Awesome Agents

Hey guys. You know I write for the QueryTracker blog. You know we've just had a big carnival. You know we had agents doing query critiques.

Okay. So those agents are awesome. Every single one of them has been easy to work with, fun to email back and forth with, and just all around spectacular. I'm going to post what they're looking for here too. If your writing / genre fits with what they want to see, query them! Query. Them. Any of them would be awesome.

And before I start, I just want to shout out a big thanks to Jon Tienstra, Kae Tienstra, Lindsay Davis and Jim McCarthy.

Kae and Jon Tienstra:

Kae and Jon Tienstra launched their literary agency, KT/PR & Literary Services, in 2006. Kae was publicity director at Rodale for 13 years before launching her publicity firm, KT Public Relations, in 1993. Jon, a corporate veteran and frustrated literati, joined the public relations business in 1995 after getting his Masters in library science. Today they manage the literary agency and publicity firm as two parallel publishing-based businesses. They are seeking a variety of genres. Jon likes to receive queries for science fiction and contemporary fantasy; mysteries; YA; literary fiction; police/detective.

Kae is interested in great women's fiction; quirky, contemporary fantasy; mysteries (especially cozies); historical fiction; YA. She's always on the lookout for nonfiction writers with impressive platforms on the topics of gardening, parenting, psychology, health, and self-help.


Lindsay Davis:

Lindsay Davis is a literary agent at Writers House. Before joining the agency, she worked in the children's marketing department at Harcourt and taught fourth grade as a member of Teach for America. For the past three years, Lindsay has apprenticed with Steven Malk in the West Coast office of Writers House, where she's had the opportunity to work with some of the very best authors and artists in the industry. She's now building her own list and is actively seeking picture book, middle grade, and young adult manuscripts. She's always been passionate about children's and young adult literature, and, as an agent, she's eager to help bring fresh voices, characters and stories to a new generation of readers.

Jim McCarthy

As an avid fiction reader, his interests encompass both literary and commercial, adult and young adult works. He is particularly interested in women's fiction, underrepresented voice, mysteries, romance, paranormal fiction, and anything unusual or unexpected. In addition to fiction he is also interested in narrative nonfiction, humor, memoir, paranormal nonfiction, and anything related to architecture, planning, or real estate. Check out the Dystel & Goderich website.



So I hope you guys had fun during the carnival. Good luck with your querying and all that!

Oh, and here's one thing I'm wondering about. I've been working on something (my NF project). I'm looking for queries to critique and include in an "examples section" of an e-book. Would any of you be interested in submitting yours for me to shred, er, critique, knowing that I might possibly be putting it in said e-book? It's like a free query critique. I mean, I'm not a literary agent, but I am a pretty good query shredder. Just ask Kate. She said I have a patented system!!

Thoughts? Let me know. kthxbai.

A Whole New Appreciation

Okay, so we had our first contest on the QueryTracker blog on Monday. I think I got about 923.37 emails that day. I'm not kidding. There were roughly 575 entries. I opened every single one of those emails. Every. Single. One. I responded to almost all of them. In one day.

In addition to those entires, many people sent a thank you reply. That meant more emails. And with the crazy behind-the-scenes communication with my beloved QT co-authors, Ms. Volpe, blog comments that needed to be modified and new twitter followers, and I thought my inbox would spontaneously combust. It did stop working around 10-ish. Michelle had to go in and check if we had any more entries. Oh, we did. Many more.

That really, really, really made me appreciate literary agents more. I missed Nathan Bransford's "Agent for a Day" experience, because I was experiencing it firsthand in my own inbox. And let me just say this: literary agents are...well, I don't know what, but holy super agents. Yeah, that's what they are. Super Agents. They should wear capes and burn holes in stainless steel with just a stern look. Maybe some of them can...

I digress.

Many of you entered, and so many of you left your appreciation in comments on the QT blog. I so appreciate that. Some of you sent me emails with funky concoctions of both chocolate and bacon. That made me snarf out loud, and we all know that's a good thing. So at the risk of sounding all mushy and teary-eyed, I wanted to say thank you.

What a totally huge, overwhelming experience it was. But with such great people at the QT blog--and all of you who gave me kudos and gifts--it made the hours in front of the computer worth it. And my aching fingers. Wait. That might have been from Guitar Hero World Tour...

And to literary agents everywhere, a sincere thank you. It's no wonder you can't answer every email you receive. I bow down to your uber-awesomeness for accepting queries from aspiring authors.

QueryTracker Blog, I *heart* you

Okay, as if I don't have enough other things going on in my life, I'm going to be a contributing author to the QueryTracker blog! I've never been more excited about anything in my life. Well, maybe one or two things, but this seriously tops the list at this moment in time.

Me and my partners in crime writing, Mary Lindsey, Suzette Saxton, H.L. Dyer, and Carolyn Kaufman will be up and posting today. You should definitely go check it out. To accompany the awesomeness that is QueryTracker, this blog is aimed at aspiring authors. They will find helpful posts about query letters, articles about writing and publishing, guest bloggers from the publishing industry, contests, and anything else we think will help the writers of the world on their journey toward publication. Oh, and if you're an aspiring author and haven't visited the forum, dude you have to join. Now. It will change your life. Srsly.

Come join us in this new adventure!