Who: Byrd Leavell

Claim To Fame: Byrd Leavell has been an agent for over fifteen years and has represented authors like Aubrey Marcus, Cat Marnell (How To Murder Your Life: A Memoir), and most recently, Guy Raz (How I Built This — releasing Sep 15, 2020). He’s helped create dozens of New York Times bestsellers for writers of narrative non-fiction, sports, humor, and commercial fiction. Some of his other clients include Chip and Joanna Gaines, Tiffany Haddish, Don Lemon, Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant (hosts of the Stuff You Should Know podcast), Adam Savage, Neil Strauss, Rich Roll & Julie Piatt, Cenk Uygur, Eoin Dempsey, James Rebanks, Drew Magary, Scott Sigler, Brian Kilmeade, Kristin Hensley and Jen Smedley’s #IMOMSOHARD, Justin Halpern, Adam Skolnick, The Anonymous author of Diary of an Oxygen Thief, Mat Best, Babe Walker, George Karl, Jay Chandrasekhar, Steve Spurrier, “Weird Al” Yankovic, Pete Sampras, Mark Frauenfelder, John. L. Parker Jr., and Rob Elliott – whose LOL series has sold more than 2.5 million copies.

Where To Find Byrd: His Website, Twitter, LinkedIn

Praise For Byrd: “Byrd is like a juggling snow leopard. There are very few like him and what is rarer still is that you could actually encounter one like him on the wild, ever-changing terrain where he lives and plies his trade. But even more than that, he manages to balance competing interests, to service multiple relationships, and to know both what editors are looking for and what readers are looking for. His commercial instincts are second to none, and his eternal optimism and joy for books make the business of publishing worth all the trouble and effort.” — Nils Parker, Multiple NYT & WSJ bestselling author, ghostwriter, editor.

You graduated from UVA then the Radcliffe Publishing Program before landing your first job at Carlisle & Company. It seems like you were certain about pursuing a career as a literary agent. How did those aspirations begin?

I remember reading a Stephen King novel when I was probably in 7^th grade and running into a bunch of typos. Which seemed so crazy to me. But it also suddenly humanized publishing. Someone was making mistakes. Which means that there were people handling these pages at where Viking (King’s publisher) was in New York City. And that one day maybe I could actually be one of those people. Which, when you are growing up on a farm in Virginia, is a hell of a thought to have.

Flash to six years later and I’m sitting in a lecture hall at Radcliffe listening to a panel of literary agents. An occupation I had never heard of until I walked into the room. I just knew I wanted to work in book publishing, I had no idea in what capacity. But as I listened to them describe what they did for a living, and realized that I could be in it together with the writers I worked with in a way that was so intrinsic to the work itself, so all-in. And that I could avoid working at one of those huge corporate publishing houses that felt way too close to living the monotonous life of Bartleby the Scrivener. Well, I never looked back. I never had a plan B after that. Literary Agent or bust.

Over the fifteen-plus years you’ve been in the industry, publishing has gone through many different stages. Are there some recent trends that have surprised you and that aspiring writers should keep in mind?

So many stages. The move from the publishing houses is always going to be toward fewer, bigger swings. That is unfortunate in many ways. The idea of building an author book by book is not something publishers even pretend to address or aspire to any more. Editors are desperate to publish one of the 2% (don’t quote me on that statistic–it’s probably 1% or less) of books that actually breaks through and finds an audience.

But with that in mind, always remember that pragmatism couched within ruthless optimism is the best way to approach this industry. Which is why you have to present a book that feels like a big swing. With fiction it has to be so tight. From the first page you need to capture that agent’s/editor’s attention and never let it go. And with non-fiction you have to present a compelling case about why your book is actually going to work: why this idea, why you, why right now. What Big Problem are you solving for people? What Big Trend are you giving voice to? A good example of this is that my wonderful client Julia Piatt, who reached out because she makes beautiful cheeses out of nuts, and she realizes there were no good books in the market about this. We put a proposal together, sold it to the perfect publisher, and This Cheese is Nuts! has gone on to own the exact space in the market we knew it would. It is the book people seek out for this topic and will continue to sell well for years and years.

How do you think ebooks and audio have affected the market? Have they had any impact on the way publishers acquire books?

What is remarkable is how the Chicken Littles who keep predicting the death of print keep being wrong again and again. Even during this pandemic print book sales are up. I am fortunate enough to work in an industry in which the original packaging, that is thousands of years old, is still the best way to consume it.

This said, audio is a hugely emergent form. Guttenberg didn’t have Bluetooth speakers to work with. I’ve had bestsellers in which the audio sales are greater than the print and electronic combined. None more so that Tiffany Haddish’s book The Last Black Unicorn. And for editors you have seen a shift to the conversations in which they are also envisioning how good the audio book could be. Could the author read it? Could it be a huge hit in that format? Because, if so, they are going to offer more.

Given all the query letters you receive, how does a writer stand out and really capture your attention and interest? What common mistakes do you see in query letters?

The writing in the query is so crucial. To quote an old boss, “we work in a business of words.” And you can tell how good a query is within the first 2-3 sentences. Because that’s how long it takes to determine how well someone can write.

Beyond that, what I would say is that the main mistake I see in query letters, beyond using books that have sold tens of millions of copies as your comparison titles, is that the query feels like I WANT A BOOK DEAL. Which is not what any of us who work in publishing are here to do—make you live your dreams. We are here to work on books that reach people and sell copies. To that end, your query should feel like a professional explanation of a book that is going to work in the marketplace. Establish that vibe in your query and you are going to have a great shot.

And then all the usual tips about researching each agent and personalizing it to show why you are contacting them. And we know all the tricks!

A lot of your clients are people you scouted and tracked down on your own. What kind of things do you look for? Any sure signs that you’ve found an up-and-comer?

First I am looking for a real relationship with their fans/followers. Getting someone to buy your book is not an easy thing to do. But certain clients can announce their book and immediately sell 20K copies. That is the causality I am looking for.

And then what is driving the engagement? Is there something within what that person is doing that can translate into the entirely different medium of book publishing? And how can I help them figure out exactly what that is?

The sure sign I’ve found an up and comer is connecting with someone who has a huge following, and then when you speak to them they are a reader. They can immediately describe the book they want to do, including descriptions of all the books it will be compared to, and why theirs will be special. Which is a lot, I know. But I have had those conversations and they are as good as my job gets at that phase. Electroshocks. If all of us immediately can see the book and know it is going to be a hit, that is probably exactly what it is going to happen.

Having a platform online is one of the biggest assets agents and publishers look for. From all your experience with writers who have built massive audiences, what would you tell someone trying to build a platform?

That’s a tough one to answer. So much goes into building a platform. The clients I have worked with who have huge audiences do seem to have some common threads. They live what they do. They love it. And it’s all real. If there is anything inauthentic within your approach, people will pick up on that and bail quickly every time. And then beyond that it is WORK. They all do the work. Putting up great content all the time is a huge commitment, but that is what it takes to build a large audience. And that’s what it takes to build a great book.

Deciding on an idea to pursue can be the most challenging aspect for a writer. Perhaps you could provide insights on what not to pursue. What are you and other agents tired of seeing?

Fiction is all about the experience of the read. With non-fiction, a good pitch feels like something unique that is moving the conversation forward in some way. It feels like an idea that can reach people, lift them up, and entertain them. It connects to the writer’s background or platform in a clear way that shows why they are the right person to write this book.

What we are tired of seeing is a pitch that is entirely self-centered and not well thought out in any real way. Auto-delete.

Any last pieces of advice to aspiring writers?

I am wrong all the time. So take everything you just read with a grain of salt. No one saw Fifty Shades of Grey coming. What matters more than anything else is that you believe in yourself and in the book you want to write. Because getting rejected is a terrible thing. And if you are setting out to find an agent and publisher, you are at the start of a journey that is going to involve a tremendous amount of it. More than you have probably ever received in your life. So put on your armor and be ready. Almost every bestselling author out there has survived the crucible you are about to undergo.

And, more than anything else READ. Read all the books in the category you see your book selling in. Read off the bestseller lists. Read because it makes you a better human. If you aren’t a reader, then you shouldn’t be trying to be a writer. Full stop.

What were/are you favorite/most formative books/writers as a reader, as a person growing up in the world, as an agent/professional working in publishing?

The best thing my mom ever did for me was take my sisters and me to the public library in Crozet, Virginia every week. We would fill up the LL Bean tote bag with books and then go home and work our way through them all week. I basically read the entire children’s section of that library: The Three Investigators series, Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, Judy Blume, these great books they had about the classic b&w horror movies…and then eventually I started looking at the adult books. And finding Stephen King’s Firestarter was the start of a relationship that carried me all the way through high school. I read every book he wrote, several of them multiple times. He was and still is my #1 author. If you are on this site, and have aspirations of being an author, then his book On Writing is an absolute must-read.

Recently, I’ve been on a huge Herman Wouk bender. He was such a special talent and his books have become a point of reference for me. His WWII series, Winds of War and then War and Remembrance, should basically be required reading for history buffs.

Beyond that, I really try to read the bestseller lists to keep a continuous feel for what people are responding to. Right now I’m loving David Mitchell’s Utopia Avenue. That man is a genius who walks among us.

I could keep going here, but will stop and make one very obvious statement. Twitter and all forms of social media make you feel worse. This is well documented. Reading a book makes you feel better. It also makes you a happier, more interesting person.  Being a reader is a better way to move through your entire life. So act in your self-interest. If you haven’t read a novel in a while, go find a good one, and try to read it before bed instead of doom-scrolling on your phone or passing out to Netflix. It will take one night and then you’ll be hooked. Trust me on this.

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