Zeno Literary Agency Ltd.

There are all sorts of exciting goings on around here at the moment… We’ve had the staggeringly wonderful news that Ben Aaronovitch‘s novel RIVERS OF LONDON (a.k.a. MIDNIGHT RIOT over in the US, where Del Rey have just published)  will appear at number eight in this week’s Sunday Times Bestseller list for hardcover fiction – a truly amazing achievement for Ben, who, we’re told, is the first début that Gollancz have ever had on this list. Extra big pats for our Ben!

No less vigorous pattage for Mister Ian McDonald, whose novel THE DERVISH HOUSE (also a Gollancz title – and Pyr in the States) has been nominated for the 2010 BSFA award for best novel. The shortlist is impressive, but Ian is widely regarded as a favourite. We’d be very surprised if this was only shortlist this wonderful novel makes this year. Also on the shortlist for the best short fiction is our own Aliette de Bodard, for her story The Shipmaker, which appeared in issue #231 of Interzone – congrats to both authors.

THE DERVISH HOUSE has also made this year’s LOCUS Recommended Reading List, which serves as a guide for the very best material our field has to offer. Here are the Zeno authors whose work has been listed…

Novels, Science Ficition – THE DERVISH HOUSE by Ian McDonald
Novels, Fantasy – THE DESERT SPEAR by Peter V Brett
Novels, Fantasy – HESPIRA by Matthew Hughes
First Novels – THE BOOKMAN by Lavie Tidhar
Collections – JOURNEYS by Ian MacLeod
Novellas – CLOUD PERMUTATIONS by Lavie Tidhar
Novellettes -BUTTERFLY AND THE BLIGHT AT THE HEART OF THE WORLD by Lavie Tidhar (Daily Science Fiction 9/3/10)
Short Stories – SECOND JOURNEY OF THE MAGUS by Ian R. MacLeod (Subterranean Winter ’10)
Short Stories – TONIGHT WE FLY by Ian McDonald (Masked)
Short Stories – THE NIGHT TRAIN by Lavie Tidhar (Strange Horizons 6/14/10)
Short Stories -THE SPONTANEOUS KNOTTING OF AN AGITATED STRING by Lavie Tidhar (Fantasy 5/17/10)

… a pretty good haul by anyone’s standards! More pats to all those who made the list, but particularly to Lavie Tidhar who scored a quite remarkable FIVE mentions!

… that’s CLOSED, folks, meaning don’t query us. After two months of being open, I promise you we’ve more than enough submissions to be sorted to keep us going. If you’ve not heard back yet, sit tight. We’ll get to you in due course.

Some observations arising from the recent open window…

• This web site is full of useful information that is there to help you in targeting your submissions correctly. Why is it that some folks can’t be bothered to read it? Those same folks expect us to read their work!
• There are no ‘Madams’ at this agency! Queries that open with ‘Dear Sir / Madam‘ are from people far too lazy to do their homework. We don’t want to work with lazy people. Our names are plastered all over this web site – how hard can it be to address your queries correctly?
• It rather helps to include the title of your novel when you query.
• It *really* helps to have finished your novel before you query. Did you ever pick up a book in a book store where the last 100 pages were blank? No? That’s because publishers like to publish *finished* novels. We’re not interested in your unfinished masterpiece and cannot sell your project on a promise that you might, one day, get off your backside and complete it.
• If you want to know how long your book should be, go to a book store, pick up a book that is in the same genre as yours and count the words on a complete line, then count the lines on the page. Multiply that number by the total page count and you’ve got a guide as to how many words a book should be. Do this with three different books and get an average figure. This will help those of you sending in novellas (where do you imagine we can sell your novella?) or novels of 46k, 55k, 60k, 214k etc. DO YOUR HOMEWORK.
• If we say we want ‘dystopian YA’ and ‘traditional fantasy’, these terms are not inter-changable with each other. Sending a pitch for a dystopian fantasy, thinking we won’t notice is just plain stooopid!
• If you send a hard copy submission in the mail, it will be filed under ‘B‘ (for ‘bin’)
• If you append your email with the first chapter of your book, it will sit in the trash forever unread.
• Having spent so many, many hours investing in your novel, crafting it and honing it, why would you only spend a few scant minutes in submitting it?

If you managed to avoid these obvious pitfalls, (so many don’t) pat yourself on the back. Thank you to everyone who approached us in a professional manner as per our guidelines. We appreciate your efforts and know that without writers we don’t have jobs.  We’re unlikely to opening again for some months now, but keep your eye on the site nonetheless.

Our man Ben Aaronvitch sees his brilliant new novel RIVERS OF LONDON published next month by Gollancz. It’s also being released by Del Rey in the US under the title MIDNIGHT RIOT. With  follow-up novel, MOON OVER SOHO, following in the spring and a third title WHISPERS UNDER GROUND soon to be delivered, January is thus the start of a very big year for Ben.

To celebrate the launch of Ben’s new series, he’ll be signing copies at London’s flagship Forbidden Planet store on January 15th, 2011 between 1pm and 2pm, so be sure to come along and grab a copy. Further details can be found here.

‘RIVERS OF LONDON manages to be fresh and original and a wonderful read. I loved it.’ — Charlaine Harris

‘A consummate story of real policing in a vividly real world intersecting the decidedly unreal to marvellous effect. Filled with detail and imagination, the quality of this achievement stands out, making Aaronovitch a name to watch.’ — Peter F. Hamilton

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.

We’ve opened for submissions and (presuming you don’t overwhelm us) our intention is to stay open to the end of the year. As ever, we’ve a wish list (see below) that you’d be wise to consider when sending your stuff in. If your project doesn’t fall into any of the categories below, do think twice before sending it in. Unless it is utterly, mind-bendingly brilliant, chances are it’ll get bumped down the reading list and it may be a long, long time before you hear from us.  If your material does fall in line with our current preferences, do please, please, PLEASE follow our submission guidelines – if you don’t, the likelihood of a rejection is virtually guaranteed! Here – very specifically – is what we’re currently looking for…

• Traditional Fantasy – in short we want to find the next Peter V. Brett. If you’ve read his work, you’ll know where in the field it lies and that in order to compete with this we’re only looking for work of the very highest standards of excellence. Additionally it means we want projects with a wide commercial appeal that we can sell into English and Non-English speaking territories – so don’t send us your six volume, 250k word fantasy epic, because it’s unlikely a French or German publisher will want to pay for it to be translated!  Peter’s work falls into a very specific fantasy niche, so please don’t send us urban fantasy or stuff with angels or vampires or zombies – that’s not what we’re after at the moment.

• Thrillers – Science Fictional elements are fine, but we don’t want hard SF books right now. Ideally real or near real world – if you’re familiar with 24, we’re after that kind of high-concept, seat-of-the-pants thing. A fast-moving, high-stakes, big-budget page turner. A ‘big’ book – not necessarily in word count, but maybe in body count!

• Any lady crime writers out there? We’d really like to hear from you!

• YA is a buoyant market at the moment – we’re looking for something that rings the ‘dystopian‘ bell. The nearest analogue might be THE HUNGER GAMES. We’re definitely looking for YA – SF, perhaps post-apocalyptic, but very definitely nail-bitingly exciting. A teenage, contemporary LORD OF THE FLIES would be nice.

• We’re also in the market of ‘quality’ non-fiction.. and I’ll leave that definition tantalisingly loose, though do please note the meaning of the word ‘quality’!

I’ll be doing six (six???, yes six!!!) panels at the Melbourne Worldcon. Do come along if you’re at the con, but please, only ask questions that I know the answers to!

Saturday, September 4th…

The Steampunk Playground – Saturday 1000 Room 213

If Tolkien defined epic fantasy, and Howard defined heroic fantasy, who defined steampunk? What are the seminal steampunk texts, if any, and how have they influenced the genre? How does a genre change without landmark texts to guide it?
Richard Harland, John Berlyne, Jay Lake

Pitching The Novel – Saturday 1200 Room 203
How does an aspiring writer go about pitching their first novel? Who do you approach, and how? Do you need an agent? How much should you submit? Do you need to write the whole book before approaching a publisher, or just the first few chapters – or nothing at all? A handy road-map to getting your novel in front of the right person, at the right time, and (most importantly)
the right way.
John Berlyne, Simon Spanton, Rowena Cory Daniells, Ginjer Buchanan

The Writer and the Audience: Online Interaction and Public Personae – Saturday 1500 Room 204
The Internet has brought with it a vast array of tools and opportunities for authors to promote their own work, and to interact directly with their readers. The question is: should they? Should ever author have a website, Twitter feed, Facebook account or Myspace? Should authors create and employ a brand? How should an author interact with his or her fans online? A look at the benefits, as well as where things can go horribly wrong.
Cory Doctorow, John Berlyne, Peter V. Brett, Mur Lafferty

Sunday, September 5th…

How to Review – Sunday 1300 Room 219
Reviewing a book seems easy enough from the outside – but what’s actually involved?  What responsibility does the reviewer have to his or her readers, the author of the book and its publisher? What should a reviewer aim to cover in a review, and how should one approach  a book if it’s particularly bad – or particularly good?
John Clute, John Berlyne, Crisetta MacLeod, Dirk Flinthart

The Secret Life of Literary Agents – Sunday 1500 Room 203
Every aspiring author is told he or she needs to find an agent – but how exactly do you do that? How do you approach an agent: what do you need to provide, should you telephone or e-mail? How do you know which agent is the right one for you? What is the benefit of having an agent? What should you expect from one? What will the agent expect from you in return? Is it possible to sustain a professional career without one? There are a lot of questions – we hope to provide some answers.
John Berlyne, Garth Nix, Ian Irvine

Taking it on the Chin: Authors and Reviews – Sunday 1700 Room 204
Sooner or later, every author is going to receive a bad review. Bad reviews hurt, and it’s often hard not to take them personally. How should authors react to negative reviews? How can  you tell the difference between a review that’s negative one that’s actually unfair – and what  can or should you do about it if it is?
John Berlyne, Jean Johnson, Karen Miller, John Scalzi

… as ARCs of Ben Aaronovitch’s novel arrive!

MIDNIGHT RIOT will be published by Del Rey in the US and in the UK by Gollancz under the title RIVERS OF LONDON. Both releases are scheduled for  late January 2011 and will be followed shortly thereafter by Book Two, MOON OVER SOHO.

Thanks to all the Worldcon attendees who sent their stuff in during the recent submissions window. There was an interesting mix of fantasy, SF and horror, along with a smattering of YA material thrown in for good measure and it was really great to get acquainted with all the current trends in the Aussie genre scene.

I’m really grateful to everyone who contacted us and will be happy to chat through my comments if you come and say “Hi” in Melbourne. Do note though, that we received lots of submissions and so don’t be insulted if I ask you to remind me which one was yours!

I don’t yet have a confirmed schedule of my programme commitments, but all being well they’ll be posted on here before I leave for Australia, so you’ll know where to find me at the con.

Zeno Agency is delighted to announce that we now represent multi-award winning fantasy author James P Blaylock worldwide.

Jim Blaylock’s credentials and achievements are almost too many to list! He is the author of nearly twenty published novels and numerous shorter works. His 1978 story ‘The Ape-Box Affair’ is acknowledged as the first Steampunk story and the many further adventures of his much loved character Langdon St. Ives, in both shorter and longer forms (notably in the Philip K. Dick Award winning novel HOMUNCULUS and LORD KELVIN’S MACHINE) have made him the central figure in the original Steampunk triptych alongside Tim Powers (also represented by Zeno in the UK) and K.W. Jeter. He continues to collaborate with Powers, maintaining a partnership that has lasted since the two met in college back in the mid-70s and one only occasionally hampered by the interference of William Ashbless.

Blaylock has received multiple nominations for the World Fantasy Award, winning it on two occasions – for short stories ‘Paper Dragons‘ and his collection ‘Thirteen Phantasms‘. Over the years his work has consistently ranked the highest positions in the annual LOCUS Magazine poll and his story ‘Unidentified Objects‘ was included in Prize Stories 1990, the O. Henry Awards.

‘I have admired Jim’s work for over two decades now,’ says Zeno agent John Berlyne, ‘In fact – gushing fanboy that I am – I realise I’ve read every word of  his published fiction! Aside from being, by a country mile, the best short fiction writer I’ve ever come across, he is, and remains, a truly original voice – unique in fact – and a hugely respected and cherished genre figure.’

James P. Blaylock lives in Orange, CA with his wife, Viki. He teaches creative writing at Chapman University where he is Assistant Professor of English. Read the rest of this entry »

… writing a a YA series!

(In the interests of transparency, I should add that we did actually know about this )

Are you going to be at the Melbourne Worldcon in September? Are you an unagented author based in either Australia or New Zealand who will be attending? Are you an unagented author from somewhere else, but somehow independently wealthy enough to be going to the con? In either case, are you any good??

It’s looking increasingly likely that I’ll be attending Aussiecon 4 later in the year – volcanic ash permitting! My intention, having schlepped all that way, is to return with the pick of genre talent in my agently pocket, thus we’ve decided to open for submissions, but only for authors who will be attending the con. (Don’t try and hoodwink me – as I’ll be checking the membership roster to see if you’re on it! If you’re not going to be at Worldcon, your submission will not be considered in this window.)

What am I looking for? Well, all areas of genre fiction basically. That means SF, Fantasy and Horror and the various combinations/permutations thereof. As always, the salient factor is that of the excellence of the writing and the commercial hook, rather than how many rockets or wizards or ghosts appear in the story, so look to our Submission Guidelines and the About Zeno page to gauge our tastes.

Come on Australia and NZ – let’s see what you’ve got!

Ian MacDonald’s superb short story collection CYBERABAD DAYS has won the judges ‘Special Citation’ at this years Philip K. Dick Awards, effectively placing it as runner up to the winning book, C. L. Anderson’s BITTER ANGEL (Bantam Spectra).

The prize is awarded annually for the most distinguished original science fiction paperback published for the first time during the previous year in the U.S.A and Ian was on hand to receive his citation, which was presented at Norwestcon 2010 in Seattle. (See here for Ian’s short blog post on the subject).

Ian previously won the award in 1992 for KING OF MORNING, QUEEN OF DAY and his novel SCISSORS CUT PAPER WRAPS STONE, was nominated in 1995.

CYBERABAD DAYS is published in the UK by Gollancz and in the US by Pyr. Congratulations to all involved.

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!)

… our Rights List!

At long last and in time for this year’s London Book Fair (and, it also occurs to me, in time for the Pitch Black event at the World Horror Convention next week), it’s taken a considerable time for us to collate and design our first comprehensive rights list, but here it is freshly minted and newly printed (by the excellent folks at price4print who offer amazing value for money!).

We’re already mailing out copies to our associate agents abroad and will, of course, have copies with us at the LBF. However I’m also intending to arrange a pdf version available for download from this site before too long, one that we can update accordingly as and when we need to.

If in the meantime you want a hard copy, please email me at the address in the header above.

Here’s a quick snap of John (Thomas Blackthorne) Meaney and Aliette De Bodard at the Forbidden Planet signing last Friday evening (12th Feb). Having signed lord knows how many copies, John is texting his physiotherapist to book a treatment for stressed autographing ligaments, whilst Aliette is in the midst of a video interview with Nick Butler (aka blogger extraordinaire, Loudmouthman).

Signed copies!! Grab them while you can. (And you can, whilst stocks last, by following this link for EDGE and this one for SERVANT OF THE UNDERWORLD).