Kate Folkers is an Associate Literary Agent at Martin Literary Management. Prior to becoming an agent, Kate’s professional experience included working for Farrar, Straus & Giroux, Harcourt, Abbeville Press and Harper. Her background spans roles in sales, marketing, and publicity for some of the bestselling books of our time. We at How to Publish a Book are honored to have her join us today. Thank you, Kate.

 

HOW TO PUBLISH A BOOK: How did you first get your start in New York publishing? You worked for fifteen years at Farrar, Straus & Giroux, Harcourt, Abbeville Press and Harper before moving to southern California. Were you in Sales and Marketing roles at each of these publishers?

KATE FOLKERS: My first job out of college was working in the Marketing Department of what was then Harper & Row. There, I really saw the publishing process from the acquisition to the sales conference point, and it was a fantastic overview. Following that, I worked in Special Sales at Abbeville and then Marketing at FSG.

I had always been drawn to the sales side, as it seemed like the sales reps were the ones really making a difference in the life of the books. I had the chance to become a Sales Rep, with a territory that covered New York City, Washington, DC, Boston and Philadelphia. This was the heyday of the great independent bookstores and it was the most fun job in the world when I was in my twenties, even with the crazy amount of travel. Book salespeople are among the biggest readers in the world and their passion can ignite the passionate “buzz” that can push a book into the zeitgeist.

Following that, I sold National Accounts at Farrar, Straus & Giroux, and at a medium sized publisher like FSG, that involved wearing a lot of hats and getting involved in everything from positioning titles, to marketing plans, publicity and reprints. Everyone was so smart and passionate at FSG that I always considered that my graduate degree in publishing! I had the opportunity to work on books by Tom Wolfe, Susan Sontag, Scott Turow, Jeffrey Eugenides, and Jonathan Franzen. And I got to meet them all!

Then, on to Harcourt in San Diego, where I had the chance to work with some great folks on some equally terrific books.  Harcourt had a very strong educational component, and while there I had the opportunity to develop experience beyond trade books, such as in library marketing, institutional marketing, niche marketing, premium sales and curriculum development.

HOW TO PUBLISH A BOOK: What did you learn about marketing and sales for a large New York publisher? Specifically how do the very best authors work with their publisher and the marketing and sales staff to give their book the best chance of success?

KATE FOLKERS: We often had authors who would call up and say, “What are you doing for my book?” The better question from authors would be, “What can I do to help you market my book?”  That can encourage the marketing team to go the extra mile.

Always be nice to your publicist. Publicity is the key to getting attention for your novel. While they are not your personal press secretary, they are incredibly important and will be pitching your book to their wealth of contacts.

Any time you take a trip, visit a local bookstore, go in and introduce yourself. Offer to sign books. Take a card and build up a network of booksellers. Those are the folks on the frontline who speak directly to the readers, and their passionate response to your book can make a big difference.

At FSG, we specifically concerned ourselves with building an author’s readership. I was originally in Sales before numbers were computerized to the extent they are today. There were more leaps of faith taken, because one wasn’t staring at hard and fast numbers. With the arrival of Wordstock and Bookscan, sales histories became harder to finesse. But FSG has continued to take the time to build an audience and continue on with an author even if a title didn’t meet expectations.

One of the most valuable things I took away from my publishing experiences was not to have preconceived notions and to always keep an open mind. Working in relatively small teams, we could react nimbly and everyone’s voice could be heard. Sometimes the best ideas came from unexpected sources, and we always considered marketing to be a partnership with the publicity department. I’ve also learned that nobody really knows the secret ingredient as to what’s going to work, and the best laid plans can go awry.

HOW TO PUBLISH A BOOK: What can an author do to communicate his/her ideas to the marketing and sales staff? What was one of the more rewarding experiences you had positioning a book?

KATE FOLKERS: Authors tend to be people who write in a room by themselves. These days they need to start marketing themselves, even though it may be counterintuitive to their personalities. Use the internet in every way possible to get your name out there. Build a powerful blog and get a following. Join writers' groups and attend writers' conferences. Do your research. There are so many tools these days to aid a writer – you just have to really pursue it rigorously. This isn't a process you can rush through. You have to be meticulous about everything to be successful.

When I was at FSG, we had the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of Oprah picking Jonathan Franzen’s book The Corrections. This was a huge deal for a publishing house of that size (or any publishing house). Right as we had several hundred thousand books landing at all the outlets around, word came down that our author had reservations about appearing on Oprah’s TV show. We were fielding calls right and left from our major accounts, and I have to say, everyone at FSG was very cool about the whole matter.

At any rate, I think all involved realized that the so-called “negative” publicity was turning out to be anything but, as news outlet after news outlet ran with the story and even created ongoing stories. The book become a cultural touchstone. That was a pretty wild and memorable experience.

Another experience was working on Tom Friedman’s first book, From Beirut to Jersualem. Never have I seen an author walk into the publishing process as well-prepared as he was. He had effective talking points prepared for the media, lunched with booksellers, drove his message home and was a publicist’s dream. Granted, he came in with a tremendous platform from the New York Times, but he also completely seized the opportunity.

At Harcourt, I had the chance to work on Yann Martel’s book, The Life of Pi, and that turned out to be the book with the longest legs ever. We put the paperback out a little bit early, and that gave the market the juice to just keep selling the title. Then, we had the chutzpah to repackage the trade paperback into a “classroom” mass market, and we found a whole other market. We targeted the book to book groups, and then went after the classroom market with a curriculum guide about how to teach it, and the book’s sales just zoomed into the stratosphere. That book was a situation of all the pieces falling into place.

HOW TO PUBLISH A BOOK: How much of success at a publisher depends on the personalities of the folks working together at the publishing house?

KATE FOLKERS: Well, having a clear editorial mandate, common vision and a team that plays well together makes it all happen more smoothly. Every so often, the stars may align and a book becomes a critical and commercial success. 

I think passion about the books is hugely important as well. Most of the folks I know who work in publishing believe in books, understand their mystery, and have the insanity of their convictions. They’re all incredibly well-educated and could make so much more money in another industry, but they do it out of the crazy conviction that it makes a difference. When you wake up in the morning, and you know that you spend your day turning people on to reading - that a pretty great way to make a difference.

That said, if I could bottle the ingredients for a best seller . . . well, let’s just say my future as an agent would be assured! Vegas has nothing on the incredibly complex calculations that result in a book’s success. 

HOW TO PUBLISH A BOOK: After leaving New York, you worked in publishing in southern California before moving to Seattle. What did you do in southern California?

KATE FOLKERS: I worked as a Senior Marketing Manager at Harcourt Publishing, working primarily on the adult list. And I found I was able to be much more creative, moving away from Sales and working on developing marketing plans and writing copy. I also put the seasonal catalogs together, which was a wonderful exercise in meeting deadlines, if not creativity.

I was lucky enough to work on some fabulous titles at that time, Life of Pi, The Time Traveler’s Wife, Animals in Translation, The Places in Between, and Odd Girl Out and to see a resurgence of interest in Virginia Woolf, one of my favorites.

HOW TO PUBLISH A BOOK: How did the job at Martin Literary Management come your way?

KATE FOLKERS: My family had relocated to Seattle after the closing of the Harcourt San Diego office, and I very much wanted to stay in publishing. I had friends and colleagues that had made the transition to agent, and it seemed like a natural fit. I was also very drawn to the idea of working with writers and books from an earlier point in the publishing process.

I met Sharlene Martin of Martin Literary Management, and she was so smart and had so much energy that it was infectious. The agency has the slogan, “Considerate Literary Management,” and I liked the sound of that. There are so many hopes and dreams invested in this business, and I think kindness and courtesy go a long way. We respond to every query we get, and even when I’m saying “not interested,” I have tried to do it in a constructive way.

One of the wonderful things about being with Martin Literary Management is that we have strong  alliances with the film agents as a result of Sharlene’s years in Hollywood. When we have the appropriate projects, we’re able to fully leverage those connections.

HOW TO PUBLISH A BOOK: What do you like most about working as a literary agent?

KATE FOLKERS: I guess I would say that it’s all about the sense of possibility. That’s also what I enjoyed when I worked in sales and marketing. One hears that there are no new plots, just rehashed ones, but somehow new books keep rising to the public consciousness. I like taking a chance on new authors, and helping them build something, relying on my taste and their talent.  As a new agent, I’m hungry and I’m going to go the extra mile. Publishing is an unpredictable and unquantifiable business, but I see writers and agents working in partnership towards a common goal.

On the agenting side, often an agent is the first reader of an author’s work, and I thoroughly enjoy the collaborative aspect of making suggestions on a manuscript. I also like the process of trying to find the right publishing house for the author’s work. Authors aren’t necessarily in the position to understand how to best pitch their book, nor to advocate for their work, and my hands-on publishing experience serves me well in that partnership.

HOW TO PUBLISH A BOOK: What is the most challenging aspect of being a “West Coast” agent?

KATE FOLKERS: Sometimes I think it’s knowing when to end a day. When I worked for a west coast office that reported to an east coast office (Harcourt), we tended to start early to be available to New York, and then we finished late in the day. I’ve carried those work patterns over, and that’s why people see emails from me at all kinds of odd hours. I feel like we’re always three hours behind out here, so I try to make up with that on both ends and the line between work and not working has really blurred.

HOW TO PUBLISH A BOOK: Describe your dream client.

KATE FOLKERS: That would be a writer who has major storytelling chops, is humble and hardworking with no sense of entitlement, takes direction (hah!), goes the extra mile, and thinks I’m a wizard.

Is that asking for too much?

HOW TO PUBLISH A BOOK: What types of books are you most interested in?

KATE FOLKERS: I always find this a difficult question because I’m interested in lots of things. And sometimes, I don’t know I’m interested until I read an article or a query.

That said, I only handle Fiction, so that narrows it down a bit. I like distinctive characters and I like to see the plot hook me right in the beginning. I like to be taken out of my life into a totally different one, and I want it to be believable.

A work that begins well, but starts to fall apart can still interest me if the author is open to revision and seems to have a good grip on the storytelling process.

I can’t tell an author what to write – I can just advise them to pour their heart into it. I don’t want to be overly specific about what I’m looking for, because I strive to be open to pretty much everything. And, I find it hard to predict trends, particularly in the lengthy book-making process, because taste moves so quickly and the publishing process takes a fair amount of time.

I think of my client list in the same ways I would put together a catalog, balancing categories and genres.  My list is governed by my tastes and, and I want it to reflect that, and be eclectic and diverse as well.

HOW TO PUBLISH A BOOK: What is the best way for a writer to submit his/her work to you? What are the steps?

KATE FOLKERS: I like to see a well-written query letter, a brief bio, and 50 pages of the manuscript. Preferably, the author will look me up on the Martin Literary Management website beforehand and see what I’m interested in. I don’t do science fiction, for example, so no use sending that to me.

HOW TO PUBLISH A BOOK: If you had to explain to a writer who has never published a book before how to publish a book, what are the essential steps?

KATE FOLKERS: Revision is absolutely key! To me, this is all important; so many would-be authors send the manuscript off before making necessary, or even adequate revisions. Personally, I think that several drafts of a manuscript need to be gone through before a writer should even consider sending it to an agent.

Once an author has a finished and polished manuscript, the next step is securing an agent, and to do that they need to craft a professional and succinct query letter. It is all important, as it quickly becomes apparent to the reader whether the author has a facility with words. There are 2 objectives for the query letter:

1. To make the plot/subject of your book sound fantastic
2. To show that you write well and can tell a story

Then they need to figure out which agents are the right fit for their work. Very few publishers take submissions from writers without an agent and a good agent will usually be able to negotiate a better deal than the author would on their own.

Once an agent has taken on a project, they will send it out to a targeted list of editors at different publishing houses. Editors need to garner in-house support, and if they get the green light, they will send the agent an offer. This submission process can take anywhere from a week to a year or more, depending on whether the agent can find a match for the project.

HOW TO PUBLISH A BOOK: What are your thoughts regarding the effect of eBooks on traditional publishing and bookselling?

KATE FOLKERS: I’ve always loved the art of the book – typeface, bindings, color plates. I will always love the physical book and hope they will always be available. But I also love my Kindle and that’s how I read manuscripts. Full disclosure here: my husband works on the Kindle at Amazon, so we are early adopters.  I have kids who read on the Kindle, but they love their physical books even more. When they enjoy a book, they want to own the physical copy. I hope there remains room for both!

I also fully embrace the fact that e-books are here and that one important driving force behind it is price. For a long time, consumers have felt that books were becoming too expensive, and I think e-books are forcing publishers on that issue. I really hope that publishers do this right and figure out that they have to give the customer the format that the customer wants. It can be additional income in a different format, much like a paperback.

I don’t know how it’s all going to fall out with authors going directly to digital publishing. Right now, I would caution first time authors against it because it doesn’t bode well for a physical book sale. I suppose if the numbers are extraordinary, that will change matters, but I rarely see great numbers on self-published works.

As online marketing and publishing continues to evolve, that could all change, of course. These days, we have to recognize that the old model is fluid and constantly changing.

HOW TO PUBLISH A BOOK: Finally, what do you love most about living in Seattle?

KATE FOLKERS: Well, certainly it’s not the weather in January!

Getting out of NYC gives one a broader perspective. There can be an insularity to living in New York, particularly in the publishing world where everyone knows everyone. Stepping back from that can undeniably open the mind. Sometimes I think it’s like that New Yorker cartoon that shows the greater New York area, and then the rest of the country as kind of a vague “other.” I’m embracing the other.

Seattle is a very vibrant community for reading and the arts, and it has a creative, entrepreneurial vibe. Maybe it stems from the days of the Gold Rush, but starting a new venture just seems like a natural turn of events out here. From my home office, I can see the Olympic Mountain Range, the Puget Sound, and sometimes on a clear day I can see Mount Rainier as well. Somehow, seeing those expansive vistas just opens the mind towards all kinds of possibilities.

HOW TO PUBLISH A BOOK: Thank you so much, Kate.

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