John Berlyne Interviewed at NCWGF…


A couple of months ago, John Berlyne was interviewed at the National Creative Writing Graduate Fair. In the interview John talked about the importance of doing your research when looking for agents: he is ‘looking for professional people who are serious about what they want to do.’ Check out the clip, above.

The NCWGF is an annual event for aspiring writers, where they can ‘meet with literary agents, attend workshops and panel discussions run by publishing professionals, and meet like-minded writers from the North and beyond.’

JB Interviewed on “I Should Be Writing”…


When I was over in San Diego recently at the World Fantasy Convention, I got together with Mur Lafferty, author and the brains behind the I SHOULD BE WRITING podcast, a massively useful resource for aspiring authors and one that I am very happy to recommend and endorse.

The interview covers quite a lot of ground, including my thoughts on the current state of the market (especially here in the UK) and some advice on how to approach not just us here at Zeno, but any literary agent you might be hoping to interest. Enjoy!

[audio:http://traffic.libsyn.com/isbw/isbw_show223_111110.mp3]

The Biggest Mistakes Writers Make When Querying Literary Agents…


I came across this superb article this morning via my news feeds and thought it so ‘right-on-the-money’ that I’ve added it to our Resources page.

The Biggest Mistakes Writers Make When Querying Literary Agents

This is gold dust, folks! It’s almost impossible to overstate how important and relevant *every* *single* *thing*  mentioned in this article is to the process of querying an agent. READ IT!!!

Since we opened for submissions earlier this month, we’ve been swamped. Indeed if you’re waiting for a response, consider that reading each query takes time, as does responding to each and that we have plenty of things we need to do in our working day that are a higher priority than our submissions pile. This is a fact of life – deal with it!  Be patient. We’ll get back to you in due course.

World Horror and Wot I Did Learn at ‘PITCH BLACK’…


The dust is settling after what was a really quite wonderful World Horror Convention. The event was well attended (memberships were sold out weeks before) and more pointedly, it was well very attended by publishers and editors.

As well as the stalwart, energetic smaller presses, for example PS Publishing, Newcon Press, Telos, Nightjar Press, Pendragon, Atomic Fez and Ash-Tree Press amongst others who have, collectively, for many years been the only folks willing to push the horror genre, there were representatives from larger trade publishers such as Little, Brown (both Orbit and Piatkus had editorial staff present), Headline, Gollancz, Constable & Robinson, Solaris/Rebellion, Titan, Angry Robot, Quercus, and Bragelonne.

This turnout shows there’s a very real and very active interest from the trade in the horror and dark fiction fields and this is a most encouraging and tangible sign of horror’s resurgence as a going commercial concern. If this interest can translate into sales, there’s the best chance there’s been in a generation for new talent to come through.

There’s a flipside to this however that became apparent to me as I took part in the Pitch Black event on the Thursday afternoon. Set up as an opportunity for both the trading of rights and the chance for authors to pitch their work directly to agents and publishers, I likened the experience (on my side of the table at least) to being repeatedly hit in the face for five hours with a shit-covered shovel.

There is a reason for this admittedly harsh description (and it doesn’t apply to everyone I met by any means) and it comes down to simple basics. No matter how much agents and editors bang on (on panels at conventions, in interviews, in conversation or on their blogs) about the importance of doing so, many of the writers who material submit to us completely fail to consider their work within the context of the market.

Repeatedly throughout Pitch Black I asked ‘Who is the market for this novel? Who is the ideal reader? Whose readers are you looking to steal with this novel?‘ and repeatedly (and in one particular and spectacularly rude case where the person appeared incapable of grasping why the question was a fundamental one) these enquiries were met with blank looks and the scratching of heads.

Writing is by definition a solitary art – but you are not writing for yourself. Not ever. If you are then you will have a readership of one. And good luck with that.

Writing something publishable is a different kettle of fish. If you want a publisher to give you money for your work, you better be clued in to the kind of thing they publish. If your book is something entirely original, something that completely re-invents the wheel, something so new that it breaks the mould, then as an agent I can do absolutely nothing with it. If there is no market precedent then the likelihood that I can get a publisher to take a risk on your masterpiece – a masterpiece written by a complete unknown – is zero. Zilch. Nada.

Does this mean I’m looking for derivative, cloned material? Poor man’s copies of the best-sellers? Nope.

Think Dragons’ Den. Money paid to you by a publisher is an investment in your product and they expect to receive a return. It therefore needs to be something that people actually want. So, do your market research – otherwise everyone you approach will wisely say ‘I’m out’!

(Note the links I’ve provided above to the various publisher websites. That’s where your research begins – go check out what they’re up to!)

John Berlyne at the 2010 Writing Industries Conference…


John Berlyne will be attending this year’s Writing Industries Conference which takes place on Saturday 6th March 2010 at Loughborough University and is run by the University in association with Writing East Midlands.

The programe is varied and extensive and is designed to ‘bring together writers from across the East Midlands and beyond with professionals from the writing industries to share knowledge, develop skills and make new contacts. The conference is open to anyone with an interest in writing, from unpublished writers who want to learn more to bestselling novelists.’

One of a number of industry professionals in attendance, JB will be conducting a number of 1-2-1 sessions with writers, as well as participating in a panel entitled “Everything You Ever Wanted To Ask An Agent”!

Whilst you’re thinking up any number of fiendish questions, you can find out more about the conference at www.writingindustries.com

Top Ten Query Mistakes…


It’s entirely possible that we’ll be opening for submission at some point soon, so anyone considering sending stuff in to us should be sure to take careful note of our Submission Guidelines. We get so many queries – almost simultaneously – when we open the gates, that authors would be wise not to count themselves out by simple errors of formatting and suchlike.

I just recently came across this post – The Top 10 Query Mistakes – as posted on the blog of US agent Rachelle Gardner. Read and learn, people.

I’ve added Rachelle’s Web Site to our Resources page under the ‘Agents Who Blog’ heading. If anyone has a writer’s resource they feel should be on our resources page, so please le me know via the comments.