Sunday, November 2, 2008

Special Guest Blogger - Literary Agent

Today is the day I'm sure many have been looking forward to. I will not be having my normal blog lessons on today. Instead, I am very proud to be interviewing guest blogger, John Raab of the Cliffhanger Literary Agency! Please help me welcome him!

He is sharing some great information here. You are welcome to comment and ask questions of him here on my blog. He will respond to them here. So, without further ado, I now present Mr. John Raab of the Cliffhanger Literary Agency...

Q1. Can you give us a brief overview of who you are and why you became an agent?

I decided to become an agent because there are far to many stories that need to be seen. I think the publishing companies need to expand their libraries to capture these authors. The Cliffhanger Literary Agency is determined to find these authors and give them a voice. We will work for the author and not the publisher to make sure great stories are seen by all.

Q2. What genre do you accept submissions for?

We are looking for Mystery, Thriller and Suspense. This is a broad range, but as long as the those three main components are included in the story, we are interested.

Q3. What are your requirements for a submission?

You can email or mail them. If you have a short story collection, send over your best 3 stories. If you have a novel, send over the first 3 chapters. You can also send a query letter letting us know what you are working on.

Q4. Will you look at someone who has been previously published? And does it matter who published them or in what fashion?

It does not matter if you have been published or not! Every author has been a non-published author at one time or another. As long as your story is well written and falls into the “Suspense” category, we want to see it.

Q5. Do you help promote the novel once it’s published?

One of the biggest problems after you are published is getting it marketed. Authors should not have this headache. It is tough enough to write a story; I know. I’ve tried and you shouldn’t be worried about marketing. We have avenues to market you to the public and will use those resources. Self-promoting is also another way to help, but shouldn’t be the only way.

Q6. Do you charge a fee for reading or any other fee?

There is NEVER a fee to read, NEVER! The only time there could be a fee is when your book is sold, any expense we used to make that happen, could be paid through your royalty check, but never out of your pocket! If an agent charges a reading fee, don’t send it to them!

Q7. Do you have editors of your own that will review a manuscript before it’s sent to a publisher, that is, if you represent the writer?

We have editors that will offer suggestions after we read and accept your work. We check for the normal spelling, grammar and punctuation errors; but will only suggest other ideas if needed. The better the manuscript looks to the publisher, the better chance to get published!

Q8. How can someone submit to you?

Like I mentioned before you can email us or mail to us. Our guidelines are on our website: www.cliffhangeragency.com.

Q9. Do they have to already be published in order for you to look at their work?

NO! Again like I stated before, every author was once a non-published author at one point.

Q10. Do you have a website that contains more information about the company?

Yes; www.cliffhangeragency.com should help you out with answering questions. If not, you can email us and will receive an answer within 24 hours. We feel that you shouldn’t have to wait for an answer to your question.

Q11. Do you have email that people can contact you at? Or would you prefer they go through a contact area on your website?

submissions@cliffhangeragency.com is the main email address.

Q12. Are you involved in anything in the writing world other than the Cliffhanger Literary Agency? If so, how can a writer get involved?

Funny you ask that question because yes, we are. We are a proud sponsor of Suspense Magazine.com. They promote our authors on their site, because they are dedicated, like us, to get great stories out there. You can visit their website at: www.suspensemagazine.com. They have many different things going on.

In closing, I would like to thank you for the opportunity to be interviewed. I hope this helps you out and helps out authors that are struggling. We are here for you and we want to hear from you!

6 comments:

Unknown said...

I'm very surprise that you bloggers have not checked this out!

Where are you all?

Starr

Anonymous said...

Starr,

It's important for authors to know, there won't always be nothing but "no" out there when it ocmes to your story. Writing is difficult at best, knowing we have someone out there who wants to be a help to us, makes the hard times a bit easier. Thank you for posting what we writers need in order to keep us going when times get hard.

Terri Ann Armstrong,
www.freewebs.com/tarmstrong

Pam Ripling said...

A big thanks to Mr. Raab from Cliffhanger. It's comforting to hear about how the agency works in such a personable manner. I plan to include him on my list of potential agents when the time comes.

Thanks, Starr, for all you do for your fellow authors!

~Anne
www.BeaconStreetBooks.com

Suspense said...

Please ask me any question. Remember an agent works for the writer, not the other way around! I'm here to help you out. Thanks.

John

Unknown said...

Terri,

Thank you for your comments. It is most helpful to know we have someone in our corner, so to speak, fighting for us. John Raab is that individual for me and I very much appreciate him.

Starr

Anne,

Thank you for your thanks to me. I only do what I do because of the passion of I have for the literature world and my fellow authors. We all need to stick together and if I can assist one person, I feel great!

Starr


John,

Thank you for you allowing me to interview you.

I am encouraging everyone to ask questions of him. He will answer your questions either privately, if you request or on this blog. Just blog your question!

Starr

DJ said...

I appreciate your effort, Starr. If only Cliffhanger represented screenwriters :)

Thank you, Mr. Raab for taking the time to be interviewed.

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