Interview With Zoe Fishman, Agent Extraordinaire

When embarking on the long, winding road to publishing success, it’s easy to feel intimidated. So most writers seek the help of a literary agent, someone who can be a guide, a cheerleader, and most of all, a champion.

Enter Zoe Fishman, literary agent and foreign rights director at Lowenstein-Yost Associates in New York. Zoe is everything you’d want your dream agent to be: smart, savvy (she’s got oodles of publishing, editing, and agenting experience), and best of all, she fights for her clients…in a nice way, of course.

 WordHustler sat down with Zoe to get the real deal on agenting, publishing, and the “next big thing” in the YA book world [hint: it’s not vampires but does involve the afterlife].

So sink your teeth into this juicy interview, and then get your work ready for some immortal success!

WordHustler: Zoe, how did you get your start in the publishing industry?

Zoe Fishman: I majored in English at Boston University, and then I took the 6-week magazine publishing course at NYU. My first job was the assistant to the Audio Publisher at Random House. I then moved to editorial assistant at what was Dell, which eventually became Bantam Dell. Then I wrote for a few websites. That was fun.

WH: Are you a writer?

ZF: I am a writer. I eventually came back to Simon & Schuster to work in foreign rights, which was a completely different thing for me but turned out to be really, really wonderful.

WH: And you do the foreign rights here at Lowenstein-Yost, right?

ZF: Yes. At Simon & Schuster I learned so much about business, selling and marketing. Of course, getting to meet people and travel around the world was great. I did that for about five years and got to the point where I missed the editorial a lot, so I thought I would try agenting. I’ve been at Lowenstein-Yost for almost four years.

WH: So missing editorial brought you back to agenting. Were you amassing writers and projects you were passionate about over the years of foreign rights? Did that also help lead you back?

ZF: You know, I have always been a voracious reader and have a lot of editor friends. I’d watch them when they were passionate about a book, and notice the difference between that and being stuck with something they didn’t really want to do.

So when I came in, YA had just started to explode and I love that. I love a good Young Adult novel…and I had some good contacts in that area. So I started with that, and then because I do the foreign rights, there’s not tremendous pressure on me to be a niche agent. If I love the book, I can represent it. And I don’t have a gigantic client list, which is okay. I like that better for both the writer and me.

WH: You represent both YA and adult authors. What draws you to YA? What about an adult book catches your eye?

ZF: I think it’s kind of the same thing: I’m drawn to excellent writing. I think for YA, there’s something about the perspective of a teenager when they’re so not sure of themselves and they have no idea who they really are, that’s compelling because you know all that is ahead of them. You’re rooting for them to truly be an individual.  What I love is when characters are written as ones who you really identify with and feel their struggles.

Adult-wise, you can take that same perspective and couple it with a more complicated life. I just love reading about the human struggle and secrets and trying to balance between who you are in your private time and who you are in the public world. I really love characters. I’m not a huge genre fan, I wish I was. I really do. I haven’t read one yet with characters that overwhelm me in that way.

WH: What about a novel with fantasy elements, like The Time Traveler’s Wife?

ZF: I really like that book, actually. If it’s done the right way, it’s great. If it transcends reality, I like it. But I don’t have that sci-fi bone. I’m more about realistic, real-life struggle type person. It’s about relationships and how you know yourself through them.

WH: What are a few of your favorite books out there today? And feel free to include books/authors you rep…it’s only fair!

ZF: I have a wonderful YA novel that came out on June 11th called Prada and Prejudice by Mandy Hubbard.

WH: We’ve read up on that- it looks really cute and funny.

ZF: It really is. It’s just a great character- she’s kind of a misfit who tries to fit in and along the way finds out who she is.

WH: The main character is on a class trip in London, right?

ZF: Yeah, she wants to hang with all the cool kids and at one point, sneaks off to buy the latest Prada shoes with her parents’ credit card. Then she trips, hits her head, and wakes up in 1815 London.

WH: Now, is she dressed to fit the part when she wakes up in old-fashioned England?

ZF: She comes in a bit tattered and is mistaken for a long-lost American cousin.

WH: Hilarious. And is this going to be a series or a one-off?

ZF: That is a one-off.

WH: It sounds like a movie.

ZF: Doesn’t it? Hint, hint! [Laughs] It’s definitely the first book of many for Mandy- she’s great and has so many books inside her.

WH: What books are in your bag right now?

ZF: I just finished Lush Life by Richard Price, which was SO good. I’ve never read a great mystery like this.

WH: That’s genre-y!

ZF: It is, actually. I really liked it. I’m in a book club and we read it. It’s really good, rugged writing. It takes place on the Lower East Side about this white bartender who gets shot. The author, Price, was a writer on THE WIRE.

WH: What types of books are you looking for that you haven’t found yet?

ZF: Everything. Really. My favorite, dream authors are Jhumpa Lahiri and Donna Tartt. If A Secret History came to me, it would change my life. Again, just really compelling characterization and of course, there needs to be a plot. Something needs to happen.

WH: What about in the YA world? Are you a Twi-hard?

ZF: You know, I’m embarrassed to say that I’m not. I think I missed the boat. I’m a little nervous it would make me angry.

WH: It’s a little too long after the hype. It becomes a burn-out factor.

ZF: Yeah. I think overall, the YA market is not as open as it was three years ago. The same thing happened to chick lit. There was just a deluge of women looking for love with their cats, writing in their diary.

WH: If you could put on your psychic hat, what trends do you see making a splash soon?

ZF: I don’t know…people are saying that the next big thing is going to be angels. Which, you know, I don’t quite see it, but who knows? They’ve done the vampire, they’ve done the werewolves and the boy wizards…

WH: What’s your overall take on publishing today? In dire straights or blooming and flourishing?

ZF: I feel the cutbacks. The advances aren’t as big; the editors are pickier. There have definitely been cuts down the line. The lunches aren’t free anymore.  It’s a tough time but I don’t have a problem with it necessarily because if it weren’t a tough time then it wouldn’t reflect the world and the words wouldn’t be valid anymore. So, you know, it’s okay. Like I said, I’m in a special position where I don’t have to promise my first-born to get books out there.

WH: Let’s get into the nitty-gritty of the submission process: how important is the query letter? If you get a so-so query, are you going to read to the sample pages or is a so-so a no?

ZF: Pretty much a so-so is a no. I like queries short and sweet with a good punchline, and because I love characters, maybe a little item about the character that draws me in.

WH: Do you like when authors compare their manuscript to other, already published books?

ZF: That comes off a little pretentious to me to compare yourself to somebody else. Be yourself. Tell me what you are about.

WH: What are three things in a query that make you want to read more?

ZF: Short, like a page or better yet, half a page. A little bit of humor is good. There’s a fine line between taking it seriously and respecting my time, and being a human being. Some people achieve that. Third would be: get my name right.

WH: It’s a small request.

ZF: I’ve gotten “Dear Mr. Fishman.”

WH: Ouch. What are three things that let you know this project/writer isn’t for you? Obviously the name thing.

ZF: Yes, the name thing. Launching right into a plot without any kind of thesis. Oh- and talking about yourself in the third person.

WH: WordHustler wants to know: do you get a lot of those?

ZF: [Laughs] I do.

WH: Do you think there’s a difference between hard copy queries and e-queries? Does one seem more disposable/less serious than the other?

ZF: I give them both equal measure, but writing and printing out letter takes time, so I have to respect that. Of course email is easier for me, but if a writer takes the time to buy postage and send it in the mail, I’ll always respond.

WH: Do you always send something back?

ZF: Always. If someone sends something to me in the mail, I always get back to them. They may not be as timely as I (or they) would like, but they get there.

WH: How does the agenting process work once you find a client you like?

ZF: There’s an email, then we start talking about how much I liked the project and what the writer is willing to work on.

WH: Do you usually do another pass of the book with them before sending it out to publishers?

ZF: Oh hell yeah, if not two or three. And then a lot of it is over email, probably about five emails for every call. And then when we get it to a good place, I tell the wrier where I’m submitting it and we go from there.

WH: Do you have autonomy over who you sign? Do you run people by the other agents here?

ZF: If I’m signing someone I’m excited about, there’s an agency contract and I usually talk about it in our meetings.

WH: Great. What advice would you give aspiring writers out there?

ZF: If you really love it, if writing makes you feel good, then don’t give up.

WH: Shameless plug alert: do you think WordHustler helps writers successfully get their work out there and into your hands, professionally and effectively?

ZF: I think the idea is tremendous. I think it makes the process seem less hostile and scary, and more familiar. Which I think all writers crave.

Hark the herald literary agents sing, people! You’ve heard Zoe’s likes and wants- do you have something up your sleeve for her? Why not use WordHustler to help submit your work to Zoe? Who knows- you could be her next success story! Until next time, good luck Hustling!