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| Walk It Off by Ruth Marshall, represented by WCA |
Westwood Creative Artists
The Chelsea Shop
386 Huron Street
Toronto, Ontario
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Meg
Wheeler was recently promoted to Associate Agent
with Westwood
Creative Artists {WCA}, one of Canada’s largest
literary agency. It’s also one of the oldest and most respected. Clients
include Mark Sakamoto, Justin Trudeau, Thomas King, Alan Doyle, Rosemary
Sullivan, Kyo Maclear, Karma Brown, and Hannah Mary McKinnon (who many Quick
Brown Fox readers will know from classes and workshops over the
years). There are seven agents on the team: Carolyn Forde, Jackie
Kaiser, Michael A. Levine, Hilary McMahon, John Pearce, Bruce Westwood, and
Meg Wheeler.
Meg agreed to be interviewed by Quick Brown Fox....
Quick
Brown Fox:
Tell us a bit about your background.
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| Meg Wheeler |
Meg: When I started my
undergraduate degree at Glendon College (part of York University), I chose to
study English and French because I thought I wanted to be a teacher. Halfway
through my degree I wised up and realized I’d make a horrible teacher, so I
started to explore other avenues that a degree in English and French can lead
down.
As a voracious reader from a young age, the publishing industry seemed
like a natural fit, but I had no idea where to start or even what the different
possible jobs were.
Around that same time, a poet who
ran a blog I loved announced via Twitter that he’d signed a book deal. I DMed the
publisher (a wonderful indie on the west coast called Central Avenue Publishing) and laid myself at her feet, and she took me on, on a freelance basis.
I worked for her for a couple of years, doing a little bit of everything. She provided
me with more than enough hands-on experience for me to be able to decide that I
definitely wanted to pursue publishing as a career.
As my studies wound down I started looking at jobs
in the field and quickly realized that most job postings requested a
certificate or graduate degree in publishing. I loved being a student so I
decided to pursue the graduate degree, and at the time the only MA in
publishing in the country was at Simon Fraser University, but London, England,
is roughly the same distance from Toronto as SFU, and I’d always wanted to
travel Europe, so I decided to turn earning my degree into an adventure. I
spent 12 months studying and working in the U.K., two months traveling, and
then I returned home to start my job hunt.
Shortly after I came back to Canada, WCA was looking for an intern to
help them with their preparations for the London Book Fair, so I stepped into
that role. And then luckily a spot in WCA’s foreign rights department opened up
shortly after the internship ended, and I’ve been here ever since. I started as
a Rights Assistant and Executive Assistant in July 2015, was promoted to Rights
Associate in 2016, to Associate Agent in late 2018, and to International Rights
Director also in late 2018.
 |
| The Ice Chips and the Magical Rink by Roy and Kerry MacGregor, represented by WCA |
QBF: What sorts of
books are you looking for?
Meg: Right now I’m looking
for anything and everything. I will admit I am not widely read in the science
fiction and fantasy genres but what I have read I have thoroughly enjoyed (I do
love Station Eleven and The Song of
Ice and Fire series, and Patrick Rothfuss’s The
Name of the Wind).
I am looking to build a broad list. I love gripping
women’s fiction, engaging nonfiction that sheds a light on something I’d
previously not considered in much detail, lifestyle, literary fiction, memoir,
things that push the boundaries of style and genre… You name it, I’ll read it.
When reading solely for pleasure, I tend to gravitate towards fiction over
nonfiction and I love historical fiction.
QBF: What sorts of
commercial fiction are you particularly interested in?
Meg: I love women’s fiction (especially women’s fiction that’s issue-driven),
thrillers, and police procedurals. For example, I am a lover of Tayari Jones,
Ruth Ware, and Peter James.
QBF: In
literary fiction, what especially appeals to you?
Meg: I love plot-driven literary fiction that comes with gleaming prose. Many
of my favourite literary novels I’ve read in the past twelve months have at
least some historical element to them and all are written by own voices. For a
sampling of my favourites that I read in the past year: Katherina Vermette’s The Break, Yaa Gyasi’s Homegoing (this is a real personal
favourite), John Boyne’s A Ladder to the
Sky, The Underground Railroad by
Colson Whitehead.
QBF: Are you
interested in young adult or middle grade fiction at all?
Meg: I am! I represent Kerry MacGregor, co-author of the middle-grade Ice
Chips series and co-author of the later titles in the Screech Owls series. I read
a lot of YA in my personal time; in fact, I just finished reading If You Come Softly by Jacqueline Woodson
for the Life’s Library book club which is run on Discord.
QBF: What areas of
nonfiction are you especially interested in?
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| Stalin's Daughter by Rosemary Sullivan, represented by WCA |
Meg: Before I began signing clients with the agents at WCA I would have said
that I’d represent mainly fiction as an agent, but it turns out that I seem to
prefer representing nonfiction! I am a sucker for a great memoir, and I also
love biographies à la Stalin’s Daughter by
Rosemary Sullivan. I’m also really interested in current events–related nonfiction
and lifestyle books. Nonfiction that’s far on the academic end of the spectrum
likely won’t be up my alley.
QBF: Is there
anything that seems overdone these days?
Meg: Books by YouTube celebrities are overdone and they seem to be on the way
out. Also, books with “girl” in the title have been absolutely everywhere since
Girl on the Train and I’m happy to
report they seem to be on the way out also. Right now, books with floral covers
are everywhere – I think they’re beautiful (I’m a sucker for a good floral
anything), but you can’t avoid them at the moment.
QBF: Tell us about
your process when you’re considering a project,
Meg: I read the query
letter and sample writing, and if I am hooked enough that I want to keep
reading then I’ll request the balance of the manuscript (or however much more
material there is available) from the author and keep reading.
If I’m falling in love with it, I’ll do some
research on the author and on the market to see what else might be out there
that would either make a great comp {i.e., a published book to compare your ms
to} or that might be too similar and therefore deter me from taking the project
on.
If I get to the end and I’m enamoured and I think there’s room for the
manuscript in the marketplace, I’ll arrange a chat with the author to make sure
we’re a good fit for one another.
QBF: What grabs
your attention when you’re reading a query
letter?
Meg: A query that is
riddled with typos grabs my attention in a negative way. We all make mistakes
(I’m sure there are typos in my responses to this interview!) but if I’m
finding mistakes in every sentence then I find it hard to focus on what the
writer is really trying to say.
On a more positive note, someone who’s done their
homework regarding whom they’re submitting to always garners a check mark in the
pro column for me. As I mentioned before, it’s really important that an author
and their agent make a good team so authors should be doing their research when
selecting agents to query.
Another thing that grabs my attention is if the author has followed our submission guidelines, and if they themselves have already done a little research into books
that could be used as comps.
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| Why Young Men by Jamil Jivani, represented by WCA |
QBF: Besides a
great book, what else do you look for in a client? Do you want your
clients to have a strong social media presence?
Meg: A strong social media
presence can be a boon but it is not necessary. If I can successfully place the
author’s book with a publisher, then the publisher’s publicist in conjunction
with WCA can help the author build an online presence if we’re all agreed it’s
needed. I have signed clients who have no social media accounts whatsoever, so
it isn’t an insurmountable hurdle.
But if an author does have a strong social media presence and they have
been published previously by journals, online or print magazines, newspapers,
blogs, etc. that does add another dimension to the project as a whole.
QBF: What writing
advice do you most often give your clients?
Meg: I don’t always give
this advice (it depends on the project) but something I often tell clients is
to step away from their work for a while, especially when it’s fiction. After
months and years of working on a book, sometimes you get too close to it and
need a break so that you can read it with fresh eyes and a new perspective down
the road. I know this seems a little counterintuitive, because the longer a
break you take the longer it takes to get the book out on submission, but I
have found this to be supremely helpful when working with fiction writers.
I also advise clients that it is hugely important to continue reading.
Some authors like to stop reading while they’re writing so that they don’t
inadvertently pick up something stylistic from the books their reading, but in
general, reading widely makes everyone a better writer.
QBF: What would
you like writers to know about the publishing industry?
Meg: Be prepared for
rejections. You will likely endure many rejections from agents, but try to bear
in mind that they aren’t rejecting you personally. And if you do land an agent,
then more rejection is likely to follow from editors before the right editor is
found. I sound like a total downer, I realize, but it’s not all bad: it only
takes one agent and one editor. This is such a subjective business that it
takes time to find the right champions.
Also, feel free to ask questions! The publishing industry is notoriously
opaque in how it works and I encourage questions.
QBF: What would
you like to say to aspiring authors?
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| The Life Lucy Knew by Karma Brown, represented by WCA |
Meg: Don’t give up hope, and as I said earlier, it only takes one. You might
be having trouble finding an agent or an editor for this particular book, and
maybe the time for it just isn’t right, right now. Revisit it in the future, and
try to write and read more in the meantime.
Query Meg at: wca_office@wcaltd.com
Include the word “query”
in the subject line. See WCAs full submission guidelines here.
The best way to grow as a writer
is with a weekly course
and there are five courses starting soon (details
of all five here):
Exploring Creative Writing, Thursday
afternoons, January 24 – April 5 (no class March 14), in Burlington, Details here.
Writing Kid Lit, Thursday
evenings, Jan 24 – March 28 (no class March 14), in Oakville.
Details here.
Intensive Creative Writing, Tuesday
afternoons, Jan 22 – April 2 (no class March 12); first readings emailed
Jan 15, in Burlington. Details here.
Intensive Creative Writing, Wednesday
evenings Jan 23 – April 3 (no class March 13); first readings emailed Jan
16, in Burlington. Details here.
Intensive Creative Writing, Friday
mornings Jan 25 – April 5 / 12 (10 or 11 weeks, no class March 13); first
readings emailed Jan 16, in Toronto. Details here.
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| Her Secret Son, coming May 2019 by Hannah Mary McKinnon represented by WCA |
Also coming soon: How
to Build Your Story: Plotting novels & Writing
short stories with guest author Hannah Mary McKinnon, Saturday, Jan 19 in
Oakville (see here), Writing
and Revising, Sat, Jan 26, in Caledon at the
Bolton Library (see here), Writing
with Style, Saturday, Feb 23, in Waterloo (see here) and
Saturday, March 16, in Mississauga (see here),
and How to Write a Bestseller, with
New York Times #1 bestselling author Kelley Armstrong (see here).
A weekend writing retreat:
Algonquin Writing Retreat, Friday,
May 31 – Monday, June 3, 2019: four days in the luxurious isolation of Arowhon Pines Resort to get down to some real creative
growth. Details here.
Spring courses:
Toronto: Welcome
to Creative Writing, Friday afternoons, April 26
– June 28 (No class May 31). Details here.
Oakville Central Library: Personal
Stories, Thursday evenings, April 18 – June 27 (No
class May 30). Details here.
Burlington: Intensive
Creative Writing, Tuesday afternoons, 12:30 –
2:45; April 16 – June 25 (No class June 4 (10 weeks) . Details to come.
Burlington: Intensive
Creative Writing, Wednesday afternoons, 12:30
– 2:45; April 17 – June 19. Details to come.
Georgetown: Intensive
Creative Writing, Wednesday evenings, 6:45 –
9:00; April 17 – June 19. Details to come.
Toronto: Intensive
Creative Writing, Friday mornings, 10:15 –
12:30 / 12: 45, April 26 – June 28. (No class May 31). Details to come.
To reserve a spot in any upcoming weekly course, weekend
retreat, or Saturday workshop, email Brian at: brianhenry@sympatico.ca
Read reviews of Brian’s courses, retreats, and
workshops here.
See Brian’s complete current schedule here, including Saturday
writing workshops, weekly writing classes, and weekend
retreats in Algonquin Park, Alliston, Bolton, Barrie, Brampton,
Burlington, Caledon, Collingwood, Georgetown, Georgina, Guelph, Hamilton,
Jackson’s Point, Kitchener-Waterloo, London, Midland, Mississauga, New
Tecumseth, Oakville, Ottawa, Peterborough, St. Catharines, Sudbury, Toronto,
Windsor, Woodstock, Halton, Muskoka, Peel, Simcoe, York Region, the GTA,
Ontario and beyond.
Navigation tips: Always check out the Labels underneath a post; they’ll lead you to various distinct collections of postings. If you're searching for more interviews with literary agents or a literary agent who represents a particular type of book, check out this post.
Navigation tips: Always check out the Labels underneath a post; they’ll lead you to various distinct collections of postings. If you're searching for more interviews with literary agents or a literary agent who represents a particular type of book, check out this post.
