this month's interview is nina she is a junior literary agent at high
spot literary agency i hope you find it useful and enjoy
hi i'm nina leon i'm a junior agent with high spot literary
my primary role as a literary agent is to build and maintain my list of clients so
my day-to-day tasks really do vary which keeps things very exciting
so i could be going through queries which is where i assess manuscripts that have been submitted to
me and see if i want to offer representation i could be having zoom meetings with current
existing clients maybe we're doing a bit of editorial so we're doing
developmental editing or line editing so that involves a lot of correspondence
i could be building a submission list which is a list of editors that i feel would be
appropriate for a specific project that i'm going out in submission with so that's very exciting
that i have so many different facets of my job and it definitely keeps things really interesting
so i come from a writing background i started writing books when i was around 12 years old
i wanted to be a published author i thought that was the path i was going to take in life
when i was slightly older i submitted a manuscript to an agent and all of a sudden i started to
feel the sense of curiosity about what was on the other side of this door that i was knocking on i
realized that i wanted to work on the publishing side of the industry i read an honors degree in
publishing which is a very focused highly specialized degree after my degree i read
for pam mcmillan south africa which is where you assess manuscripts for the editorial team
from there i was unbelievably lucky to land an internship at the irene goodman literary agency
i had whitney ross as my mentor to whom i owe the greatest deal of thanks because she
told me everything i know about being an agent learned so much during that internship i had
essentially just started my career and i was catapulted to the very top of the industry
and it was just such a privilege to see all these senior agents do what they do and do
it so incredibly after igla i joined high spot literary as a intern again but very quickly within
two weeks in fact i was offered the position of junior agent and i have been an agent since
my favorite memory of working in the publishing industry is 100
when i signed my first client that was a real
milestone for me and just the most exciting thing in the world i felt so privileged and so grateful
that my client was willing to trust me with their stories and trust me with their career
my favorite part of my job is absolutely signing clients and working with my clients
i am so privileged that i get to work with such exceptionally talented writers writers who i just
feel were born to tell their stories it really is such a privilege to see them work and to get to
know them and have relationships with them it's the most rewarding and exciting part of my job
the most interesting thing about my agency is that it is based in new zealand
but i'm based in south africa so i've never actually met my colleagues but
we have zooms all the time just to check in and make sure everyone is supported and happy
so i definitely think that it's quite modern that you've never really met your colleagues
one thing i've learned about the publishing industry is the responsibility that gatekeepers
such as agents and editors have when it comes to representation and inclusivity
within the publishing industry we have a duty and a responsibility to amplify marginalized voices
we have a role to play in allowing authors to share their voice and contribute their
stories to a space that has historically lacked representation that has been such an incredible
part of my job and it's something that i feel is a real privilege to me and to anyone who
has the opportunity to give others the chance to share their stories and share their voice
so i have four primary types of meetings the first meeting in terms of sequence is a potential client
meeting so this is where i've gone through a writer's query and i've connected with their
manuscripts and their characters and their story and the world building that they've created i have
identified the market potential for this project so on that call i would get to know the person
see if our vision for their career aligns see if we connect and the second type of meeting
that i have is with my existing clients so that could be an editorial meeting if we're
working through a manuscript together and we're doing maybe line edits or developmental edits
it's sometimes really useful to spend a couple of hours just you know face to face even if it's
on a screen just chatting through a manuscript rather than back and forth emails the third type
of meeting that i have is with my colleagues we have zoom meetings because my agency is located in
new zealand but i am based in south africa and the last type of meeting i have is with editors
so before covert agents and editors would you know go for coffee have a chat the editor would tell
the agent the type of manuscripts that they're wanting and the agent would tell the editor the
type of manuscripts that they have so you connect and hopefully get to work on a project together
part of my job really is about networking and it's really really important to develop and
maintain relationships with editors so that you can give them the project that they're looking for
so the skills you would need as a junior agent definitely being able to read fast that is
essential you're reading a lot of queries you're going through manuscripts that you've read before
and you have to reread and then you have to reread what you've just read you definitely want to have
a critical eye so it's important to connect with the manuscript but it's really important to be
able to identify strong character development strong world building if this project would sit
well in the greater publishing market because these are really sort of essential basically
business skills to have because as much as publishing has this romantic cited whereas stories
you have to be business-minded so you have to have the skill set to identify the business potential
within this manuscript because essentially it is a product that you do want to sell other skills
that are essential are strong editorial skills i'm a very editorial heavy agent i always want
to be able to bring out the best in a story and give an editor the best version of the manuscript
you also need to be very organized because you have multiple clients and you have multiple
manuscripts that you're doing sort of back and forth with you also are keeping track of
the submissions that you're sending out editors and their responses so it's a lot to stay on top
of but you know if you're organized and you have those skills it's definitely manageable
so i correspond with my clients the most when we're going through the
editorial process there's a lot of back and forth on email or on zoom
jumping on a zoom call is really useful because you get to have that face-to-face interaction
i also like to just check up on them on a zoom call every now and then and just
see how they're doing making sure that they're happy that they're enjoying the writing process
and that they understand what's coming next in the publishing process that's really really important
i always want to empower them with knowledge so i definitely do correspond with my clients the most
there are multiple different avenues that you can follow to land a job in the publishing
industry you can obtain a relevant degree such as one in english literature or one
in publishing studies if that is an opportunity that isn't available to you publishing houses
and certain literary agencies offer incredible short-term and long-term internship programs
you can see if publishing is the right fit for you you can also explore different departments
and those internships are advertised often on websites or on social media if you're a
little bit younger and you're not quite in the working world but you're thinking that
publishing is the right career path for you i would really encourage you to read a lot and
to read widely and also be mindful when you're reading see the types of genres that take your
interest because you may want to represent them if you become an editor or an agent
okay i'm going to cheat and offer two books that i think everyone should read the first is pride
and prejudice it is a literary masterpiece if you haven't read it already please read it the
second one is called essays in love it's by alan de botan it is about falling in love being in the
middle of a relationship falling out of love and all of it is really approached through a profound
and philosophical lens a really deep story but a really easy read and i could not recommend it more