My Thoughts on Go Set a Watchman

Everywhere I turn people are talking about Go Set a Watchman. And I don't blame them. This is probably one of the most exciting things to happen in publishing since Harry Potter. But unlike Harry Potter, I'm not sure I'm going to read this one.

To read this book I'd have to read To Kill a Mockingbird first. I've read it, and I've seen the movie, I believe as an assignment sometime back in my teen years. I have incredibly fond memories of the characters. They live on in my head in the same way an old friend lives on. I don't remember all the details, but I do remember them with a fondness that I hope never to lose.

It's because of those memories that I might never read Go Set a Watchman. I've been saddened by the controversy surrounding the book and even further saddened by some of the reviews I've read. Everyone is entitled to an opinion of course and I think many will find they need to read the book to see what people are talking about and, possibly, prove reviewers wrong. For me though, I'd like to hide my head in the sand on this one and remember Scout as she was in my childhood.

--jhf

What Jessica F Has Been Reading #MSWL

Summer is here and so is summer reading. I actually have a stack of books sitting here by my side. All great potential beach reads. Some are new, books I've begged editors for, and some are older books that I've pulled from my shelves. I'm embarrassed to admit that some are galleys for books that were published a few years ago.

I was just updating my Goodreads account and realized I hadn't updated the blog in a few books.

At #BEA I picked up The Killing Kind by Chris Holm. I devoured this book. This is exactly the kind of book I love and would love to see. How can you go wrong with a hit man who targets hit men? The way the story plays out is really the true magic though, the twists are perfect and the end leaves you satisfied, but still desperate for the next in the series, which is really disappointing since this book doesn't even officially publish until September. Put it on your pre-order list.

Two great things happened to me at #CCWC. I had a terrific conference experience and I was given a copy of Charlaine Harris's Midnight Crossroad, the first book in her new Midnight Texas series. Charlaine has such a great style, one that's truly all her own and I love the mix of the paranormal with a true mystery. This was a fun read and one I know Jessica Alvarez has been chomping at the bit to get her hands on so I'll be passing it along to her.

Now to go through my stack and decide what's next.

--jhf

The Summer Slowdown & A Submission Update

Summer is killer for me. It feels like I'm constantly running around trying to get things done, but never actually able to get things done. Vacations and the general "slow-down of summer" can be partially to blame for this. Naturally a lot of people vacation in the summer and because of that it always seems like it takes days instead of just a day or two to get the answers you want. 

In addition to summer vacations however, there are summer conferences. RWA and Thrillerfest are the two biggies that I'll be attending. I'm excited to go to both and will have a lot to celebrate at both, but there's also no doubt that they're exhausting and time consuming. 

The weirdest part of all of this is that because of all the running around I'll be doing this summer I'll be less likely to get to submissions in a timely manner however because of all the running around I'll also be getting a lot more submissions. 

If it weren't for a recent Kindle glitch, I'd be reading more submissions, but that's not helping things either. 

So, I'm caught up on all queries through the end of June. I'm caught up on all requested submissions through (gulp) the end of March. If you sent something that should have been answered by now please feel free to resend. If you sent material or a query in the time periods that I have not yet gotten to I thank you for your patience.

--jhf 

A Writer's Guide to Being Pitch Perfect

It's July and that means pitches. Lots and lots of pitches.

This month I'll be attending both Thrillerfest and RWA and I'll be taking appointed pitches at both as well as, I hope and assume, I'll be meeting authors throughout the conference who might want to pitch their work. 

There are a ton of great places to find tips on pitching, including this blog, instead I'm just going to talk generally about pitch appointments. 

First things first, I think there is far too much emphasis placed on the pitch. I've been told by conference organizers that I have to take five hours (8 hours sometimes) of pitches because that's all the authors want. If that's really the case that's a shame, but I don't believe it's true. I think pitch appointments make it easy for conference organizers to fill time and not have to juggle workshop schedules for agents and editors.

Pitch appointments will not get you published. They are no different from a query letter except they are in person and will probably stress you out a whole lot more. In fact, most standard pitch appointments won't do you any good at all unless you take control of the pitch.

Of course every agent feels differently about how those 10 minutes (3 minutes sometimes) should be used, but since this is my blog I'm going to tell you how I think it should be used.

I think pitches are an opportunity for you to get to meet agents personally and see if they might be the right person for your book. I know I've told this story before, but one of my best pitch appointments was with author Shelley Coriell. Shelley sat down not to pitch her book, but to meet me. She told me this right away. She explained her goals for her career, talked briefly about her book and handed me a recipe for one of her favorite desserts (Blackberry Cobbler). She told me that since her book wasn't ready she would simply query me when the time came. In the 10 minutes we had Shelley made herself memorable. We chatted about a few things, her career, publishing in general and my philosophy as an agent (she did ask me questions as well as told me about herself). There was no point in Shelley pitching because she knew she could query me when the time was right.

All that being said, let's find a way to make pitches more enjoyable for both of us.

Relax. Don't think of me as the interviewer, think of yourself as the interviewer.

Have your pitch ready, but don't think of it as the only thing you're going to do. Also come prepared with some questions. Ask about me, the agency, publishing, or ask me my opinion on something that came up in an earlier panel or a discussion with other agents.

Listen. I will listen to your pitch and then I'm going to critique it. If I'm not asking for material I'm going to ask you questions that address my concerns. It could be that the hook feels slight or the plot feels overly complicated. Don't try to argue with me about why I'm wrong or how that's in there. If you need to take the full 10 minutes to explain your story there's a problem with your story. Even if I am asking for material I might ask some questions. Don't just defend your book, think of my questions as something you can use to hone your pitch and your query.

Enjoy. Conferences are a great way to feel energized about what you're doing. Pat yourself on the back for going to a pitch appointment in the first place. It's not easy and it's one more step toward publication.

--jhf

Why You Don't Need to Worry About Protecting Your Idea

Last week I posted this Tweet:

BookEndsJessica #MSWL a book based on this crazy story: http://www.nj.com/union/index.ssf/2015/06/lawsuit_bring_me_young_blood_stalker_told_westfiel.html#incart_2box_nj-homepage-featured 6/19/15, 12:16 PM

If you haven't read the article you absolutely must. It's the creepiest thing I've heard in a long time. Since reading it I've thought and thought about what kind of book I'd like to see and then I thought about all of the different types of books that someone could create from this crazy story.

Which is why I think writers sometimes worry a little too much about protecting an idea. The idea in this case is a book based on this particular true story, but what any one writer does with that idea will likely be completely different from what another writer will create.

A YA author might create a story about a young girl who moves with her family into the house and is either possessed by a demon or lives in terror of what is in the walls. Maybe she has supernatural powers, maybe she doesn't.

A suspense or mystery author might create the story of a killer who used live in the house and buried bodies in the walls, or a killer who killed as a child and is now trying to get back in the house because he needs to be there to start killing again.

A romance writer might write the story of a woman who inherits the house and moves in only to be terrorized by these letters, stalked even, when the hero comes to investigate and saves the day, and they fall in love.

A SFF writer could write the story of an alien abduction that happened in or around the house...

Or, even if all of the writers who take my idea and run with it write in the same genre, the possibilities are endless. What's really going to be important isn't the idea (although that's a terrific first step), but the execution. How the idea or the story plays out, who the characters are and the author's voice.

--jhf

Why Jessica F Loves Instagram and Other Thoughts on Social Media

I've been known to tell writers that they don't have to involve themselves in social networking if they don't want to. It's a statement that makes agents cringe, editors blanche and writers cheer.

I've always been fairly active on Twitter. I Tweet in fits and starts as the mood takes me and Beth does a terrific job managing the BookEnds Facebook page. Recently though BookEnds has signed up on Instagram and I'm absolutely loving it. I love taking pictures and I think it might be the perfect place for someone who wants to be involved in social media, but doesn't want to do a whole ton of work. In other words, with Instagram you can post and go if you want.

As Jessica A said, it was a great time to launch our Instagram account. We had BEA and I traveled to California for a conference. I saw a lot of terrific Instragramable things and I posted them, all the other BookEnds agents have done the same. Instagram is fun for me. It allows me to explore another venue of creativity and its quick. A great photo and a few tags can be done in about five minutes. A lot quicker than a blog post.

I don't think any body or any author needs to have their hand in every bit of social media. There's just too much. If anything, find the one that best feeds your soul. What do you need as well as what can you give? Instagram gives me a fun break from words and allows me to paint pretty pictures in a different way.

--jhf

The Alienist: #MSWL by Jessica Faust

As a young editorial assistant I was lucky enough to get my hands on The Alienist by Caleb Carr. It was a book I never forgot and one that inspired the types of books I knew I wanted to buy. In fact, it was a book that inspired buying the first in the Gaslight Mystery series by Victoria Thompson.

This past year I’ve been keeping you updated on what I’ve been reading. It’s been a fun exercise for me and hopefully will give you some insights into the types of books I’m hot on lately. Unfortunately, knowing what book someone has read does not necessarily give you insights into why she read it or what she most loved about it. And that’s the type of information that can become crucial when considering whether an agent might be right for your work. The more you know, the more power you have.

When I think back to reading The Alienist, 20 years ago when it was first published, there are certain elements that really grabbed me. I loved the time period. I loved learning about and seeing New York at the turn of the century and I loved the atmosphere Carr had created.

Not only is New York a city rich in history, but it's a city I personally love and have always been fascinated by. Carr wrote a book that kept me riveted and gave me a history lesson all at the same time. He took a real-life city and made it as much a character of the book as the characters themselves. He also included real-life people into his fictional story, something I think makes historical fiction even stronger.

I'm a sucker for non-traditional characters and the alienist was a definitely that. I loved that he wasn’t law enforcement, but had a career that made him a natural for solving crimes. In many ways he was the first profiler (a career I’m fascinated by).

For me a strong female protagonist is almost a must. It’s not that I won’t enjoy or read books featuring great male characters, but I like a character that I can imagine being and its rare I can imagine being a man. In this case our female character wasn’t the alienist, but she was essential to everything that happened.

And, in my mind, the darker the killer the better. I have long had a fascination for serial killers (in real life and in fiction) and a historical serial killer thrilled me. I was scared, sat on the edge of my seat, and read the book as fast as I could.

I wrote this post without looking back on the book. The Alienist is a book that stuck with me and I wanted to write what I loved about the book by memory. These are the things that stick out to me even years later and things I'm looking for in new submissions.

The Alienist is definitely the type of book that's on my #MSWL list.

--jhf

A Writers' Guide to Dressing for Success by Diane Vallere

I'm guessing we've all heard the advice to start building your brand the second you decide you want to write for profit. Many of us started a website before we finished the first draft of our first draft. Our online presences are carefully constructed works of art: the photo we chose after bypassing thousands we didn't like, the bio that hints at our platform and our voice, and the blurbs that tease better than a high class call girl. But what happens when we have to turn on the lights and step in front of the very people we've been asking to leave the price of an ebook on our bedside table?

You already know not to write the boring parts of a story. Now it's time to apply the same thought process to your conference wardrobe. A conference lets you become a hyper-version of you. You are a walking representation of your brand. How you conduct yourself—and how you look—are important elements to your success. You want to get noticed, but not for the wrong reasons. Here are a few tips how:

Red light district or blue light special?  

Color can be your best friend. Are you promoting a book? If so, is there a predominant color palette to the cover? Consider your ARC or your personal copy to be an accessory to your outfit and dress to match it. If your book is purple, make purple your signature color for the conference. Maybe a purple dress on day one, purple scarf day two, purple shoes day three. People will notice you the first day. They'll come talk to you on day two and three.

Rely on the kindness of strangers. 

You might have the most awesome network of close, personal friends who want nothing more than to see you succeed, but they might not know how to tell you they always thought your obsession with beige was unhealthy. Shopping with a friend rarely works. Why not? You see each other the way you've always seen each other. While this is one of the most awesome things about friendship, it's not so good when it comes to trying something new. You might never try on the perfect dress because it looks like nothing on the hanger and your friend tells you not to try it. These are the kinds of things professionals are there for, and the best thing is that you get their advice for free.

Learn to trust pins and needles. 

If your clothes are too tight, too baggy, too short, or too long, people will notice. Check how your clothes look from the front and the back. If your skirt rides up in the back, it's not the right skirt for you. If your pants are so tight they're on the brink of bursting at the seams, consider how it would look if they did burst at the seams. In front of your dream agent. Right after you gave a fantastic pitch. Ask yourself what they'll remember: your pitch or your pooch? That's right. Most dry cleaners will do alterations for you for a low cost, and most can easily tell what needs to be done simply by seeing you in the clothes. Getting your clothes to fit right is well worth the money.

It's what's on the inside that counts.  

You probably know if you are a woman, you need a bra. But that's not the only undergarment you should think about. Panty lines and excessive jiggle are not good. There's a reason the inventor of Spanx is now on the Forbes Rich List. Her unmentionables make clothes look better on without forcing you to trade your diet of cupcakes for celery stalks.

Comfort is best left for ice cream and stuffed animals. 

There's not a person among us who isn't more comfortable in stretchy pants and a soft T-shirt, but going to a writer's convention is not about comfort. While I'm not suggesting you get yourself strapped into a corset for the event, I do think it's a good idea to think about structure. A blazer, twinset, or cardigan is going to look better than a sweatshirt with cats on the front, even if you write cat-fiction. You can change into your cat sweatshirt when it's time to retire to your room. Unless you have a roommate.

Don't mistake "appropriate" for "boring" 

I convinced you to leave your cat sweatshirt in a drawer at home, but that doesn't mean you should abandon your sense of whimsy in the drawer with it. Me? I’m all about whimsy. Find what represents YOU and make it part of your conference look. Maybe you love chandelier earrings. Maybe you love shoes. Make that one category your signature for the conference. "Great earrings!" you'll hear on day one. "Another pair of great earrings!" you might hear on day two. And guess what people will be thinking about on day three? "I wonder what kind of earrings she'll have on today?"

When the opportunity for marketing through social media exploded, the first thing we all learned (either through the grapevine or by experience) was to NOT talk about our books. Twasn't easy, we found, but nothing good in life really is. We had to figure out how to make people notice us and like us for who we were and what we represented, so when they picked up our works, they’d find an extension of our online persona. Our  conference clothing can do the same thing for us. The goal? To look interesting enough that people want to know more about what we write. Don't let poor clothing choices take away from your empire. Pimp your style and let your wardrobe work for you.

After two decades working for a top luxury retailer, Diane Vallere traded fashion accessories for accessories to murder. SUEDE TO REST, the first book in the bestselling Material Witness Cozy Mystery Series, was a Lefty/ Best Humorous Mystery nominee. CRUSHED VELVET, book two, comes out August 4. Diane is the current president of Sisters in Crime Los Angeles, and co-chair of the 2015 California Crime Writers Conference. She also writes the Mad for Mod Mysteries and the Style & Error Mystery Series. Diane started her own detective agency at age ten and has maintained a passion for shoes, clues, and clothes ever since.

Facebook: DianeVallereAuthor

Twitter: @dianevallere

Pinterest: DianeVallere

Recent Reads

I've been getting a lot of reading in lately which I love. I've also been determined to stop buying new things, including books, until I use and read what I have. Which means I'm finally working through the piles of books I've been wanting to get to (some for years).

On my train ride to Malice Domestic I finally picked up Girl on a Train by Paula Hawkins. Weirdly I didn't realize what I'd done until I was about to board the train.  I've read some mixed reviews about this book, but I really liked it. Of course I really like psychological suspense. I thought the main character was intriguing and the concept was brilliant. Who doesn't ride a train and wonder about the lives beyond the windows? I definitely thought this book was worthy of the hype.

On my way home from Malice Domestic I started The Anatomist's Wife (A Lady Darby Mystery) by Anna Lee Huber. I'm embarrassed by how long this has been sitting on my shelf. Obviously I'm not finished with this yet, but so far I'm really enjoying it. I love historical mysteries with a female protagonist in an untraditional role. If all goes well I suspect I'll be looking for more in this series.

And the Malice Domestic conference? It was great fun as always. There is nothing I love more than the opportunity to sit down and talk with my clients in person. I've returned home with a list of goals and tasks I need to accomplish. So I guess it's time to put the pleasure reading down and get to work.

--jhf

I Might Be Getting Soft in My Old Age

I've been thinking about writing this post for a few weeks and was finally pushed into it when this comment was left on a six-year-old blog post:

Gourgandise said...

I understand that agents are swamped by queries but really, if I knew that my future agent was getting annoyed by tiny little things like an e-mail attachment or the "it's not addressed to me personally", sorry but red flag, this agent 1)has an ego that I won't be able to deal with 2) sounds rather lazy and opted for comfort a long time ago. So I'll be glad to be sent to the recycling bin actually, nobody will have wasted the time of the other. If I have to go on a business adventure with somebody I might as well pick a lovely person. I'm sorry, you might be lovely in real life, but you sure don't sound like it in this post. (Before somebody says anything, English is not my first language and I don't write in English. I was just passing by, checking what happens on the other side of the fence.)

The power of the blog. Where a post never goes away and you'll be skewered for something you wrote when you were, frankly, a different person.

This particular comment was left on the post I Stop Reading When.

As I'm reading queries these days I'm sort of amazed at how much I'll forgive. Am I getting soft? Am I getting old? or do I just care less about the minute details of life? I'm not sure there's a precise answer, but I am sure that I've become far more forgiving when it comes to queries.

These days I reply to almost everything. I reply to queries that you send to the wrong address, I reply to queries that are addressed to me, Kim, Jessica, Beth and every other agent and even their mothers. I reply when there are clear typos and I even reply when it's not really a query at all, but something that simply says, "read my book." I've established a system that makes it a lot easier for me to reply to all of these things and sometimes it's just as easy to hit delete.

Of course, just because I'm getting soft doesn't mean everyone else (or anyone else) is. I'm pretty sure The Shark will never soften on us and that's ok, a good thing even. We all need to be held to higher standards and pushed to be the best we can be. Query and submission guidelines should be part of that push.

You should also know that while I'm getting soft and answering all of you rule breakers, it doesn't mean you're getting the answer you want. Most of them are rejections.

--jhf

Celebrating Jenn McKinlay & Sofie Kelly

It's Friday and we're ending the week by celebrating two hardworking and well-deserving authors.

Congratulations Jenn McKinlay and Sofie Kelly for their appearance on this week's New York Times  bestseller list!

Sk Öl

--jhf

Reading for Pleasure

I hate that term. It implies that the reading I do for work, reading my client's work, is not pleasurable, which is not the case. If reading my client's work wasn't pleasurable they never would have become my clients in the first place. That being said, Reading for Pleasure, is what I do when I don't have to think about the book at all. I'm never going to have to edit it, think about what an editor might say, or worry about reviewers. I can just mindlessly read.

Having just returned from Spring Break, I was thrilled at how much Pleasure Reading I got in. I mean thrilled. I'm constantly asked if I still enjoy reading for pleasure and the answer is always a resounding yes. It's so rare I have the time to just sit and read that I appreciate every moment I get when I get it.

During this trip I read 4.5 books (my iPad died during the 5th so I'm working to get that one finished too). 

Here's a taste of my Spring Break, in the order it all happened.

A Necessary End by Holly Brown

This book isn't yet published and was passed on by a colleague. I was surprised and thrilled that she thought of me and couldn't wait to get to it. It's always fun when someone just sends you something because they think you'll enjoy it. I think fans of Gone Girl will really like this psychological suspense.

The Final Silence by Stuart Neville

This is a book I picked up at BEA last year. Yes, I'm very slow to get to my books. This is a suspense set in Ireland with all the elements I love in a good mystery/suspense, a dark and damaged hero/cop protagonist, a grizzly murder and strong female characters. I've never read Stuart Neville before, but I would again.

Black Ice by Becca Fitzgerald

Another book I first discovered at BEA, but since I didn't get the galley for it I bought it for my Nook. This one is YA, but a mystery/suspense YA. It had a great plot: Girl lost in the wilderness with murderer/kidnapper. Who wouldn't love that kind of story?

The Infinite Sea (Fifth Wave #2) by Rick Yancey

The Fifth Wave was a huge hit in our office. I think we all read it in a day and couldn't wait for #2. As far as I was concerned Rick Yancey delivered again. My only suggestion is that if you haven't yet started this series wait until they are all out. I found this book difficult to follow since I waited a year between books.

Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight

A great recommendation from Shelley Coriell. I'm not sure if this is officially categorized as YA or adult, but I think it could go either way. This is the book I haven't yet finished, but am planning to do so asap. I'm really enjoying it. It's the kind of book that keeps you on the edge of the seat.

It's rare that I'm ever going to be able to share a list this big again, but I will try to keep you updated on my reading more frequently.

--jhf

Reading Edits without Making it Personal

Looking back on my younger self I would say one of my most cringe-worthy character flaws was my struggle inability to admit I was wrong. I'd like to think this isn't uncommon in the young, that part of growing up is learning that its okay to be wrong, but I also suspect I had a pretty bad case of "the rights."

I find sometimes that the biggest struggle authors (some not all) have with revisions isn't that they necessarily disagree with the editor, but that revisions somehow make them feel like they were wrong or somehow failed.

There's never an easy answer to how to handle feelings or insecurities. Let's face it, when you're feeling anxious someone telling you to not worry makes you want to beat her, it doesn't make you calmer.

My best advice in a situation like this is always to try to step back and evaluate what you're feeling and why you're resistant to something. It's also to remember what I'm telling you. Revisions are never, ever, ever about you. No editor, or agent, reads revisions and thinks of the author. What they think about is the book, the characters and the market.

When editing I'm usually so wrapped up in the book and what can be done to take it from shiny to glowing that I rarely think of the author's feelings (still a character flaw of mine). I just want to make this the absolute best book I've ever read and it is my job to help you make that happen. Key word, "help."

--jhf

The Rise and Fall of a Partnership

In my post about Co-Authoring Agreements I had briefly mentioned that when starting BookEnds, Jacky Sach and I had a business plan and a Partnership Agreement. One reader asked the following question:

If it's not too personal/painful I think it would be fascinating to read a blogpost about how Bookends was founded and eventually your original partnership dissolved. I think that's a behind-the-scenes story I've never heard an agent tell before. 

It's not too personal or painful at all and I have written about it in various stages before. In fact, I thought I did an entire blog post when Jacky left, but upon searching maybe I didn't.

Jacky and I met and became friends while working at Berkley Publishing and stayed friends after I left Berkley to pursue a new opportunity at Macmillan, working on The Complete Idiot's Guide series.

At first I loved the freedom I had at Macmillan to come up with new book ideas, search out the perfect authors and execute the project. After awhile however, the job started to feel repetitious and there were a lot of changes happening at Macmillan (sales to other companies, etc) that made me think I wanted something different. For whatever reason, on a subway ride back home, I came up with the idea that I wanted to start my own business, that I could do exactly what I was doing for Macmillan, but on my own. I asked Jacky to join me and she was intrigued. So the two of us jumped in, probably rather impulsively.

BookEnds was officially formed in 1999 (just a few months after that subway ride). We sought business advice from other agents and from various free business advice groups. Originally we started as packagers. Our idea was to create the projects in house and find authors to write the books. We enjoyed what we were doing, but struggled to really find our place or establish our vision. Ultimately, I think that while we knew what we wanted to do, we chose a path we weren't entirely comfortable with. So after a couple of years, and lots of soul-searching, we switched our business model from packaging to a literary agency. And for 10 years we did some truly amazing things together.

Jacky and I worked extremely well together. We were the perfect yin and yang. I'm not saying we never disagreed, because we definitely disagreed and we got mad at each other and we, sort of, argued, but at the base of everything we had built we were friends and it was really important for us to maintain that friendship.

In 2009 Jacky started to pursue some other interests. She went back to school and made the decision that it was time for her to leave BookEnds and do something different. It was sad, but I knew it was the right thing for her and, in some ways, the right thing for me. I had some ideas about growing BookEnds that didn't necessarily align with her vision so it was time for me to stand alone, or with a different team.

After agreeing to and signing all the final paperwork that goes with buying out a business partner, Jacky and I went our separate ways, in business, but not in life. We still remain very good friends, talk regularly, meet for lunch and keep each other updated on our lives.

I couldn't have started BookEnds without Jacky and I wouldn't have wanted to. I think we taught each other a lot about taking risks, slowing down, thinking things through, facing our fears and following our dreams.

--jhf

Kris Fletcher's Cozy Reading Corner

April Fools!!!!

Then again, maybe not.

--Kris Fletcher

http://krisfletcher.com/
https://twitter.com/krisfletcher
https://www.facebook.com/KrisFletcherWrites

Titles: 
Dating a Single Dad - available now
Call of the Wilder - available now
A Family Come True - coming in June

An Interview with Jessica Faust

I do a lot of interviews, many with a lot of the same questions. Every once in a while one stands out as just a little different with questions that will give the reader, hopefully, something she hasn't heard a million times before.

Anna Katmore held just that kind of interview with me and for a long time I was saving the interview on my desktop to parse bits and pieces out for you or use it as inspiration for blog posts. After almost a year (how the heck did that happen!) I decided that the best course of action would just be to share the interview and let you read it all for yourself. 

Enjoy!

An Interview with Jessica Faust

--jhf

JF Wishlist Updates

I posted on Twitter the need for blog ideas. It seems I've run out already.

KKMHOO @BookEndsJessica Hmmmmmm.... any changes to your/your colleagues' wishlists? 2/11/15, 9:44 AM

This is actually a great question only because these things change all the time. An agent can talk to an editor or read a great new book and get excited about something new.

While I'm always looking for the standards: Cozy mysteries, mysteries, suspense, romance, women's fiction and YA, there are those submissions I will drop everything for.

Suspense--a great dark suspense stand alone or series with, preferably, a female protagonist, romantic suspense and definitely YA suspense. Give it to me dark, make it gritty, and I require that it leaves me in a panic about what's around the corner.

Women's fiction with magical realism ala Sarah Addison Allen.

Contemporary YA with dark secrets and big story lines.

An entire week where nothing happens so that I can catch up on all the reading I want to do and need to do. If that week happens to be at the beach with margaritas at the ready even better.

A new talented agent knocking at my door. I'm looking to grow our BookEnds team and I really only have a few requirements: Smart, fun and someone we'd all like to have a drink with. Oh, and you'll need some experience as either an agent or an editor. Your areas of expertise can be just about any genre. http://www.bookends-inc.com/employment.html

This new standing desk from Ikea

Richard Blais or either Voltaggio as a private chef.

I'll keep my fingers crossed.

--jhf