Funny You Should Ask!

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Happy Saturday, dear Reds and readers! Whatta week, whatta week. But here, we have a special little world, and you never know, and we try to be happy and optimistic and trust the universe.  (And winner of Sulari Gentill’s book from yesterday below.)

But now: raise your hands: How many of you are readers? Writers? Curious about how the publishing world works?  

How many would love to have a superbly inside look at why which books get published and why other things happen and how the decision-makers become who they are?

How many of you would love to meet someone in the absolute midst of all of this—and not only that, an insider who is generous and enthusiastic and inspirational enough to share the whole darn thing with us—and, moreover, be hilarious doing it?

Well, of course. All of us. 
And so, here’s the brilliant agent—and now author of the absolutely indispensable  FUNNY YOU SHOULD ASK--the wonderful Barbara Poelle.

HANK: Have you always loved books and writing? Where did you grow up--and what did you read? 

BARBARA POELLE: I have! I grew up in Minnesota. All of the women in my family are VORACIOUS readers- aunts, cousins, grandmothers- to the point where my Aunt Peg coined the phrase, “In this family you can never set down your drink or your book.” It’s true. Someone else will pick up both and vanish into the nearest recliner…hammock…lawn chair…

HANK:  Did you dream about being in book world?

BARBARA POELLE:  My husband, Travis, actually pushed me to seriously consider agenting when I was in my mid-20s. He got me thinking, “Wait, I love reading and my opinions are of course the right ones, is there a career for this?”

HANK: But--your path to the world of literature was not a straight line--straight line, get it? You were actually a stand-up comedian?

BARBARA POELLE:  I was! Stand-up, Sketch, and Improv in Los Angeles. I think everybody should have to do two things in life: wait tables and do stand-up. Both will simultaneously humble and exalt. And yes, when I stopped getting the buzz on stage and started looking for something else, I used my full skill set from both to start the foundation of how I approach agenting- anticipating needs and creating an atmosphere of congeniality.

HANK: What was your first moment in the world of publishing?

BARBARA POELLE:  I went in for my first interview with Irene (Goodman, the iconic agent whose name is on the agency) and it went well. 

She then gave me a stack of 20 queries with the five first pages attached and said “Go through these and tell me if you would request more and why. There are no right or wrong answers, just want to get a feel for your subjective taste.” She left me in the conference room, I went through them and pulled three out of the 20 that I had a solid case for pitching on WHY I felt they had merit. 

What I didn’t know is that she had secretly slipped three queries in there from actual clients that resulted in six figure deals.  I picked those three. She had a perfect poker face as I went through the reasons why I felt they had merit. Then after, she broke out into a huge grin and told me what she had done, and that I was the first person to pick out those three and only those three. It was pure adrenaline- for both of us, haha.

HANK: Wow wow wow. That is an amazing story. And that’s how you became an agent?

BARBARA POELLE:  Well yes. NAILED THE INTERVIEW. But actually, it is a larger story that speaks to the importance of Informational Interviews. I tapped every resource I had to find a path to both agents and editors, requested an informational interview, and came prepared to ask pointed questions. It became very clear very quickly that I was better suited to the agent side, and thus, I went after it, hard.

HANK: What are you most proud of in your career so far?

BARBARA POELLE:  Oh wow, just all of my authors. I am so so, so damn proud of them.

HANK: And you have some amazing clients—here’s your website, and it’s a joy.  We've been talking about commas and hyphens around here lately--how was it to work with authors? 

BARBARA POELLE:  I find authors to be some of the most brilliant, fascinating and delightful people to work with--a big part of what keeps me in this is the pure awe I feel regarding their talent. (See what I did there with all the hyphens and commas!)

HANK: Oh, you are too good. (no oxford comma, hmm…) But--what's one thing an author should never say to a copyeditor?

BARBARA POELLE:  “STET ALL.”

HANK: I wish you could see me—I just burst out laughing. Oh, rats. Off to fix my ms.  And now--you're on the other side—you’ve written a book. Yay! After your amazing column in Writers Digest--why did you decide to write FUNNY YOU SHOULD ASK? And answer so many writers' questions? It's an amazing insight--and such an education. 

BARBARA POELLE:  Aw, thanks! It wasn’t so much a decision on my part, my editor suggested it and made the offer. I was both the worst agent and the worst client for myself, hahaha. I agented like, “Deliver Oct 29 for pub on Jan 14? Sure! She can crash it!” and I cliented like, “Oh yeah, totally, my husband is out of town for three months and I am single parenting and have my own client list; I’ll just wake up at 4:45 every morning and hammer this out.” Both of us either needed to put way less or way MORE vodka in our cornflakes. But we got it done.

HANK: I am still laughing so hard--we all do what we can, right? As we watch the deadlines click ever closer?  And I can picture you talking to yourself…but you KNEW it was a terrific idea. Funny, though, because of your other lives, you are so much more savvy and experienced than most authors. What are the biggest misconceptions authors (and aspiring authors) have?

BARBARA POELLE: That agents are gatekeepers. We want this for you just as badly as you want it for yourself. We want your experience to be like a greased pig in a laundry chute, smooth and happily whee wheeing all the way home.

Huh, that simile might have gotten away from me, but you know what? I stand by it.

HANK: Hmm. I have never felt like a pig in a laundry chute. Hmm. I am trying to picture that now. ::pausing:: Okay, even so, I’ll stand by the simile, too. So, okay. Just for a tease of the treasures inside your book: tell us…what’s one thing an author should never say to an agent?

BARBARA POELLE:  “I told you to tell them NO GREEN M&Ms!” [sound of chair through plate glass window]

HANK: How fabulous is Barbara? And how generous? So--who has a question? 

Like: after how many rejections should you give up? Why do some agents love a book--and others don't? What do you think about trends? And um, what's the biggest trend right now? And asking for a friend: how long can the domestic suspense trend last?

And a copy of FUNNY YOU SHOULD ASK to one incredibly lucky commenter.

(And oh, yesterday’s winner of AFTER SHE WROTE HIM by Sulari Gentill is Cathy Akers-Jordan! YAY! Email me your address!

Barbara Poelle is Vice President at the Irene Goodman Literary Agency, representing a variety of genres but focusing on suspense, thriller, upmarket and young adult fiction. Her book Funny You Should Ask: Mostly Serious Answers to Mostly Serious Questions about the Book Publishing Industry (January 14, 2020; Writer’s Digest Books) is based on her Writer’s Digest column of the same name. You can visit her at funnyyoushouldaskbook.com or irenegoodman.com/barbara-poelle

FUNNY YOU SHOULD ASK, which is based on Barbara’s popular Writer’s Digest advice column of the same name, features responses to more than 100 questions by aspiring and emerging writers (including many not covered in her column and expanded answers to topics that didn’t get the full treatment in a column), as well as writing exercises, submission checklists and a publishing BINGO scorecard for every milestone accomplished.

Some helpful topics covered in the book:

• The nuts and bolts of a query letter
• How to process the soul-searing envy of watching someone else’s career flourish
• How to talk to your editor

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HANK:  And breaking--very sad--news: we acknowledge, with much love and admiration and infinite gratitude for her generosity, and talent, and joy, and friendship and life-changing work, the death of Mary Higgins Clark, the queen of us all.She and her husband adored each other as I could see in every moment I saw them together.  I will never been the same for knowing her, and I will never forget her.