Interview with novelist Ben Aaronovitch

[Katie-Ellen]

Talking about script writing and novel writing.

Author of the 'Rivers in London' series, urban fantasy, published by Gollancz, agent John Berlyne at Zeno. His approach is a breath of fresh air.
His advice to writers is not the usual......

Could you write a Bestseller?

 

[Webbwalker]

Fabulous interview - thanks so much for pointing it out. I particilarly enjoyed:
'...what you are relying on is somebody has to really like the book, and everyone’s different, so there’s no point carefully researching what they usually like, just send it to them on the off-chance that one of them will like it. They don’t like that. because it means they get a huge reading pile. Colour me not-very-impressed. I don’t care. That’s not my problem. Your reading pile is not my problem. Hire some interns, work your way through them.'

 

[Katie-Ellen]

He's a lot of fun isn't he. High energy, I read 'Rivers of London'. Police procedural meets classical myth, Mother Thames and Father Thames are at war. Boundary dispute. Ghosts, vampires and all sorts roaming the streets of present day London.

 

[Webbwalker]

I love RoL, love the whole Peter Grant series really. Love his Who episodes, which of course include the fantastic and memorable Remembrance of the Daleks, the episode when a Dalek first went up the stairs.

Edited for typos. I don't know what's wrong with me, but I just can't type today.

 

[Katie-Ellen]

Oh no. The Dalek went up the stairs? Well, I didn't see it, mostly stopped watching by then, but that's terrible news.

 

[Webbwalker]

It was 30 years ago (or 55 years ago in Who years, as the serial was set in 1963). I didn't think I needed to warn for spoilers (sorry! )

 

[Katie-Ellen]

Oh don't worry I don't care about spoilers. Ever. Do not give a hoot. But I was born in 1963 and by 1970, together with two sisters, regularly watched 'Dr Who' from behind the sofa. Really, actually did. But our dad said not to worry, they can't climb stairs, and they can't see if you hang something on the end of the eyeball thingie. And they need a smooth floor too. Because they always used to get you in the corridor, didn't they? Coming silently round a corner.
And now...

Now....

 

[Webbwalker]

If you can bear it...

 

[Katie-Ellen]

Wow. Levitation! Stupid thing. It should have shut up and just got on with exterminating him.

 

[Webbwalker]

Stupid thing. It should have shut up and just got on with exterminating him.

Quite a few Whovians back then thought the same thing.

 

[Paul Whybrow]

A great interview! Thanks for posting it, Katie-Ellen. Ben Aaronovitch gives astute common sense advice...and I'm glad to learn that he has problems with commas too!

I like what he says about the value of creating a compelling story versus brilliant prose:

'If you’re telling a good story, the prose can be crap. For commercial fiction, story is more important than prose. That’s the separation between literary fiction, where you have really brilliant prose, and no story whatsoever. I would worry about the story, and worry about the prose second, if you’re really cynically trying to get a bestseller.'

 

[Katie-Ellen]

And sniffing a camel. Method writing. Quite right

 

[Nikky Lee]

Thank you for sharing this. So much gold delivered so well!

 

[Steve C]

What a brilliant interview. He is abreath of fresh air and I found it interesting what he said about submitting to agents.
His attitude was that if they didn't have time to read your submissions let them get more interns in to do it but why should authors wait around for 3 months before sending their stuff out to more agents. Hit the lot of them in one go was his advice. I think I might take it.

 

[Paul Whybrow]

What a brilliant interview. He is abreath of fresh air and I found it interesting what he said about submitting to agents.
His attitude was that if they didn't have time to read your submissions let them get more interns in to do it but why should authors wait around for 3 months before sending their stuff out to more agents. Hit the lot of them in one go was his advice. I think I might take it.

I urge you to make multiple submissions. I've just completed my third major campaign of querying, and have my eyes on a few agencies who've been closed to clear their slush pile + two agents who are just starting up, but who haven't yet asked for submissions. Of 82 queries I sent off from early February, I've received 21 form letters of rejection. Agencies are definitely quicker to respond early in the year. I once queried 100 agents in summer, not receiving any replies from 30 of them, while the rest took 2-9 months to get back to me.

Querying is by far the worst part of writing for me, mainly because agents are so fussy about how they want a submission package made. Some are happy with Word doc as attachments for the synopsis and first three chapters, others want the writing sample cut and pasted into the text of the introductory letter, while one insisted on everything being attached as PDFs "for reasons of security"...huh?

I've sent off synopses of 250, 300, 500, 750 and 1,500 words—which length agents insisted on—why can't they adopt an industry standard? The easiest form of querying is for agencies who use an online form, which appears to be the same for all of them, as it's bought-in software.

Agents that warn against making multiple submissions to many agencies are totally out of touch with reality. One who said this, advised only sending out queries in batches of 4 or 5. It took her 8 months to email me a form letter. If I followed her advice, I'd be dead before hearing anything positive. Other agents advise writers to fire off as many submissions as they can, only requesting you contact them if a rival agent has shown interest in your manuscript.

Querying is like writing a message on the wings of a paper aeroplane and throwing it out of the window in a hurricane, foolishly expecting a prompt reply!

 

[Steve C]

@ Paul Whybrow Thanks for the info. It agrees with how I have been thinking but I thought twice because elsewhere I have read it is not the done thing to do to query loads of agents at the same time. I would like to know where you get your lists of agents as I have been combing the internet and have only 35 English agents with websites that might be interested in my novel.
I feel that if you have a decent product it then becomes a numbers game to sell it which applies to all sales operations I think.

 

[Paul Whybrow]

@ Paul Whybrow Thanks for the info. It agrees with how I have been thinking but I thought twice because elsewhere I have read it is not the done thing to do to query loads of agents at the same time. I would like to know where you get your lists of agents as I have been combing the internet and have only 35 English agents with websites that might be interested in my novel.
I feel that if you have a decent product it then becomes a numbers game to sell it which applies to all sales operations I think.

There are various sites listing and discussing literary agents:

* Publishers Marketplace

* Activity Stream - Absolute Write Water Cooler

* The Official Manuscript Wish List & #MSWL ® Website

* Erica Verrillo is a member of the Colony, posting updates on agents seeking submissions; her website is:

Agents Seeking Clients

* https://querymanager.com/ & FREE Query Management for Agents and Publishers | QueryManager

* Agent Query: AgentQuery :: Find the Agent Who Will Find You a Publisher

* Jonathan Dalar: Literary Agency Links

* Jericho Writers (formerly Writers' Workshop) has tons of useful advice on querying. Set up by crime novelist Harry Bingham, after he had problems securing representation for his first book, he gives forthright advice and doesn't pull his punches when assessing agents.

The site has an AgentMatch service, which is free to use for one week:

AgentMatch: The only complete literary agent search tool

I recommend that you use MSWL to find the latest posts by agents seeking submissions. Literary agency websites can be static places, rarely updated, so whatever likes are on an agent's profile could have changed.

To help you assess what agents are looking for, become a cyber stalker following their social media posts, including Twitter. Some have their own blogs. There are videos of agents being interviewed at literary festivals on YouTube.

Obviously, aim your queries at agents with an interest in your genre, otherwise, you're wasting time.

It's tempting to query agents in the USA, partly because their websites are impressive and the language they use is most welcoming. Many say that they'll accept queries from abroad, but search to see how many foreign authors they represent. I've only ever queried American agents who represent British crime novelists, getting nowhere, but at least the replies were swifter and more courteous than London agents.

If your goal is to be traditionally published, then you have to accept that you'll hear "No" hundreds of times first. People who know only a bit about the book world, always trot out the story of J.K. Rowling being turned down a dozen times—that's nothing!—most of us would love to be rejected only a dozen times before getting a contract.

Getting an agent feels like chasing bubbles with a butterfly net made of barbed wire!

One thing that querying agents is good for is a goad to drive authors towards self-publishing. I'm intending to go back to self-publishing, even though it means entering the hoopla of blogging and social media posing posting to self-promote. Agents and publishers expect an author to do this anyway, so why not do it for yourself?

I'm inspired by my new writing hero, crime novelist James Oswald. He couldn't get a publishing contract, so uploaded his stories as e-books, selling 350,000 copies in six months! He's now signed with Penguin Books:

Author details | Scottish Book Trust

​

 

[Steve C]

Thanks Paul you have been brilliant. Enough there to keep me busy sifting through all the sites for a few days.
I am going to create a pile of possible agents then take the advice in the article and query the lot of them and forget about it. That way I get shot of the process and can start my next book and one day may get a nice surprise. If not I will know sooner rather than later.

 

[Eva Ulian]

Talking about script writing and novel writing.

Author of the 'Rivers in London' series, urban fantasy, published by Gollancz, agent John Berlyne at Zeno. His approach is a breath of fresh air.
His advice to writers is not the usual......

Could you write a Bestseller?

I love the way he says he's a slow writer, and only writes 500 words a day, at times only 4... Ah, what can I say? A man after my own heart.