Query Questions with Margot Belet
Writers have copious amounts of imagination. It's what makes their stories so fantastic. But there's a darker side to so much out-of-the-box thinking. When a writer is in the query trenches, their worries go into overdrive. They imagine every possible disaster.
Here to relieve some of that endless worrying is a series called Query Questions. I'll ask the questions which prey on every writer's mind, and hopefully take some of the pain out of querying. These are questions that I've seen tossed around on twitter and writing sites. They are the type of questions that you need answers from the real expert--agents!
I'm so happy to bring Query Questions back from the dead with new interviews. Since I stopped doing interviews, a whole new crop of agents have settled into the business, and I'm sure people would like to know more about them.
Today we learn a little more about foreign agents with Margot Belet of agentur literatur Gudrun Hebel in Germany.
Is there a better or worse time of year to query?
I read submissions whenever I find a spare moment, so the short answer is no. However, I would avoid sending out submissions during the holidays (for us in Germany, that's mainly Christmas, Easter, and a few weeks in July-August) as well as during the weeks leading up to the major trade book fairs (Frankfurt in October, London in March, BookExpo America in May). Nobody wants their submission to end up at the bottom of an agent's inbox.
Do you look at sample pages without fail or only if the query is strong?
As long as the query fits the genres/themes I'm looking for (or is somehow intriguing enough to make me forget about those genres), I'll always read the sample pages.
Margot Belet moved from Belgium to Berlin, Germany to join the “agentur literatur Gudrun Hebel” agency in June 2020. Although Dutch is her native language, she was brainwashed early on by her anglophile parents. Her love affair with English-language literature started with “Jane Eyre” at the age of 12 and despite this being just slightly overambitious, she has never looked back. After two MA degrees – in Sociology from a Belgian university, and European Culture at University College London – Margot went on to complete a PhD in Cultural Sociology, during which she developed a Twitter roleplay exercise that helps adolescents enjoy reading. Of course, she also gathered publishing experience: at literary agencies in London and New York, and as a fellow at the nonfiction editorial department of the German trade publisher Rowohlt.
As Margot is not yet added to her website there, she has given me her submission information. Any writers whose work fits my wish list are welcome to mail a short author bio, synopsis (the whole story, with spoilers) and the first 40 pages to: margot.belet@agentur-literatur.de
