What Elana Roth wants

In lieu of anything profound, I'm just going to put the call out today for a list of things I would like. A wish list, shall we say? Here goes.

1.Middle-grade novels. I have been reading a ton of awesome MG novels lately. When You Reach Me is perfect. I am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want to Be Your Class President (which I guess some people are calling YA, but the kid is in 7th grade, so dammit, I'm calling it MG) is cracking me up. So send me something with a strong hook and a great voice, and make it good. Think big.

2.Non-paranormal YA. I've had so many "I see ghosts" books cross my desk, that even if you are reinventing the hook, I can't see it anymore. I don't mind fantasy, or sci-fi elements, but bear in mind, I like my YA reality-based with a splash of those things. Go read CANDOR if you really want to get a sense of my taste. So give me a twisty YA, give me a voice I haven't heard before, a vision of the future I haven't seen yet, a POV that hasn't been touched on (I'm still waiting for the YA version of the movie SAVED! to cross my desk).

Her blog on the Caren Johnson Literary Agency site.

How to submit to Elana Roth

Elana tweeted this morning that she was receiving lots of queries without sample pages. In case that's people from our region doing that, here are the submission guidelines from the Caren Johnson Literary Agency blog.

It's smart to check submission guidelines--and recheck them--with each agent you query. There is no one-size-fits-all rule and agents create guidelines that make their jobs manageable. If you ignore the guidelines, you make their jobs harder and you make yourself look like someone who doesn't pay attention (or can't read). Not so much the impression you want to create, right? And here, people querying without sample pages are losing an opportunity to impress.

To submit to CJLA, send us a query letter describing your book and yourself. Make sure all query letters are in the body of the email and not attached to a short note indicating it as an attachment. You may include 3-5 sample pages from your manuscript or your overview/idea pages from your proposal directly in the body of your email following your query letter. Attachments will not be opened unless specifically requested. We only accept email queries; all snail mail queries will be discarded without being opened.

We do not accept re-submissions. In addition, we will only consider one manuscript at a time (no listing three or four manuscripts at a time that aren't part of a series), to one agent at a time. Simultaneous submissions to CJLA will be declined, and as we work together closely, a rejection from one agent is a rejection from the agency.

Our response time on queries is running 2-4 weeks, and on requested partials and manuscripts, you can expect to hear back from us in 4-8 weeks. If for some reason you haven’t heard back from us beyond that time frame, please feel free to follow-up by email.

Elana Roth's book recommendations

Caren Johnson Literary agent Elana Roth made good on her promise to recommend great craft books for us. Here are some of her favorites:

• Narrative Design by Madison Smartt Bell
• The Making of a Story: A Norton Guide to Creative Writing by Alice LaPlante
• Story by Robert McKee (this is a screenwriting one, but good)
• Plot and Structure, by James Scott Bell
• On Writing by Stephen King (he is just a must-read no matter what...I prefer his essays and non-fiction actually)

Both of Don Maass's books are worth picking up:

• Writing the Breakout Novel
• Building the Career Novelist

And Syd Fields' screenwriting DVD is a favorite of my client, Pam. (Martha's note: I think it's this one.)

Jolie's tweets from last night's meeting

The good news is, Jolie tweeted last night's meeting with Elana Roth, marking all her posts with the #Chinook hash tag.

The bad news is, that is also the hash tag that people use when discussing a certain type of military helicopter. Still, to get a quick recap of Elana's points about plot (and some German dude's link to a Chinook cargo copter image), read the tweets here.

Getting to Know Elana Roth (and David Patneaude)

Sept. 8 will be here before you know it (and it's a Tuesday, people. TUESDAY!). Prepare for the meeting by getting to know our special guest Elana Roth, an agent at the Caren Johnson Literary agency.

Elana has a big Internet presence:

Here's the Caren Johnson Literary Agency site and blog

On AgentQuery

And an interview on Alice's CWIM blog

Here's her own blog

And she's also on Twitter

Our very own David Patneaude is one of her clients. He gave us the inside scoop on what she's like, what she likes and what he's working on.

- What are you working on these days?

I'm working on several things. Among them are a YA mystery, a YA coming-of-age written in verse, some preliminary ideas for a speculative YA, a short sports story, a short SF novel that may get longer, and an early reader. Which one of these eventually gets most of my attention is up in the air right now, but because I've pretty much finished my work on EPITAPH ROAD, which is due out in March, I do have time to devote to the next project or projects.

- How did you and Elana Roth come to work together?
I was looking for a new agent, going through some possibilities online, and came across Elana while she was still at her former agency. According to her bio, she was looking for the exact kind of story that I had recently completed and was hoping to place. I sent it EPITAPH ROAD to her, and the rest is history.

- What’s your working relationship like? Does she give a lot of feedback? Encouragement? Or are you past such things?
I think we have a good working relationship. She's not afraid to give me her opinions, but she's not a micro-manager. She'll tell me what she thinks needs revising without telling me exactly how to make the change. And I have enough confidence in her opinion that I'll go ahead and revise without dragging my feet (much, anyway). I appreciate the fact that she's prompt and accessible. If I call or e-mail her, which I try not to overdo, she gets right back to me. She's also not timid about expressing her ideas to the publisher, and she's knowledgeable enough and respected enough that the publisher listens. She's a strong advocate for both me and my book.

My experience so far is that she gives the right amount of feedback--not a lot, but enough to be useful. Enough that I don't feel like I'm lacking guidance. Fortunately, she has given me encouragement, because there are times when every writer needs it.

- What sort of person is going to be a good potential client for her?
A good potential client would have to pay attention to Elana's likes and dislikes and have something that would fit solidly in the "likes" category. I'm speaking for her here, but she has a strong interest in big-picture, high-concept stories, and by that I mean stories in which something significant, something that goes beyond just the everyday personal kind of conflict, happens. And the writing has to stand on its own. If a writer has something on the quiet side, I would guess Elana wouldn't be a good match for that writer.

Be sure to check out Dave's site--you can see all his fantastic books there. Meanwhile, here's the cover for EPITAPH ROAD. March 2010 feels like an awfully long way away.

Getting to Know Elana Roth

Yesterday I wrote that James Rollins had given hopeful authors bad advice. (He said to ignore certain submission guidelines when pitching agents and editors.)

I said a better approach is to get to know the agents and editors who interest you. This is so you can see whether you're a good match. The Internet makes this easier than ever before, at least in some cases. If an agent or editor blogs, you can get a nice sense of that person's working style, point of view, and taste.

You don't want to start stalking the editors and agents who are out there, of course. You don't have to comment incessantly, memorize small details, and bring those up in person. That can seem a little like the Kathy Bates character in "Misery"..."I'm your number one fan...."

Rather, it's just one more bit of information you can use to build a solid, professional foundation. Ultimately, your writing or illustration will have to be the thing. But editors and agents are people first, so approaching them with interest, understanding and respect is essential.

Elana Roth will be visiting us at our monthly meeting in September. She blogs from time to time on her agency Web site. Here's what she has to say.