How I Survived The 2011 Backspace Agent-Author Seminar

by J.H. Bográn

At first I thought could not go at all. The truth is that the planning of this trip took calling in a couple of favors, an alignment of the stars, plenty of credit card miles and a suitcase full of traveling patience.

I left my house in San Pedro Sula, Honduras by 5:00 AM.  which is a two-hour plane ride South of Miami. A direct flight to New York takes about five hours, but I had a seven-hour layover in El Salvador. I landed at JFK Airport around 11:00 PM. Then I rode three trains, crossed two rivers, arrived in Newark, NJ and crashed at my cousin's house. 

One interesting thing happened during my flight. I was reading fellow Backspace member, Keith Cronin’s, novel Me Again. When I put the book down for a bit, I noticed the in-flight movie was beginning. I could not believe it at first: it was another fellow Backspace member, Sara Gruen’s, Water for Elephants! So there I was, going to the Backspace Agent-Author Seminar, reading a Backspace member's novel and watching a movie based on a Backspace member's novel. 

The first day of the seminar I finally got to meet Backspace founder and international author, Karen Dionne (aka K. L. Dionne). We didn't have much chance to chat because she was running the event, but it was great meeting her after missing our chance at 2010’s Thrillerfest.


The agent panels touched on the basics of the agenting business, the pros and cons, and the personal preferences of the agent panelists. I particularly enjoyed the second panel with an agent/editor combo. I finally learned what a “preempt sale” is as opposed to an auction. Duh!

Then we split and went to the individual workshops. I attended  the Thriller/Mystery category since that's my genre. After the first session, with two agents commenting on the query letters brutal is the only adjective that came to mind.   


The agents stopped us from reading at the moment or place where they would stop reading and send out the formal rejection letter. Jeff Kleinman from Folio Literary Management and Meredith Barnes from Lowenstein Associates allowed me to finish reading my query but made comments to improve, particularly on the formatting, balancing and prior publishing credits. So I was okay, I guess.


In the next session participants read the opening two pages of our manuscripts. Bit of advice: make sure you finish your breath mint before the start of session. You never know if you’re going to read first. I hastily swallowed my mint and then read aloud. The agent did not stop me, but her comments suggested my two pages were plagued with fillers.  Not being a native English speaker I had feared my Latin accent would have a negative impact on my reading. I asked her after the session and she said it was not a problem. That comment alone made my day great! 

The second day I arrived early and had a chance for small chat with Karen and her daughter. The two morning panels shed more light on the business, especially for the newcomer like me.  

This query workshop had three agents. Some of the participants read a revised version of their queries from the previous day. When it was my time to read, I felt self-conscious reading the same query. However, the responses were quite different and the comments they made served to improve other areas. 

During the afternoon two-page workshop, author John Gilstrap sat in the room during our readings. (We have to thank the hotel’s slow housekeeping for not having his room ready!) At the end of the reading John also gave some useful pointers. 


The two agents from this workshop requested full manuscripts from many of us. That was a change from the previous day.

The seminar ended with a very inspirational speech by John Gilstrap who earned a standing ovation. 

But probably one of the best parts was when a bunch of us got together at the bar, John Gilstrap included. It's great to meet agents and get amazing feedback, but it's really fun to hang out with a best-selling author at the end of it all! 

J. H. Bográn, born and raised in Honduras, is the son of a journalist. He ironically prefers to write fiction rather than fact. José is the author of TREASURE HUNT, the first in the series of a professional thief that goes by the handle of The Falcon. Other works include short stories, contributor to The Big Thrill magazine, co-screenwriter for two TV serials and movie reviews for Honduran newspaper La Prensa. He’s a member of the International Thriller Writers and of writer’s online community Backspace.

You can find him on the WEB, on Twitter @JHBogran, Facebook and Blogger.