Our speaker at this month’s LWC event is the literary agent Juliet Pickering. We were delighted to catch up with her today for a quickfire set of Q and A:
1/Why did you become a literary agent?
Because I love being involved with a book at the very first stage of its journey to publication; and for the thrill of discovering something exciting that usually only the author and a couple of their friends have read.
2/What are you working on at the moment?
I’ve recently taken on two or three non-fiction writers, who are writing variously about food and relationships.
3/What book would you have liked to have represented?
This is tough. Thinking of recent reads, The Best of Everything by Rona Jaffe perhaps, because I could have taken the author for cocktails in New York and we could have decried the state of publishing (then and now!). And it is a fun, yet serious and still pertinent read.
4/What writer would you have round for tea?
Haruki Murakami.
5/What three things do you look for in a submission package?
Intelligence, clarity and focus.
6/What three top tips could you give to an unpublished author?
- Write the book you want to write and don’t fret too much about the market.
- Do your research before approaching agents.
- Know your own worth but be realistic.
7/What are you interested in representing?
Well-written fiction, narrative non-fiction.
Join us at our January LWC event with the agent Juliet Pickering on Tuesday January 24, full information here
Tickets are £15 in advance, £20 on the door.
Location: Clerkenwell House, close to Farrington Tube
Time: 7pm start, with the speaker kicking off at 7.15pm prompt.
Book your ticket now.