Our #CleanProseTalks with Literary Agent Samar Hammam of @rockingbooks starts in 5 minutes! We'll be live-tweeting in this thread Grab your ticket below https://bit.ly/samarhammam 

#askanagent #askagent

Our host Laura: "Samar, can you talk about your experience as an agent in the current situation? What has changed? What hasn't changed?"

Samar @rockingbooks "Everyone's been sent home so lots of people are having to do two jobs at once...Editors aren't able to work...For independent publishing houses some people are now the whole team...Book sales have fallen off, it's not being made up for in digital sales."

Samar @rockingbooks "We're still being told to acquire books as we're not going to be in lock-down forever and we're going to need books for 2021 and 2022...Things are evolving..." #CleanProseTalks

Our host Laura: "How do you expect the submissions process to be affected my Covid-19?" #CleanProseTalks

Samar @rockingbooks "I'm getting a lot more submissions, and a lot more submissions that I think are good, I think people have the time not necessarily to write but to sort their submissions out." #CleanProseTalks

Samar @rockingbooks "Usually an author sends you their work, there's back and forth...that can take a few months but it can also take a year. There will likely be an editing process with your agent." #CleanProseTalks

A question from one of our Instagram followers, nicola_dawn "Do you think a recession would affect how many clients are taken on/books are published?" #CleanProseTalks

Samar @rockingbooks "I don't think it will affect the number of books being taken on by agents, but I think it will affect the number of books being taken on by publishers." #CleanProseTalks

Our host Laura "Are you looking for anything in particular at the moment?" #CleanProseTalks

Samar @rockingbooks "I work across genres...I like things to be original, but have a twist...all the stuff that I find that I enjoy tends to have something that makes me think 'I want to know more about it, I want to work with them [the author]'..." #CleanProseTalks

Our host Laura: "When you read a manuscript do you love something in the first five pages? How long does it take you to decide to keep reading?"
#CleanProseTalks

Samar @rockingbooks "When you submit to an agent the first few pages are vital...I look at voice, is this a voice I want to spend 8 hours with? If there's a good writing voice, you stay, because of course you can't get the plot immediately..." #CleanProseTalks

Samar @rockingbooks "...You have to make those decisions quickly, and of course it's very subjective" #CleanProseTalks

Our director @cleanproseshar1 "When working with an author towards a publishing deal, what’s your top piece of advice? I.e, What can authors do to make your job easier?" #CleanProseTalks

Samar @rockingbooks "The one thing you can do is give me a book that's amazing. There's so much I can do with that..Toby, who I used to work with, said 'I can probably count the number of amazing books I've worked on.'.. We do great books..." #CleanProseTalks

Samar @rockingbooks "...But the ones that are exquisite are rare...so as an agent, part of your job is figuring out how to get the best deal for a very good book...I get great books, my job is to use all the tricks of the toolbox I have to get those voices heard." #CleanProseTalks

Our director @cleanproseshar1 "Do you encourage authors to develop their own online platforms to become more attractive to publishers marketing the book?" #CleanProseTalks

Samar @rockingbooks "Everyone plays this differently...different editors have different attitudes...I don't like to massively push with that...there are some genres where that's more important...with rom coms it really does help if the author is available..." #CleanProseTalks

Samar @rockingbooks "...Most people nowadays are...I'm less interested in social media than my authors." #CleanProseTalks

One of our guests, Shirley "...You mentioned how important first pages are...My first pages are deliberately very fragmented...will agents be put off by such a fragmented start?" #CleanProseTalks

Samar @rockingbooks "A lot of it is subjective...I don't think many agents would be put off by that start...but a lot of being an agent is guiding the writers so it depends...I think what counts is if the voice is working and the narrative is working..." #CleanProseTalks

One of our guests Elaine "Do you think there will be a boost for historical fiction and a boost for books with happy endings because of this?" #CleanProseTalks

Samar @rockingbooks "...I think comedy [books] will play a great part...I always think comedy and horror go well together...I've not thought about historical fiction, maybe..." #CleanProseTalks

Samar @rockingbooks "I would expect an enquiry letter to be like the back of a book...I would expect, as an agent, that I would be better than an author at putting an enquiry letter together so I'm quite lenient...+ the publishers can do it better than agents..."
#CleanProseTalks

Samar @rockingbooks "Non-fiction submissions are different to fiction submissions...you don't need a whole manuscript, just a chapter to see if the voice is compelling...in terms of subject, I'll try anything, I'm open..." #CleanProseTalks