Promotional YouTube videos & Jacinta di Mase on second chances, pitching, and what agents bring to the table

In this episode, Kate and Katherine discuss making promotional YouTube videos. Katherine asks Kate about hers and they check other authors to see who has the most views. You’ll never guess who it is. Katherine bemoans the state of her hair and the hosts wonder why their faces look so weird in the opening footage. [WHY IS THAT?!]

In the main event, we speak to agent Jacinta di Mase about second chances, pitching to publishers and what agents bring to the table.

Jacinta di Mase is the founder, director and lead agent of the literary agency Jacinta di Mase Management. She has a background in bookselling and publishing, and has worked in two of Australia’s premier literary agencies: Australian Literary Management (ALM), and Jenny Darling & Associates.

Jacinta is past President of the Australian Literary Agents’ Association and, for a number of years, was a member of the Australia Council for the Arts Visiting International Publishers Program.

We talk about:

• Rosemary Creswell and Jean Bedford’s book Colouring In: A Book of Ideologically Unsound Love Stories
• The ACT Writers’ Centre’s Hardcopy program (Enter! Apply!). Other writers Jacinta signed at Hardcopy include Michelle Scott Tucker, Serina Bird, Sarah Vincent
• How agents put together their pitch
• Audio rights, a game changer
• Advances for debut authors
• Things first time authors can do to get ahead…

Jacinta names Burial Rights, Past the Shallows , What the Raven Saw, The Lucky Galah, as excellent examples of debut novels. Also The Fortress by S.A. Jones, not a debut but a great read.

Jacinta tells aspiring authors to get to know booksellers, read local, buy local and share your joy about local books on social media.

Find out more about Jacinta on her website or follow her on Twitter , Instagram or Facebook.