Archive for November 3rd, 2009
Stephen Barbara, Literary Agent at Foundry + Literary Media recently presented at Iowa’s SCBWI conference this last month, on October 24, 2009 to be exact. It was my first encounter with an agent and I sat on the edge of my seat. While I am not at the point where I am personally looking for an agent, it never hurts to be looking toward the future.
Stephen’s former work at Harper Collins and Donald Maass Literary Agency prepared him for his present position. He’s worked with such authors as Laura Amy Schilitz, Jack D. Ferraiolo and Todd Strasser.
When Stephen was asked what he was looking for from his potential clients, he replied,” Gorgeous line by line writing, lots of conflict, and the premise of lots of action are good starts.”
With 35 clients, Stephen told the viewers that he likes to find his clients early in their writing career and prefers to stick with that client. His goal or at least one of them is to help his clients build and establish a track record.
He stated he feels that a good agent should bring their clients deals and contacts that they would not be able to make on their own.
He assured the SCBWI members that while his 15% contingency fee is a motivator to see that his clients books are given the greatest chance at success,he added that he doesn’t accept a client if he doesn’t feel enthusiastic about their work.
To submit work:
Address your materials Stephen Barbara and include the following materials in your submission. For fiction, send a query, synopsis, the first three chapters and your author bio. For nonfiction, send a query, sample chapters, a table of contents and an author bio. Send your materials to: Foundry Literary + Media
Submissions, 33 West 17th Street, PH, New York, New York 10011.
Graphics by Alice Smith at clipart4resale.com
In my challenge to do PIBoldMo with Tara Lazar and others, here is my day three submission.
*Disc laimer: Stories based on the exact set of words, names and attached graphics are already in the work.
Inch by inch, Fiona crept forward toward Mama. Fiona gasp as Mama’s hair stood up on its end.
As Mama stopped, so did Fiona. She stood perfectly still like Mama had taught her. She sniffed the air.
“Mama. What is wrong?” asked the tiger cub.
“Fiona,” replied Mama in a whisper. “Get behind me. Danger is nearby. That is the smell of danger.”
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