Lorella Belli has been a successful literary agent for many years, even setting up her own agency. Her recent speaker event was full of really useful insights for people looking to become a literary agent or get their novel published. Lorella bounced around several topics so I’m going to be responding to the points I found most interesting and giving my thoughts on her advice.
“If you want to become a literary agent, think about what you really enjoy doing.”
Lorella continued on this by talking about how you should audit what you enjoy doing, what you’re knowledgeable about, what you have a natural interest in and importantly, what you enjoy reading. Lorella gave the example of how she has a passion for international books/authors and a general interest in other cultures and international news. This sets her up well to represent a diverse cast of authors or even authors whose books have international appeal. I hadn’t considered that certain stories or characters may not be read or allowed in other countries due to a difference in culture or even just the socio-political climate of the time. I feel this advice of ‘audit what you’re interested in’ works well for writers too as it is essentially the same as ‘write what you know.’
“What’s In the Best Seller Section Was Commissioned a Long Time Ago.”
If there was any nugget of advice from this talk that was useful for both aspiring agents and writers, it was this. Lorella gave us examples of books that have recently been commissioned but won’t hit the shelves until late 2024 or early to mid 2025. The general take away she intended from this was for us not to look at the bestseller shelf in our local Waterstones and decide “okay, romance novels about time travelling robots are popular, I’ll write that” because it is likely that by the time you were to write the novel, get it commissioned and finally published; that ship will have sailed and now you’ve just got a really weird novel about robots from 1851 in love.
“It’s Not a 9-5 Job.”
Lorella shared some more personal details about her life when discussing the hours that she works. Lorella advised us to find a partner that is okay with us working unsociable hours, evenings, weekends etc. While this was said with a smile and followed by a laugh, I’m sure she meant it. To take this comment at its basic meaning, she meant: Whether you’re writing or representing writers, you’re signing up for a lot of commitment so be warned, this isn’t your typical 9-5. I think that is great advice for everyone and proves you can only do this kind of work if you’re passionate.
In short, I really enjoyed this talk. Lorella Belli had a super interesting story of how she started in the industry and worked her way up which would have been a compelling enough reason to attend the talk. However, the main prize was all the incredible wisdom she shared about the industry which I know I—and I’m sure the rest of the students—learned a lot from.
Kalum Wilson
WRITE WESTMINSTER BLOG 
Hi! I think that this is a really important review, especially when so many people come into a Creative Writing degree unsure about the career avenues they could pursue afterwards. I had thought about possibly becoming a literary agent after university, and Lorella Belli’s talk as well as this review make me think that it could become a reality.
You very easily pinpointed the most important and inspirational parts of Lorella’s speaking event, and you explained them really well. Linking it back to being a writer, as so many of us are, helped me to understand the nuances of what exactly was being said in a way that felt as though it fitted my aspirations more closely.
I think that it’s very easy as a writer to get bogged down in the idea that your novel doesn’t fit the prescribed mould of what a bestseller should be, but Lorella’s insight into bestsellers and when they are commissioned feels like forbidden insider information. But it is a considerably real experience, the expectation that surrounds books already on the market and how they measure up to our own storylines. Lorella’s point to disregard this debunks this expectation, which is really useful to both writers and people aspiring to become literary agents.
Lastly, I think that the idea of an atypical working schedule as you laid it out actually sounds incredibly appealing. The idea of being so hands on in a career like that and having to dedicate so much of your time to it only demonstrates how much you love it, I think, and if you enjoy it enough to think about making it your life, then maybe it’s definitely something to look into.
I definitely learned a lot, not only from Lorella herself, but also this review.
Thanks!
Charlie
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I really enjoyed this review! I think you managed to pinpoint the most important elements of Lorella’s Talk. I also agree that one of the most important parts was when she said that we don’t need to look at what the bestsellers are when we are writing. Like anything else the trends of books that are popular change very quickly and due to the amount of time it takes to get a piece of work published it doesn’t matter what’s bestselling because it most definitely won’t be when your work hits the shelves. I think hearing this may have reduced the stresses for some people and reminded them to just write whatever they enjoy.
You also touched upon her making a point of saying this isn’t your typical 9-5 office job, because I think sometimes before you get into the working world its easy to have unrealistic expectations of what its going to be like and I appreciated her specifying some of the realities of working in the publishing industry. As she said you have to be passionate to work in publishing, and I think a lot of us are, we all love writing and books but its still good to hear that it isn’t all sunshine and rainbows and you will be working late into the evenings and you may loose some of your weekends. If you really love what you’re doing then it shouldn’t matter.
Like you I also enjoyed this talk but I also liked your review on it and it helped me understand the talk even more so!!
Thank you!!
Leah
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