Gina Panettieri
Talcott Notch Literary
Founded in 2002, Talcott Notch Literary is a five-member, full-service literary agency representing the freshest voices in both adult and juvenile fiction and nonfiction.
DOSSIER: Since agents are often seen as gatekeepers into publishing, they often have a lot of sway on getting a writer discovered. We know you work hard so that your writers succeed, but where is the line for you in determining a writer’s potential and whether you feel it’s worth it to develop that person to a point where you both can find success with a submission? Writers want to know if you’re thinking only about that manuscript or if you’re looking at what the writer might be capable of down the road?
PANETTIERI: That’s a really great question. It’s a lot of work for everyone selling the first book. I don’t think many of us are thinking of it in terms of just that one book, and that’s true not only of the agents but of the publishers we’re pitching to. We’re hoping it is the start of a long relationship and many books to come!
The market is very competitive, though, and publishers will be the first to tell you how costly it is to break out a new author. So when we are considering a new book, we do have to keep commercial viability center in our vision. While we all hope and assume our authors will grow and develop over time and over successive books, we do need that first one to be spectacular. I need to feel that a book I’m thinking of taking out is hitting on all cylinders, and (at least here at TN), that we see the author is listening to our recommendations for revisions. I’ve seen writers who convinced me of their potential based on their ability to take my recommendations and not only execute on them well, but to really take the ball and run with it and understand how to apply my comments and suggestions in such a way that I can see they’re growing right in front of my eyes. Take from this how important it is not to rush your revisions, or just do the bare minimum in hopes to sign with an agent quickly. It’s far more about quality than speed. Ask questions. Can you see how the suggestion may impact other elements of the story? Revisions should feel seamless.
So, long story short, we’re looking at that book in front of us with an eye toward a career, but there’s no room in the current publishing environment to bring along writers in hopes they will grow into A list talent. Always, always bring your A game.
DOSSIER: What are some of the things you find writers worrying about that aren’t really a big deal? On the flip side, what do writers need to be aware of that can hurt them when it comes to finding representation or getting published?
PANETTIERI: I hear a lot of questions from fiction authors about whether they have sufficient social media platform. I have heard some agents have minimum levels of followers they want a writer to have before they’ll sign them. That’s not us at TN. In fact, most of the best writers I know have very modest social media followings. We care about the book you’re bringing us.
That doesn’t mean we don’t want you to engage with your readers, or that it isn’t wise to make strategic connections as you’re looking at a career as a writer. Join the right organizations, like ITW, MWA, etc, and meet your fellow writers. Get to know who the influential bloggers and reviewers are, and participate in the forums devoted to your genre. You’ll need that network when the time comes to ask for blurbs, guest blog spots and guerrilla ground force support for your launch. So if you’re stressing over reading someone claim you need 10,000 followers on X to sign an agent, tune that out. It’s always about quality engagement, not numbers.
I also think it’s a waste, if not counterproductive, to pay for reviews to send with your query. I know there are services that will provide a review for a fee (often several hundred dollars, I hear!), but I don’t put any stock in those.
In terms of things you can do that hurt your chances, I would suggest not giving the agent a deadline to reply by or you’ll self-publish the work. I don’t know who is giving this advice to writers, but it’s a terrible idea. Another bonehead bit of advice making the rounds is to lie about having an offer of representation to try to goad the agent with FOMO. You’ll miss out on great agents whose schedules might be too crammed at the moment to reply quickly, and we’re pretty astute at picking up on the lie. I’ve had more writers than I can count come back after I’ve told them I can’t reply to offer to ‘extend the deadline’ or tell me they don’t want to sign with the agent who offered and would really prefer to work with me (because there WAS no offer to start with). If you ruin the trust at this point, few agents will give you another shot.
Finally, never, never self-pub your book on Amazon to get feedback and try to prove its potential.
DOSSIER: Agents have different preferences when it comes to query letters e.g. citing comps or going over one page. There’s a ton of advice and guidelines out there, but what do you definitely want to see in that first paragraph? Is there at least one do or one don’t you have? Anything you’ve been dying to tell the writing community?
PANETTIERI: I want a killer logline in the opening paragraph. Capture the essence of your book in a way that stops my eye. And a killer logline doesn’t necessarily hinge on comping your book to the most successful novels of the moment. Bring me a vision. I want to think ‘whoa, that is SUCH a cool idea!’ You might be comparing to films or to television series instead of books, or you might use an event, social movement or iconic real-life person. This is your logline, not your comp titles, so you can stretch the boundaries.
I do prefer a query be a single page. We see a staggering number of queries so being able to read and decide quickly matters. Being able to distill your story, your logline, your comps and a bit of bio down into a single 250-300 words takes a lot of work, but it’s well worth the effort.
And I do want to see comps. I want to know that the author has done their research and knows their genre and their market. And again, the comps need not be the absolute biggest bestsellers as long as they’ve performed well and were well-reviewed. The comps need to make sense. A classic book is never your comp. You can use it in your logline, but it’s not a comp. A comp is used to help suggest the potential for the book in the current market, so comps need to be recent, no more than a couple of years old. And the last thing you want to do is pull up a comp that sounds EXACTLY LIKE YOUR BOOK. We want to see the appeal for readers who liked Book A to also enjoy your book, not feel it’s so similar, why bother reading it?
Take time to research the agent you are querying and why they’d be particularly interested in your book, and make that point. Read the agent’s website to know what they want to see in a query, whether it’s include a synopsis or ten pages, etc. Make a note on how soon you should follow up on your query. It’s okay to inquire about the status after the suggested period of time.
As far as ‘don’ts’ – Don’t mass email your query to ‘Dear Agent’. Don’t just send a link to your website instead of a query. Don’t include positive comments made by other agents and editors who had already passed on your book – you might be tempted to say Agent X told me my characters were memorable and my writing was riveting, but in the long run, you’re just admitting that you’ve been shopping the work for a while unsuccessfully.
DOSSIER: Anything you’ve been dying to tell the writing community?
PANETTIERI: I’m sure this one goes without saying, but don’t send out an AI-generated book. AI is not the get-rich-quick scheme it’s promoted on some social media that claims ‘write your book in an hour!’ Put in the work to write your book. AI, used unethically or unwisely, without boundaries and guidelines, poses a massive threat to writers and artists, to the sanctity of our intellectual property, our livelihoods and our creative legacy.
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