Recently, author and NHWP member Brinda Charry reached out to us with some exciting news — she has secured a two-book deal with a literary agent, an editor, and Scribner Publishing. Brinda won the 2020 NH Writers’ Project’s “Pitch Party” with her pitch for this book, “The East Indian.” The “Pitch Party” is a mainstay of the NHWP annual 603 Writers’ Conference. The purpose of the “pitch” is to persuade members of the publishing community to take an interest in a completed work. Authors submit brief descriptions (the pitch) of their new books to NHWP prior to the conference and five finalists are selected. At the conference, an actor reads each of the five finalists’ pitches out loud to a panel of judges that includes published authors; literary agents; editors; TV writers/directors; and film producers.

Brinda told us “It was the NHWP conference and pitch contest that really motivated me to venture out and find agents – so I am very grateful!”

We caught up with Brinda and had a conversation about her experience. Her answers were so thorough, we have formatted this article as a straightforward Q&A. We hope you benefit from Brinda’s responses.

1. Q. What made you decide to participate in the NHWP Pitch Party?
2. A. I decided to participate in the pitch party because I’ve never had to write a pitch for a fiction project before and felt I would benefit from the feedback. The experience itself was very helpful – and, equally importantly, a lot of fun too!  Winning the pitch reinforced my belief in my project – the judges were extremely interested, encouraging, and appreciative of my idea. This made me think that agents would be equally appreciative – so I started sending out my query shortly after.
3. You have said that winning the Pitch Party inspired you to reach out to “very reputed agents.” What can you tell us about that process? How did you find the agents?
4. A. I sent the pitch for my novel, “The East Indian,” out to a number of agents. I have no connections in the US publishing industry and simply used the internet as a guide. There are websites that list agents and the genres they are looking for, and I got much of my information from there. I also decided to contact the agents of authors whose work I particularly like. Some of the agents I contacted asked me for a sample or the full manuscript.  However, right from the start, I was particularly interested in working with Mr. Eric Simonoff, who has represented various highly reputed authors whose work I admire. He responded to my email query very quickly, expressing interest in my project, and asked for the full manuscript. He gave it a read and got back to me saying that he loved the book but felt that the second half of the plot needed to be reconceived. Frankly, at that point I had no idea what I could do to address his concerns and came close to despairing. But I decided that it was worth not giving up and went right back to the drawing board, as it were, and replotted the latter half of the novel. The process made me realize that Eric was right about the narrative. It could be a much better book if the second half could be reworked. So, I withdrew my pitch to all agents who had not responded yet – and simply started writing, or rather, rewriting. It was a somewhat tough time to restart a project – I had to leave for India to take care of my mother who was undergoing surgery.  But I plugged away at the novel – on the long plane ride, while in India, then back in New Hampshire …. in about five-six months I felt satisfied with what I’d done and sent it back to Mr. Simonoff. He reread it, liked it, and offered representation!
5. How did agents reach out to you and what was your reaction? What was the process like?
6. Eric emailed me first expressing interest, we then spoke over the phone and he offered representation. I was obviously thrilled – it is fulfilling when someone, especially someone whose opinion you value, validates your work and recognizes its merits. This project means a great deal to me personally – and I do believe it is a story that matters. The story of the first Indians (i.e., South Asians) in America is a largely overlooked aspect of American colonial history and I am hoping this novel will help bring it to light, apart, of course from simply being a good story.
7. Please tell us about your experience with Eric Simonoff, literary agent with William Morris Endeavor
8. Eric (Simonoff) is the perfect agent – really! A fantastic communicator (emails to him don’t simply disappear into the abyss), an astute reader with great literary taste (and I’m not saying that only because he likes my work!), as well as an outstanding editor. He is also, very importantly, a thoughtful and generous person. He offers feedback and suggestions that are precise and pointed – he is not one for vague statements of appreciation and/ or critique, and I like that. It has been a pleasure working with him, and I feel like I’ve learned a great deal already.  Of course, being a very reputed agent, he was able to get a number of editors interested in “The East Indian” – it finally came down to two publishers who bid for the book, and for my next book (still in the works) as well – I decided to go with Scribner, a very venerable imprint of one of the “Big Five” US publishing firms, Simon and Schuster. The book has recently also been sold to the UK publishing house, Scribe, which will publish the book in UK and Australia. We are still waiting to hear what will happen in the Indian market – since India is my country of origin, I’d very much like to have the book out there as well.
9. Now that your book has been sold, what happens next?
10. Ms. Kathy Belden is my editor at Scribner, and she has outlined the process following acceptance: she will start working on edits shortly; I expect that there will be some back and forth between us for a few months, after which, I suppose, the publishers will focus on other aspects of the process – designing, printing, publicity, marketing, etc.
11. Are there any pearls of wisdom your agent has shared with you that you would like to mention?
12. Eric has not told me this in these many words (he is not the pontificating kind!) but I’ve learned from him not to give up if you believe in your project, that critique is valuable, that rewriting is hard but part of the process, that editing enriches your work, that open communication between author and agent is crucial.
13. What advice do you have for other authors? How would you encourage them to reach out to agents?
14. The seminars at the NHWP “603 Conference” last year were very helpful in giving me useful tips as far as writing the pitch and reaching out to agents is concerned. I really knew next to nothing about publishing in the USA before the conference. In fact, a couple of people emailed me after the seminar with additional information in response to questions I had asked – I really appreciated that. So, I would advise would-be authors to learn from those who already have experience.  Next, I believe what also worked for me was reaching out to an agent who represents authors I admired. That way I could count on the agent having a certain taste in writing – one that overlapped with mine, I suppose. I’d advise other writers to consider this as a way to get an agent – read the acknowledgments to books you like, see who represents the author, and go from there.

The process of getting a book published is often a long, arduous one. And the truth is there are many, many people trying to get their work published, so it is very competitive – one should not underplay or ignore that.  But persistence and dedication matter. It sounds a bit paradoxical – but one should believe in oneself, even as one should be able to self-critique; I actually find that the latter comes easier to me and I had to learn to balance that with self-belief – but both are equally important.  Finally, clichéd as it might sound, I’d say don’t give up. If you have a project, you are proud of, if you feel it is a story worth telling, if you know that your writing is good, persist with it.

1. Would you recommend the NH Writers’ Project to other authors or would-like-to-be authors? If so, what would you say?
2. Writing is largely a solitary pursuit. Besides, living in NH one can sometimes feel one is far away from where the “action” is, the big publishing centers, notably New York. NHWP does the important job of building community, of making one aware there is actually a community of serious New Hampshire authors. The organization celebrates and encourages New Hampshire writing – and that is very crucial to authors and readers, and important for the state’s cultural heritage at large. I would recommend that would-be-authors participate in NHWP events – the conferences, pitch contests, workshops, other events – it’s a great way to learn about publishing and also getting feedback on one’s work. I think quite simply being a member of NHWP gives one a sense of identity as an author, a New Hampshire author.
3. Please tell us more about your book?
4. The book is inspired by the first “East Indian” (i.e., native of the Indian subcontinent), an indentured laborer named “Tony” who appears in the American historical record.  He was brought over to Virginia in 1635 as “headright” by a Virginia landowner. Not much more is known about Tony, but I did a lot of study of early colonial Virginia, indentured labor, the beginnings of slavery in America, and I proceeded to give this long-forgotten person a story – a story that is truly global, because his life touches three continents and spans some of the most crucial decades in American colonial, and even world, history. I also wove the Shakespeare play “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” into the story (so integrating into the novel the other aspect of my professional identity — my doctoral degree is in Shakespeare Studies and I teach Shakespeare at Keene State College).  Working on “The East Indian” was demanding in many ways but also extremely fulfilling to me. In some sense, it has clarified and enriched my understanding of my own place in America as a person of Indian (South Asian) origin and an immigrant myself.

Look for “The East Indian” to hit the shelves in approximately one year.

Brinda Charry’s Winning Pitch

“Tony, East Indian” — a single entry in the colonial records is all that is known of the first Indian in America. My novel gives him a story. The 14-year-old native of India comes to Virginia via London in 1635. Laboring in the tobacco plantations, he witnesses the construction of the Great Wall intended to keep away outsiders, voyages in quest of the mysterious western passage to Asia, and participates in a servant rebellion. But, neither black, white, nor Native American, and neither indentured servant nor slave, Tony must also discover his own unique place in America. While “Tony” is barely a footnote to American colonial history this novel retells that history from his point of view, that of the first Indian-American.