Literary Agent Nathan Bransford: Q&A

Nathan Bransford is an agent in the San Francisco office of Curtis Brown Ltd., a New York-based agency that has been representing authors since 1914. He represents a wide range of genres and is particularly interested in literary fiction, narrative nonfiction, young adult fiction, historical fiction, mystery, science fiction, business, sports, politics and popular culture. Nathan was born and raised in Colusa, California, where he learned a thing or two about rice farming, and graduated from Stanford University with a degree in English.

1) Dave – Do most agents read query letters, or are most queries first read by an agent’s assitant, thus filtering outmany of the letters?

Nathan – This varies from agent to agent. Some agents have an assistant or intern do an initial screen, but some agents, even some very well-established agents, still read their own queries. Personally I read every query that comes to me, and I try to respond within a day or two.

2) Joann – Do you or your firm accept either mail or email letters of inquiry with sample pages?

Nathan – The standard submission procedure for Curtis Brown is to send a query letter in the mail with a self-addressed stamped envelope. If you would like to include some sample pages that is fine (but nothing excessive). However, I accept e-queries and actually prefer that people e-mail me rather than send their query in the mail. If you’d like to include sample pages please paste them in the body of the e-mail. Like most agents who accept e-queries, I don’t open unsolicited attachments. I’d say five pages is a good rule of thumb unless the agent specifically asks for more in their submission guidelines.

Joann – Do you recommend a different way to reach and obtain an agent?

Nathan – All of the queries from my clients that resulted in representation are equally vivid for me – I remember being excited even at the query stage, and my excitement grew as I read the partials and manuscripts. In each of these instances, their writing ability just shined through, and they had brilliant ideas to match.

4) Raymond – Do you have any in-person pitch horror stories you can share? So we can avoid the same mistakes.

Nathan – ’d hate to single someone out, but for some reason most of the strangest pitches I’ve received involved people wanting to recount their affairs with famous people. Go figure. But just when I thought I’d heard it all something new comes along.

5) Erin – Can you describe your dream client?

Nathan – My dream client is someone who is a wonderfully talented writer and a pleasure to work with, but is also just as committed to learning how the publishing industry operates and how they can promote their books. With the direction the publishing industry is moving and with all the competition from books and other media, it’s just not enough anymore to write a great book; an author also has to be committed to helping that book find new audiences. It helps if they are a joy to work with so that people at their publishing house will want to work hard on their behalf. Luckily all of my clients meet this description.

Erin – How far into a manuscript do you decide you want the author as your client?

Nathan – I usually have a feeling about a manuscript by the time I finish the partial, but I really never know for sure until I’m completely finished – the ending is extremely important.