New Agent Q&A:
Mark McVeigh, The McVeigh Agency...

With years of editorial experience under his belt—most recently as Editorial Director for S&S imprint Aladdin Books, with prior stints at Dutton, Scholastic, Random House and HarperCollins—Mark McVeigh established The McVeigh Agency early in 2009.

"I am a very hands-on, old-school agent who likes to edit manuscripts as much as I like to negotiate deals." he says. "My favorite agents were always what I called 'honest sharks,' out to get the best deal for their client, always looking ahead, but always conduced business in such a way that everyone came away as happy as possible. In short—they had integrity and determination to represent their clients to the best of their abilities, and that’s what I aspire to."

After working in editorial for so many years, what made you put on the agent hat ?

To be honest, I've always been a strong advocate for the creative people behind the books, and agenting seemed like a new and exciting way to get even more involved with them.

You said: “If a person has a unique idea, concept, or vision and a voice, I'll do all I can to help them shape it into a manuscript that can work in today’s market.” Sounds like you plan to have a very hand-on agenting style. What will you do for your clients?

I'll always be an editor. And every editor knows the agents who spend the time to read and critique a writer's draft—working with them to make sure they're putting out their best work—before sending it out. So I anticipate working closely with authors who like feedback so that when the manuscript finally makes its way to an editor, it has been polished to a high sheen.

What type of material are you looking to represent?

I'm doing everything from adult fiction, nonfiction and art books to every kind of children's book known to humankind—and beyond! Click here for more information.

Are you open to unsolicited submissions? If so, how do you want material submitted?

E-mail queries to mark@themcveighagency.com are best.

Are you planning to attend any upcoming conferences or events at which writers could meet you?

I'll be making the rounds of SCBWIs--the best thing to do is check the various regional listings.

My website is up as of April 2009: www.themcveighagency.com and I hope all of your readers will visit regularly to see what my wonderful people are up to.

• For more information about all things agent, visit Chuck Sambuchino's Guide to Literary Agent's blog.
• If you'd like information about our book Guide to Literary Agents, click here.
  

My Session and Why I Wish I'd Brought a PC...

I skipped Mark Teague's ballroom session to prepare for my first breakout, Keeping Current on Market Research: Websites, Blogs, Listservs & Networking. I checked my notes, practiced my intro, made sure there was no spinach between my teeth, etc., and went to check out the Westside room where my session took place (which was pretty rocking--big, fancy chandeliers, a stage).

When I viewed the setup, I realized I had no cord to plug my Mac laptop into the projector. The conference coordinator called the blue-shirted AV dude who kinda said that's a shame; there's a Mac store in the Mall. So I was just slightly freaking. Here it is, my first LA conference gig, I'm talking about blogs and websites, and I have no visuals; my week of collecting screen shots all for naught.

Then the audience (bigger than I expected and very patient) came to my rescue. Jennifer Bailey offered her zip drive and SCBWI Florida RA Linda Rodriguez Bernfeld offered her brand spanking new Cadillac of a PC. My heroes! Thank you both again for your help.

So, a bit rattled, I made it through the hour of PowerPoint. And it was fun. I wish we would have had more time for Q&A because I was getting some interesting questions. One writer asked how to get readers to her blog. I talked a lot about professional blogs and networking with writers and editors and agents, but not so much about readers. I suggested connecting with bloggers who are booksellers and librarians, who will in turn reach her readers. Tina Ferraro, half of the blogging duo behind YA Fresh, suggested utilizing MySpace. Her YA readers head to her blog for regularly contest or give-aways when she makes MySpace announcements. And in my informal Thursday night survey, other authors agreed--MySpace is great for connecting with readers; facebook more for connecting with other writers and people in the industry.

Some (Very Exciting!) Harry Pottery Stuff in the News...

Interesting piece in the PW Daily today about Scholastic's investigation of Deepdiscount.com who apparently shipped copies of HP#7 to some 1,200 buyers--and the books began arriving yesterday. So PW is talking about investigating for breach of contract and asking readers who have gotten the books early to not open them until July 21 at 12:01 along with everyone else caught up in the Potteracious frenzy.

The kicker (and this is not mentioned in the Publishers Weekly piece) is that one of the guys who got his copy early (and apparently alerted the media) sold his book on eBay for $250 plus shipping to (wait for it)... Publishers Weekly. What fun!

I'm very amused by all of this--all the hyping and the party planning and speculating and counting down and the breaching of contracts. It's refreshing and wonderful that a book can cause so much commotion when it has absolutely nothing to do with Oprah. Perhaps one day, in a world free of Harry-hype, I will finally crack open book one and see if I can finally understand all the fuss.