UPDATE ON THE “NY” AGENT

[Me posing on my son's car, 4th of July, 2006]


07.12.06
I RECEIVED A message from the NY agent. Wouldn’t you know this was the day I left my cell phone at home—AND it was on “silent”? The message stated that she was sorry she’s been out of touch and that things were crazy at the office, but productive and she still wants to talk to me. I tried to call her back but I got her voice mail so I left a message.

07.20.06
JUST AS I’M wondering why “my” agent hasn’t contacted me, she called today just as my lunch hour was starting. She began by apologizing for being out of touch & insisted she’s a very hands-on agent, but it’s their busy submission season. It turns out she’s not really in NY, she runs the LA office, which is intricately connected to the San Fran & NY offices; she’s only in NY for about 35% of her time. She talked about the agency, about her books, her husband, about her vision for the authors she represents, particularly the ethnic authors. I told her about ITPIHOY’s odyssey and “history of rejection” and she didn’t seem fazed at all. She talked about the boom in Latino lit and how it’s going to really change in the next five years. We talked (mostly her) for my entire lunch hour, which was nice.

SHE'S VERY DOWN-to-earth, very straightforward. I like the fact that she’s an author and that her husband is one, because she knows where I’m coming from. I like the fact that she represents many Latino and other ethnic authors and she’s passionate about representing them. I like the fact that she said she views the agent-client as a real relationship and that if there’s anything I need, if I feel I’m not hearing from her, all I have to do is shoot her an e-mail.

AS WE’RE TALKING, she got a call on her other phone from one of the authors I met down at the Chica Lit Club Fiesta (who lives in CA), whose novel just came out last month. They made plans for lunch while I listened jealously on my end (I skipped lunch today), dreaming of the day I’ll get to go to LA & meet her, hopefully to “do lunch with my agent.”

ALL IN ALL, I felt good about our conversation. She’s very expressive, and she had a lot of helpful suggestions on how to improve ITPIHOY, which I liked, and I’m already thinking about how I can make it better.

I’M SUPPOSED TO be getting a contract in the mail and she said that we’re looking at early to mid-September as far as submitting ITPIHOY to different publishers. Can you hear the bidding wars? (LOL!)