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What does a Literary Scout do?

01 Nov 2009 | Liz Thomson

Literary Scouts come in to their own at book fairs but, in a role where discretion is all, much of their work goes on behind the scenes and remains something of a mystery to rest of us. Liz Thomson hears how they work…

To listen out, to observe, to explore, to evaluate, to discover talented people, to gather information…  All explain and define the role of a scout, a term that comes originally from old French, ascouter, meaning to listen.

As to literary scouts, “we are the editorial eyes and ears for the publishers we work with outside the UK”, is how Anne-Louise Fisher, one of Britain’s most distinguished scouts, sums up the role. “We’re hired to find books that they can translate and publish – it’s much like being an editor based in London looking for books.”

An agent might approach her with a manuscript which is on submission to British publishers, in which case Fisher, or one of her colleagues at Anne-Louise Fisher Associates, would read it and write a report, which would then be sent those editors at the publishing houses whose interests the company represents. If those editors like the report, they would follow it up – and hopefully buy rights for their particular market. 

Anne-Louise Fisher Associates represents publishers in 13 territories – the US, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Holland, Spain, Brazil and Greece – plus Heyday Films in London. Essentially, it’s one publisher in each market. “It’s quite competitive, because you’re looking for the best of whatever it is,” Fisher explains, which means you can’t be reporting on (and thus effectively recommending) a project to rival publishers who are playing on the same turf.

Equally, scouts are themselves competitive with other scouts working for other publishers, so the goal is to get hold of a “hot” manuscript as soon as possible. However, while Fisher would always want to be ahead of the pack in reading a script, she is concerned also to do the best for the author – and that may mean holding off on a report until there is an edited manuscript ready for despatch. “I don’t like the speed with which stuff goes out to a million people and I’d rather publishers read a manuscript when the work is done, because they won’t read it twice.”

Of course, much of the editorial work these days is done by the agent, before submission to publishers. But whereas, 27 years ago, when Anne-Louise Fisher began her scouting career, a manuscript (which would then have been typewritten and carbon-copied) would be photocopied and then mailed (perhaps occasionally couriered) to international publishers, today email means that editors around the world can be reading it at the same time as their colleagues in London. The mania to get hold of everything instantly – like the need to put books into the schedule long before they’re written and then rush them through the editorial and production process come what may – can be unhealthy and can lead to unwise decisions: the rejection of a manuscript that hasn’t yet been polished to perfection, or overpaying for something about which there is a “buzz” that never translates into sales.

Part of the scout’s job is to manage expectations and the more experienced and trusted the scout the more key their advice. “Technology has made things faster and more pressured and you can’t control that,” Fisher admits. “In saying we’d rather wait to send [a project out], if something has obvious potential you’ve got to balance things. And you have to constantly follow what’s going on.”

While as Fisher has noted, agents generally submit manuscripts to scouts as they are submitting to publishers, sometimes the scout is in the position of trying to get hold of a manuscript that’s being kept under wraps. “We occasionally have to resort to subterfuge, but not often” she admits. “Agents can get pretty paranoid about material but if they don’t include us in submissions they’re fools – publishers recognise us as a help to them, another editorial opinion. That’s what they pay us for.”

Trust – in both the person and their judgment – is crucial, and Anne-Louise Fisher is trusted and revered. She’s been scouting now for 27 years, having first worked in rights for Penguin and then Andre Deutsch when that company was a literary power in the land. “There are some men, but scouting is pretty much women. Very intelligent European women,” Fisher continues. “I suppose it was a role they could combine with family and children.”

The Anne-Louise Fisher Agency “grew organically”, with Mondadori the first client after BOGG. “I’ve never approached anyone in my life.” Fisher plus her team of four will read and assess an average of 10 to 12 manuscripts a week, though around London and Frankfurt as many as 30 a day can pile up, a situation that is scarcely conducive to careful consideration as she admits. “I’ve got a big team and we all work incredibly hard, and for big, respected publishers. It’s much harder if you’re smaller and have only two or three clients.”

Though Fisher and her colleagues have particular passions and specialties, what’s attractive about the role is the range of material up for assessment. “Most of us are generalists, but scouts reflect the publishers they work for, and with quite large publishers such as those we work for, their range is broad. Koukla MacLehose [another much-respected scout] works with quite literary publishers. I love the range. You’re looking at what the UK has to offer and finding books that will work for your Italian or French publisher.” And the essential requirement for the job? “A good editorial nose, as in publishing. It’s good to be fleet of foot and efficient, and people skills are essential.”

Among the authors she’s most proud of helping to place is Diane Setterfield (whose The Thirteenth Tale  was “virtually a clean sweep, our biggest single success in that almost all our clients bought it”), Andrea Levy and, most recently, Rebecca James’ young adult debut Beautiful Malice.  Merely “selling information” is all too easy but not something that interests anyone at Anne-Louise Fisher Associates, though there are occasions when there’s not much else that can be done, as, for example, with Jonny Geller’s Mandela prison diaries project.

The aim, though is “to add value… to convey to an editor sitting in Milan or wherever what the book is…We have a very close relationship with the people we work with, and that makes it an enjoyable experience for us, and so much more rewarding,” concludes Fisher. “If we love a book, we can influence hugely what happens to it. We’re very proud of our editorial relationships with our publishers.”

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