[Blog] What I Learned from My Meeting with a Literary Agent
Apr 14, 2023
By: Melissa Parks
Before lockdown in March 2020, an HGTV producer (the team behind The Property Brothers) wanted to talk with me about developing a TV show around flea market decorating.
I’m not sure how they found me. Probably through some hashtags I used on Instagram under my account Megillicutti. (I guess those things work.)
The morning of, I slipped into my Millennial pink denim jumpsuit, curled my hair, and even brushed on some uncharacteristically magenta lipstick. I had already pitched them through email on my show idea. I thought I was ready.
The Skype-meeting lasted all of 15 minutes. Actually probably only 12. They asked me to tell my story and talk about my design experience.
But, really, the meeting was to see if I had the “it” factor. Based on the brevity of the meeting, my “it” wasn’t there. They knew what they wanted. And I didn’t have it.
That experience bullied me a couple weeks ago, when three years later, a NYC literary agent wanted to meet with me about writing a book.
Would she also not check the “it factor” box?
Why You? Why Now?
I coach people on meeting with literary agents. I’d be two-faced to not “do as I say.”
First, I snooped around the agent’s bio page and figured out what types of books she reps. Then, I spent several days before the meeting thinking about how I would answer, “Why does the world need this book now?” And the corollary: “Why me?”
Over walks and dinner, I practiced my pitch. It wasn’t perfect, but I had my talking points.
Because I had some intel that this agent was brusque, I had a hunch I’d likely have less than 15 minutes to pitch her.
She started with cocktail-hour type questions: “Tell me about your background. Tell me about how you spend your day. Tell me what ‘your fans’ want from you.”
Then the question I had been preparing for: “Tell me about your book idea.”
She sat back, crossed her arms, and pushed up her thick black-framed glasses, which had slid down her nose.
I proceeded to pitch her on a topic that already has been written on, by some of the biggest and best in the interiors space. I even showed her a book I envisioned mine looking like.
After about 15 minutes, she slowly inhaled. And as she exhaled, she said, “Okay, here’s what I want you to know…”
Does she think I have the “it”?
Your Book Is One of Four Things
The agent said, “Melissa, I want you to write this down. Your book can only be one of four things”
- It can be the first on the topic (I’m not the first to write on this topic)
- It can be the best (I’m not Martha Stewart)
- It can be the biggest (I only have 32k followers)
- It can be the only.
“I think you fall in the ‘only’ category.”
If you’re in the “only” category, then the burden is on you to write in such a compelling and nuanced way that you’ll be able to sell your book despite not being famous or followed by the gazillions.
She had looked at my IG page. Visited my blog. Read my writing.
And she had listened to my pitch.
She knew what I wanted to say about the topic I was writing about (my thesis) only I could write on.
Maybe I do have the “it.”
What Is Your “It”?
Now I ask you, “What is your ‘it’?”
You must be able to ask and answer that question if you’re an author aspiring to get published.
Dave and I often say there’s no new idea.
But there is only you and your unique take on that idea.
That is your “it factor.” You have it. You just have to work to find it. And then deliver it.
