What would most surprise readers about you?

The fact that I feel I haven't even made a dent yet. I'm looking for that huge book. I've had a lot of successful books, but I'm looking for that Da Vinci Code, something that's going to make a big difference in the world and people's lives.

You also have an office in Paris, in addition to California. What kind of manuscripts do you get there?

Many manuscripts are based in Paris, but one I'm looking at now...has nothing to do with Paris at all. It's about someone breaking out of a retirement home. It has a universal theme: even though you are trapped in an old person's body, you have a young person's heart. I'm always looking for universal themes. Novels that touch the heart in some ways. Something that we can all relate to in our lives. I think that's what makes a great book. People read to find a shared experience.

Do you have any advice for writers?

Remember that it's a process. It's not just that you finish a manuscript and get an agent and boom it's over. Writing is rewriting. So much of it is perfecting your work. Sometimes writers get discouraged, but they have to keep going and strive to make their work better and better. That's why people who go to conferences and retreats and work on their writing are the ones who ultimately succeed. Manuscripts that come to us must be ready for the market or almost ready for the market. 

What's your philosophy on agenting?

I call this the noble profession. I don't think writers have an idea of how much work we put into them...We really treat our manuscripts with love. We try to make them the best they can be and we go out with so much hope. And we get rejections and rejections and it's so hard, but you have to have that absolute ultimate belief in what you feel is a good piece of writing and a good writer. If you feel that way they can't shoot you down. I have sold manuscripts after fifty submissions. It took seven years to sell one collection of short stories. But I believed in the author's voice.

What's your favorite part of being an agent?

My favorite part of being an agent is breaking out a first novel. You believe in them and you've worked with them and you get a deal. That's the high that we all strive for and it doesn't happen all that often. If you're batting 50% that's a good percentage.  But what better way to spend my time than to find voices that mean something in people's lives?

I also wanted to know "What's it like working with Kimberley Cameron?"  So asked her client D. P. Lyle, best known for his forensics books, for the inside scoop.  

We jokingly call her "The Velvet Hammer" because she's so soft spoken and easy going, but she's a tough lady when she needs to be. She's honest and if she doesn't like something she'll tell you. She's a tough critic. She'll tell you why something is not working.

Kimberley Cameron opened Reece Halsey North in 1995 and Reece Halsey Paris 2006. Her partner Dorris Halsey passed away in October, 2006, but Kimberley plans to carry on the legacy of The Reece Halsey Agency, which was a small agency specializing in excellent writing. Among its clients have been Aldous Huxley, William Faulkner, Upton Sinclair, and Henry Miller.

D. P. Lyle, MD is the Macavity Award winning and Edgar Award nominated author of Murder and Mayhem: A Doctor Answers Medical and Forensic Questions for Mystery Writers and Forensics For Dummies. He has also published the thrillers Devil's Playground and Double Blind. His latest book, Forensics: A Guide for Writers will be released as part of Writer's Digest Books Howdunnit series in May 2008.

  Rebecca Cantrell's mystery series is set in Berlin in the 1930s. "Even Smoke Leaves a Trace" is due out May 2009 from Tor Forge Books. She is represented by Elizabeth Evans, an agent at Reece Halsey North.