Join Kelly Van Sant, literary agent at Red Sofa Literary, to analyze ten random queries in her inbox. Along the way, learn how she decides when to say yes, when to say no, and when to decide later–how common it is that people don’t even get her name right–and why a query doesn’t have to … Read more
This week on the podcast, we spoke with Hanna Alkaf, author of THE WEIGHT OF OUR SKY (Salaam Reads/Simon & Schuster, 2019), about multiple agent offers–managing your writing career and writing friendships when you don’t live in the United States–and the amazing story of her role in Malaysia’s most recent election. We can’t even tell you … Read more
by Ann Leslie Tuttle, Agent at Dystel, Goderich & Bourret Most of us have had this experience where we’re walking down a street to a familiar destination but suddenly the route looks different because we’re approaching the spot from another direction. To me, that’s what it has felt like making the shift to agenting after spending … Read more
by Julie Kingsley I spent much of April floored by a head cold. It wasn’t one of those just have a few sniffles colds, but a solid melting into the floor bug. I spent nine days on the couch watching hours and hours of television. This, as you could imagine, filled me with creative self-loathing, … Read more
Melissa Edwards (agent at Stonesong Literary, former lawyer, and founder of MLE Consulting) joins us to talk contracts, specialties, and what happens when another kind of lawyer attempts to negotiate a publishing contract. You’ll learn the worst clause she’s ever seen (it’s so bad you guys), what will stay the same pretty much no matter … Read more
by Julie Kingsley Back in college, I had a professor who railed on the notion that the writing was about sacrifice. I recall him yelling, “If you want to be an effective working writer you will say no to dinner with friends, that day at the beach, the trip to the mall. Instead, you need … Read more
We spoke with agent Erik Hane of Red Sofa Literary about how he got his start, how he used to think fiction writers were hired like contractors–and the programs he’d build if given the funding. We also spend a brief moment talking about how #MeToo has come to publishing. Plus, some dangerous-sounding winter sports Erik … Read more
We speak with author Carrie DiRisio, the voice behind Brooding YA Hero, plus her agent, Melissa Edwards at Stonesong Literary, and her editor, Alison Weiss at Sky Pony Press. Together, we discuss the creation of Brooding YA Hero, and how it became a book that is so much more than a Twitter feed. (Plus, of … Read more
If you haven’t yet tuned in to #MSWL’s free podcast, now is a great time to do so! Many writers worry about whether they can possibly get an agent’s attention, and sell books in the US, if they live abroad. We talked with agent Kurestin Armada (P.S. Literary) and her client, Amy Schaefer, who not … Read more
by Diana Urban, author and Jim McCarthy, agent Diana: A couple of months ago, I finished edits on a YA thriller called The Last Hour. It’s a cross between to Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None and Abigail Haas’s Dangerous Girls — nine teens get locked in a room and must choose someone to … Read more
