“Read! Consider it research for your career.”
-Arielle Datz
Every year, the Writers’ League of Texas brings a faculty of close to thirty agents, editors, and other industry professionals to Austin for its Agents & Editors Conference. As we look ahead to the 25th Annual A&E Conference, taking place June 29–July 1, 2018, we’re happy to share Q&As with some of our faculty here.
An Interview with Arielle Datz
Arielle Datz started as an intern at Dunow, Carlson, & Lerner in 2011. She then worked in the foreign rights department at WME, followed by 2 years at the Elizabeth Kaplan Literary Agency. She returned to DCLA in 2015. She is looking for fiction (mostly adult, but is open to young adult and middle grade), both literary and commercial. In nonfiction, she is looking for essays, unconventional memoir, pop culture, and sociology.
Scribe: How would you describe your personal approach to working with an author?
Arielle Datz: I am as involved as the author wants me to be. I have a strong editorial eye, so I am very involved pre-book sale, and once a book is with an editor at a publisher I take a step back unless my input is needed. I see myself as a guide for the author through the labyrinth of the publishing world.
Scribe: What do you look for in a debut author?
AD: A strong voice with a story (or stories!) to tell.
Scribe: If you could give writers one piece of advice, what would it be?
AD: Read! Consider it research for your career. Read books within your genre, and stay up to date on what is successful in mainstream publishing.
Scribe: Tell us about a recent book that you worked with–you know, brag on one of your writers!
AD: If We Were Villains by M. L. Rio–the story set me ablaze from the beginning, and then it turned out that we work tremendously well as a team. She has a keen sense of voice and her characters weasel their way into my brain, such that I can’t stop thinking about them.
—
Thanks, Arielle!
Click here to read our 2018 A&E Conference agent bios.
Click here for more information on the 2018 Agents & Editors Conference, a weekend long event in Austin, TX (June 29-July 1) that focuses on the craft of writing, the business of publishing, and building a literary community.
