 10% extra for taking on authors from overseas. I can agree on that when the country lies far off, but consider me:
I can get to London in 1 hour and 40 minutes for £55. I can imagine that's about the same ratio to get to London, from say Glasgow (by train then). Or am I just mistaken and do agents really look upon each writer and his or her situation in particular to come up with a charge? Or is it just harder for an agent to present a novel that's written by a foreigner?

[Teresa Edgerton]

I think you're confused scalem (or you know something that I don't). In my experience, agents charge an extra percentage to sell foreign rights not foreign authors, and the reason is because they need to use a sub-agent who works in that country. Not surprisingly, the sub-agent wants a cut of the percentage, too. I'm not sure how they split up the money, but obviously there needs to be more of it, to make it worth either agent's time.

[scalem X]

Ah, maybe I am confused. Actually I'm not at all familiar with rights in different countries and such. I automatically assumed that they meant where one was based and charged extra because it would be harder to meet in person and would need either a contact or do things by mail/phone which makes it more time consuming and such... Anyway makes more sense now

If you see how many contests are exclusively for americans for example, one starts to wonder about things I guess lol.

Thanks for clarifying.

[Shell_Kracker]

Originally Posted by John Jarrold

It's something I say regularly to the new writers with whom I work editorially - know your market, know your genre. No one writes in a vacuum and you can't come in, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, assuming that what you are writing is brand new, if you don't know the genre well. That's naive, and naivety doesn't work in commercial publishing - or any other commercial enterprise.

I'd read SF and Fantasy avidly for over twenty years before I started publishing it, and attended SF conventions for fifteen years, where I'd met and spoken to authors, editors and agents. That experience was priceless...

The first published author that I ever talked to online had a massive outburst at me, for asking whether there was a market for the kind of fiction I wanted to write, and subsequently drove me off his message board with abuse, despite my politeness. I found it hypocritical that he despised commercialism, yet used commercial publishing. I understand why he was so venomous now (not that I forgive him, or agree).

Personally, I have always wanted to explore India as a setting for science fiction and fantasy. I guess this at least has novelty value to publishers in an age of Indian economic growth.

[Ian Whates]

Originally Posted by Shell_Kracker

Personally, I have always wanted to explore India as a setting for science fiction and fantasy. I guess this at least has novelty value to publishers in an age of Indian economic growth.

Yes, an area of rich potential, although you wouldn't be the first author to explore it. Jan Lars Jensen produced a dazzling novel set in India with Shiva 3000 (1999), Ian McDonald has written a series of excellent stories set in a wonderfully-realised future India, most notably the Hugo shortlisted novel River of Gods (2004), and there have undoubtedly been others, but it's an area that is certainly far from exhausted.

[John Jarrold]

Originally Posted by scalem X

Ah, maybe I am confused. Actually I'm not at all familiar with rights in different countries and such. I automatically assumed that they meant where one was based and charged extra because it would be harder to meet in person and would need either a contact or do things by mail/phone which makes it more time consuming and such... Anyway makes more sense now

If you see how many contests are exclusively for americans for example, one starts to wonder about things I guess lol.

Thanks for clarifying.

Teresa is dead right. Usually, an agent charges one rate for deals in their own country, or other deals they conclude themselves, and a higher rate overseas, where a sub-agent is usually involved...the author's nationality doesn't come into it.

[Teresa Edgerton]

Originally Posted by Ian Whates

Yes, an area of rich potential, although you wouldn't be the first author to explore it. Jan Lars Jensen produced a dazzling novel set in India with Shiva 3000 (1999), Ian McDonald has written a series of excellent stories set in a wonderfully-realised future India, most notably the Hugo shortlisted novel River of Gods (2004)

Also Liz Williams's excellent SF novel, Empire of Bones. Which shows some interest in that area on the part of publishers.

[John Jarrold]

Interesting to see Ian McDonald's new novel, too, BRASYL. We are looking at wider frontiers now, which has to be a Good Thing!