(Late to post, but just a quick note that yesterday's blog tour stopped over at Market My Words by Shelli Johannes Wells - we discussed marketing and pseudonyms.)

Thank you to everyone that has followed along on my blog tour across the interwebz! It's been so much fun and I have loved seeing all the comments - even if I haven't had a chance to stop by and reply to all of them!

(Tiny confession - I thought I would have more free time than I have. Ulp! Mea culpa!)

We've tallied ALL of the comments that you've been leaving and the final tally was well over 400 comments! Awesome!

The winner of the Holly Root Query Critique contest is Laura Pauling.

Laura left this comment on 1/02/10 at Dorothy Windsor's journal:

laurapauling.wordpress.com
2010-01-02 04:04 am UTC (link) It's so encouraging to hear that others have gone through the waiting process. I'm so glad you made it to the other side! Enjoy your blog tour. It's cool.

Congrats, Laura Pauling! Send your query letter to my email address at jillmyles AT gmail.com and I will send it along to Holly on your behalf. For everyone that didn't win, I'm sorry! But here is a small interview with the fabulous Holly Root to tide you over.

Holly Root

1) If I had to pick a factor as to what sort of client is 'right' for the 'Holly Root Client List', I'd say Voice is the #1 thing. Am I right? And if so, what really makes a voice stand out for you? Anything in particular?

You are correct! I am very much a voice agent, which doesn't always mean super-chatty and conversational. While I do tend to like first person-when done well, I love that close perspective-I definitely have third person and even prescriptive nonfiction clients that I would describe as every bit as voice-driven. For me it's about an indelible point of view, that sense of a character whose vision of the world is real and absolutely authentic to them, as well as a confidence to the storytelling. That confidence is the
real "know it when I see it" element-it's a sense of being in good hands as a reader.

2) What's the best part about being an agent? Worst part? (Is there a worst part?)

Best part is watching an author's hard work pay off in the form of a published book, and watching that book connect with readers the way it did with me. Worst part is definitely the books that don't work the way everyone hoped they would, the ones that don't find their audience.

3) Is there one thing in particular you are tired of seeing? Vampires? Portals to another world?  Vampires with portals to another world?

I'm tired of seeing everything pitched as "Buffy meets whatever", from romance to YA to nonfiction. I completely get the urge to have a strong, take-charge heroine (though I personally am very tough on these characters because they're easy to make stereotypical) but the Buffy comp is way overused.

4) How do you go over projects with your client list? Do you like to work on it with them from inception, or do you prefer to just have a completed manuscript handed in?
It's different with every client. Some people need and want my input on what to work on next; others just go away and cook stuff up and then share. Ultimately, I can tell you what idea sounds big or marketable to me right then, but the intersection of art meets commerce means that sometimes that "big concept" just won't be the book you can write right now for any of a million reasons, and if you try to do it in spite of that it'll just sound off. So final call is always down to the person doing the creating.

5) Is it true that you make every client rewrite the end of his/her book?

Pretty much, yes. I'm a pretty editorial agent; the competition is so stiff these days that I can't imagine not being that way. There's definitely a point where you just have to put it out and let the market speak but if I see a way to make a ms that much tighter, why wouldn't I jump on it? As for why it's always the ending-I have a slew of authors whose initial phone calls with me went "I love it, it's amazing, I know just where to sell it, now go redo the back third."

When you're working with people who are exceptional storytellers the middles tend to be pretty tight, but getting in and out is where an outside eye can help. And honestly, when it's the beginning it's often tougher to get into the ms enough to get to the point where I'd offer representation, even with the request for revision. Tough fact but true, not just for me but for editors too.

6) Barbara Poelle - rumor has it that you're friends with her. Is there some sort of blackmail involved?
No blackmail required! Our agencies used to share office space; our husbands are both working actors; our only choices were to become inseparable or go West Side Story on one another. Fun though a dance-off would've been, we took the high road.

This is a good point, though. Most agents have lots of agent friends; some of them are simply more social acquaintances but with others, I have a stronger sense of their taste and lists. Every now and then something will come across our desk that seems right for one of those friends and I'll refer it along; if you get one of these, it's the realest of real referrals and is very much a Good Thing.

7) Name something we don't know about Holly Root (but should!)

I tried and tried to think of something dishy or exciting but I am just deeply devoid of mystique, I guess! Sorry.

(Aww, I forgive her.)

Thanks, Holly! And thank you to everyone that has stopped and commented along the way. Special thanks go out to my Blog Tour peeps and especially Gretchen McNeil, who kept the entire motley mess organized. Gretchen = awesome.