We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Lizz Nagle a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Lizz, thanks for sitting with us today to chat about topics that are relevant to so many. One of those topics is communication skills, because we live in an age where our ability to communicate effectively can be like a superpower. Can you share how you developed your ability to communicate well?
I’ve been learning effective communication my entire life. My mom claims I was talking at six months old, but I am also the oldest of four children. In a household with that many people, you had to get creative to be heard.
In college, as editor of the newspaper, president of the literary club, and editor in chief of the literary magazine on campus, I continued to learn how to communicate well and gained a foundation in leadership.
When my publishing journey began in late 2018, I was working from home in Pennsylvania and my mentor Shannon was doing the same in Arizona. When the pandemic came, the world joined us. Online communication became everyone’s new normal. Connecting with clients and friends all over the world has pushed me to be clear and thoughtful with my words like never before. And I rarely even need to leave home.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
Never able to put a book down, I used to read while walking to school. From elementary school on, I wrote my own stories and dreamt of being a published author one day. But then I started college as a chemistry major in the forensic science program. I had my heart set on investigating crime scenes. I struggled through the science lectures, working hard and barely scraping by. Comparatively, I slacked off in my English classes and got A’s. My poetry professor suggested a change of majors. I figured I was better off writing about crimes than solving them.
Now I wield my education in English, Creative Writing, and Communication as CEO and Senior Agent at Victress Literary where I help others’ dreams to publication become a reality. Best. Switch. Ever. I represent authors in adult fiction, young adult fiction, adult nonfiction, and poetry. As a boutique agency, I help clients edit their work, sell their manuscripts to publishers, negotiate their contracts, coach their career, and promote their work. When not agenting, reading, or editing, I might be found on a hiking trail, in a thrift store, traveling to a concert, doing a puzzle, playing guitar badly, or rescuing an animal with one of my teenage daughters.
As a newer agency established in 2018 by Shannon Orso, we’re still finding our groove in this industry. As best friends and colleagues, one of the things Shannon and I both wanted was for Victress Literary to have a family mentality. We are huge on community and collaboration around here.
Our clients give feedback to each other, promote each other’s books, give each other advice,
do open mic nights and critique groups together, brainstorm together, play dungeons and dragons together, and go to conferences together. We support each other through tragedies and celebrate triumphs together. Everyone is truly supportive of each other at Victress, and it is amazing to be a part of such a great group of humans.
Speaking of my amazing clients, I will brag for a second.
The Ascenditure, by Robyn Dabney, is a gripping feminist mountaineering tale wrapped in a compelling mystery that readers of any age will get lost in.
The Winter Heir, by J. A. Nielsen, book two in the Fractured Kingdom Series, just came out earlier this month. It’s a Young Adult fantasy world full of magic and faeries.
Then I am super excited about The Sunflower House being released on November 11 from St. Martin’s Press: “Family secrets come to light as a young woman fights to save herself, and others, in a Nazi-run baby factory—a real-life Handmaid’s Tale—during World War II.”
Then I am anxiously awaiting the release of Stacy Johns’ What Remains of Teague House in April 2025, following the Rawlins siblings who return to their childhood home in the wake of their mother’s funeral only to find multiple bodies buried in their backyard, one put there just last week.
You can purchase both wherever books are sold.
What is the number one obstacle or challenge you are currently facing and what are you doing to try to resolve or overcome this challenge?
Facing rejection for myself and all of Victress Literary’s clients is the biggest obstacle I am currently facing. No matter how good a book is, it is usually going to be passed on a few times before it is sold. It is daunting to be passed on by editor after editor at publishing house after publishing on manuscript after manuscript for client after client until you get that win. It takes a special kind of person to bear the brunt of rejection for an entire literary agency.
Rejection is painful and destabilizing. It can lead to actual physical pain, lower self-esteem, and even depression. But to sell a manuscript, I must risk rejection. And with over 35 clients, I must risk a lot of it to get a sale. It wears me down emotionally (and even physically, at times) and makes my job intimidating. Which means it’s even worse for my clients when the rejection trickles down to them.
But if I sat in the fear and uncertainty of rejection, Victress Literary would never see another sale and this agency would shutter. Instead, when I get a rejection, I remind myself it’s not personal, it’s only business. I remind myself that rejection is common in this industry, and I’m not terminally unique. Then I get to work. I do my best to learn what I can from each pass from an editor. Then I put as positive a spin on it as possible for my client. I look for trends with any other passes on that manuscript so that I can formulate a revision plan.
The cure for rejection also lies in reminding myself of the progress I have made, of manuscripts I have sold. In thinking about how Victress continues to grow with new, exciting talent, the amazing projects we have on submission to have an offer made on them at any moment, and in planning for conferences we’ve been invited back to year after year. In preparing for our internship program where we’re giving opportunities for young people to learn about and build skills in the publishing industry. In daydreaming about incredibly bright and blinding future Victress Literary has ahead.
By taking positive action, I don’t allow the negativity of rejection to take root and fester inside of me. Because it so easily could take me under. The accumulation of rejection could turn into despair and depression and the beautiful community that Shannon and I started, that Alisha and I foster, would crumble. Not on my journey. I refuse to allow that.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.victressliterary.com/
- Instagram: victresslizz
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lizz-nagle-50a345b5/
- Twitter: victresslizz
Image Credits
All photo credits are mine.
