Prepare for Publishing with Insights from Literary Agent Lucinda Halpern

Literary agent Lucinda Halpern prepares us to navigate the industry and prepare for publishing. With her insights, we’ll position our project—and ourselves as authors—to pitch agents and get noticed. She reveals what literary agents are really looking for when it comes to platform and clears up the concern about how much or how little to share of your book’s ideas on social media. And if you’re wondering what to really focus on when crafting your book proposal, Lucinda’s got insider info to help you make decisions. After listening to (or reading) what she has to say, you’re going to feel more confident than ever as you prepare to pitch. Lucinda says publishers are looking for books with “perennial potential”: Publishers are trendcasters. They are futurists. They have to think about books from the perspective of what is going to sell when the book publishes in two years and then for five years after that, because they’re interested in books that backlist….So writers should be really savvy to what are the sort of trends that are happening in the media or on podcasts or Netflix series. She urges writers to network. See if you can discover the connection you have to someone in the industry. She says, “I always say get that six-degree-of-separation connection to an agent.” She continues, “There are so many blind submissions coming at [agents], better to have an ‘in’—a step up—if you can.” Writers in my platform membership often ask how much they can share about their book idea—how much they can write or teach the topics—without giving too much away, so I asked Lucinda her opinion. You might be surprised (and relieved) by her response: The rule of the day is the more free content, the better. And one of my authors, Paul Jarvis, had a really wonderful way of putting this: Teach everything you know…I believe in that so much. And editors believe in it, too. Because again, if they see that audience clamoring for your ideas…that’s a huge draw…It almost doesn’t matter that they’ve seen it before. It’s better they’ve seen it before. When we discussed platform for nonfiction authors, I asked her for that magic number of how many subscribers or followers publishers (and agents) are looking for. She gave us the number, but not before offering an important disclaimer: It differs for category and for the particular author that you are. So someone who’s a PhD or a doctor or finance professional or psychologist, there are a number of sort of more private industries where an editor is going to recognize your life has not been tweeting… Whereas if you’re a journalist, it’s going to be how many bylines have you accumulated and what sort of publications and what is your Twitter following? How many people actually know who you are? I just want you to know if you’re a business person and you’ve run this successful company, maybe again, you’re not so active on social media, but you have a YouTube channel that gets views and you also have a massive email list which publishers are more interested in than social media numbers. I’m just giving you a sense of the diversity in the nonfiction sphere alone that we’re evaluating platform on. There is no one number. I begged a little for the number. Thankfully, she told us. You want to know the number she’s looking for? Listen, watch, or read the transcript below. (That specific answer is around the 17:56 mark.) Lucinda Halpern is the President and Founder of Lucinda Literary, representing authors writing in the categories of business, health, lifestyle, popular science, narrative nonfiction, memoir, and upmarket fiction. She regularly shares publishing insights and motivation for writers here and hosts both live and online programs for aspiring authors here. Ready to get your book noticed? Get Lucinda’s essential guide for writers: The 6 Things Every Book Pitch Needs — click here to receive your guide: www.lucindaliterary.com/subscribe Get to know Lucinda and her literary agency: Website: www.lucindaliterary.com Twitter: @LucindaBlu and @LucindaLitNYC Facebook: @LucindaLiterary Instagram: @lucindaliterary LinkedIn: Lucinda Literary OR @LucindaHalpern Resources: Naming the World: And Other Exercises for the Creative Writer, by Bret Anthony Johnston (Amazon Affiliate link; Bookshop.org link) Bird by Bird, by Anne Lamott (Amazon Affiliate link; Bookshop.org link) How to Write Like Tolstoy: A Journey Into the Minds of Our Greatest Writers, by Richard Cohen (Amazon Affiliate link; Bookshop.org link) A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, by George Saunders (Amazon Affiliate link; Bookshop.org link) This is the Story of a Happy Marriage, by Ann Patchett (Amazon Affiliate link; Bookshop.org link) Decoding Greatness: Discover the Fast Track to Writing Success, my interview with Ron Friedman https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13Hr_Tzil-s&t=130s Rough Transcription: Prepare for Publishing with Insights from Literary Agent Lucinda Halpern Ann Kroeker Are you curious what literary agents are really looking for when it comes to platform, or are you sharing a little bit about some of your books big ideas on social media, and you’re a little worried that maybe you’re sharing too much and it might jeopardize the interest the agents have in your project? Are you wondering what to really focus on when crafting your book proposal? Well, I have literary agent Lucinda Halpern on the show today. And this conversation is packed with ideas for how to get your book noticed. I’m Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach, and on this show, I help writers improve their craft, pursue publishing and achieve their writing goals. Today, I have New-York-based literary agent Lucinda Halpern on the show. Lucinda Halpern is a literary lecturer and PR agent with over 15 years experience on both the corporate and agency sides of publishing. As owner of Manhattan based literary agency Lucinda Literary, her roster of authors includes: New York Times bestselling authors Susan Pierce Thompson, Chris Bailey, Kate Flanders, Paul Jarvis, the new work of Nicola Krause and Jake Wood. In a marketing and publicity capacity, Lucinda has worked with New York Times bestselling authors Stephen Dubner and Stephen Levitt of Freakonomics, Gretchen Rubin of The Happiness Project, Ben Mezrich of Bringing Down the House and Busting Vegas, and many more. Ann Kroeker (01:23) Let’s dive straight into this conversation with Lucinda, and I think you’re going to feel more confident than ever as you prepare to pitch Lucinda. Ann Kroeker (01:31) It’s great to have you on the show. Lucinda Halpern (01:32) Thank you so much. Wonderful to be here. Yeah. Ann Kroeker (01:34) I’m just really, really excited to introduce our listeners and let them have a glimpse of what it’s like to interact with an agent. So I’m going to give you a quick and easy question to start out with, just because I feel like, oh, surely you have a favorite what is your favorite book of writing that you recommend to your writers, those you represent or anybody you’re talking with? What’s your favorite writing book? Lucinda Halpern (01:57) Sure. So there’s a great book that is little known. It’s so hard to choose right there’s Bird by Bird. There is a book by Bret Anthony Johnston, who was formerly creative writing director at Harvard. I fell in love with his novel. He wrote a second book called Naming the World, which I love. Like the discipline of being a writer, you just have to sit every day. Butt in the chair. There’s a wonderful book I have on my bookshelf here called [How to Write] Like Tolstoy by Richard Cohen. He just has a wonderful sort of historical rendition of how all the great writers wrote. And recently I read Ann Patchett’s [This Is] The Story of a Happy Marriage, which is about her sort of memoir and also tips for writers. And I found that to be just incredible. So four books for you. Ann Kroeker (02:51) That’s awesome. I love it. People can expand their library of books on writing. That one about reading, writing like Tolstoy. Is that what you said? How to Write Like Tolstoy? I’m not familiar with that, but I’m thinking it could be a nice compliment to George Saunders book, A Swim in a Pond in the Rain. Are you familiar with that book? Lucinda Halpern (03:11) No, I haven’t read it. But this is a beautiful packaging that’s also rich. Ann Kroeker (03:16) It’s gorgeous. That’s a great idea to get people ready to write and coming at it from a lot of different angles. Thanks for your tips. Well, we have so many ...