Category: Agent Interviews

Agent Interview: Saba Sulaiman (Talcott Notch Literary Services)

On By Only Picture BooksIn Agent Interviews

This month’s Industry Insider interview is with Saba Sulaiman, a literary agent at Talcott Notch Literary Services. While I could put all kinds of traditional bio things here, I’m going to instead offer part of her own terrific Twitter bio. “Eternally recovering from maternity leave. Probably hiding behind the crib, eating cake.” With an awesome Twitter bio like that, what more do you need to know?

We’ll give more anyway, because that’s what we do here at OPB.

Saba admits that when she’s not reading, she’s likely:

  • running after two small children,
  • secretly learning another language,
  • playing Scrabble,
  • watching a Bollywood movie,
  • or singing in the bathroom.

If you REALLY want to know the regular bio stuff, I’ll get to that in the interview itself. Speaking of that, let’s get right to it!

RVC: Rumor has it that your sister played a big role in your initial love for books.

SS: She did! She was (and remains) a big reader and there’s no way I would’ve gotten into reading at all if it weren’t for how much she influenced me (read: how obsessed I was with everything she did) when we were young. She’d probably argue that there’s very little that’s original about me, to be honest, but isn’t that true for everyone?

RVC: That sure can feel like the case from time to time! Now, from the start, you were culturally displaced. How did that affect your reading interests and your relationship to language?

SS: Until I came to the US for college, I spent my whole life being expected to know a language I didn’t know well enough, and was then ridiculed for not being fluent enough. My petulant (and understandable, in retrospect) reaction to it was to make sure my English (the only language I felt confident speaking) was better than anyone else’s, and I think reading a lot helped with that. And then, of course, because my life got so much easier in the US when language wasn’t a barrier anymore, I decided to complicate it further and start learning three more languages in college.

RVC: Wow.

SS: I know.

RVC: Were your graduate studies in Persian literature at the University of Chicago a path toward your future publishing career, or were you still thinking of other career options?

SS: You know what they say: everything in your past plays a role in how things turn out in the future. I wasn’t thinking about publishing at all when I began graduate school—in fact, I was fairly sure I’d purse a Ph.D. and a career in academia. But my experience there definitely informed the kinds of books I tend to gravitate towards, and how I think about, read, and evaluate writing.

RVC: The next step in your journey took you to Sourcebooks as an editorial intern. Their home base is in Naperville, Illinois, right? What kinds of things did they have you doing there?

SS: I was actually at one of their satellite offices in Milford, CT, where their romance imprint is run. It was an incredible experience, truly—they had me write back cover copy my first day there, if that’s any indication of how happy they were to throw me into the deep end. I read submissions and wrote reports on them, attended acquisitions meetings, maintained their various author and comp title databases, and assisted the editors there with anything they needed help with. It was a really comprehensive and wonderful introduction to publishing, and I had a blast.

RVC: What was the most valuable lesson you learned while at Sourcebooks?

SS: I think it’s a combination of a few things: that working with good people is a highly underrated and very necessary aspect of enjoying your work; that supporting and advocating for people looks very different depending on the person; and that there is actually very little reading involved in the work we do (at least during office hours, alas), but that it’s absolutely essential not to lose sight of how important it is to keep in touch with what’s being published so we can best help our authors thrive.

RVC: Let’s tackled a super-​basic issue. Why is agenting the right fit for you?

SS: I get to work very closely with creative professionals and help them achieve their goals without having to take on the actual work and stress of creating art, plus I’m surrounded by people who inspire me and I get to read a lot and call it market research—what’s there not to love? I’m also a bit of a Mother Hen, and agenting allows me to channel my protective instincts in a pretty satisfying way.

RVC: You say that being an author today is an entrepreneurial enterprise. What do you mean by that? 

SS: Since publishers can’t support all the authors they publish with equal amounts of fervor when it comes to marketing and publicity, authors are expected to participate as much as they can in doing outreach, finding and connecting with their audience via libraries, conferences, and social media, and making promotional material that can aid in increasing their books’ visibility and sales. It requires time, energy, and a lot of strategy development and implementation for each author to figure out what works for them, which is why it’s much more of an entrepreneurial role than it used to be, say, fifty years ago.

RVC: Do picture book authors and illustrators have to do as much of this PR work as writers for a MG, YA, or adult audience?

SS: I think the nature of the work required is different but the amount is comparable. PB writers may not have to do a lot in terms of being personally active on social media in order to connect with their audience, but they often have to focus more on the school and library market–being available for story times, both virtual and in real life at bookstores and libraries (where safety permits), presenting their books to students at schools via classroom visits, etc. All authors want their books to find more readers–the process is just different for PB writers.

RVC: I’ve heard you say that you think every author should have an agent. Care to explain that a bit more? Especially as to how it might pertain to self-​published authors?

SS: Well, first of all, I will admit that I’m clearly biased since I am an agent, but I do think having someone in your corner whose entire job is to support and advocate for you, find opportunities for you to improve your craft and publish widely, review your contracts and advise you on how you manage your career overall–especially in an industry as frustratingly esoteric as publishing–is very useful. Authors can certainly manage their careers without agents, especially if they’re fairly certain they want to self-​publish and continue to do so, but it requires doing a lot of research that is hard to access without the help of a professional who has had the experience working in this space, as well as having a tremendous amount of energy—energy that I think would be better served being channeled into writing their manuscripts.

Finding a good agent isn’t just a means to an end, it’s a long-​term investment in your career, and a wise decision, I believe.

RVC: What was the first picture book you sold? What made you want to represent it?

SS: The first PB I sold was Muslim Girls Rise by my client Saira Mir (illustrated by Aaliya Jaleel). I fell completely in love with it because it was written so beautifully and with such clarity and an earnest desire to share these exceptional women’s voices. Also as a Muslim woman myself, I found that even I hadn’t heard of a majority of these women before I read this submission, so I knew I had to do my part to help make their inspiring stories available to read for kids all over the world.

RVC: I’ve got a copy of that one–it’s a worthy book, indeed. Now, let’s throw a bone to the writers out there. What do you want to see out of submissions? What are some must-​haves and turn offs?

SS: In picture books, I’m drawn most to stories with a nuanced emotional takeaway, fun wordplay, notes of whimsy, textual economy, and memorable characters. I love smart, unexpected narratives where authors are experimenting structurally; I love funny books, both the sweet and soft kind and the wry, dry kind; I love layered storytelling with subtextual richness that can provide a launchpad for readers to start a conversation; and I love idiosyncratic narratives that take mundane processes and make them seem utterly delightful. I also represent non-​fiction, and am particularly interested in creative storytelling with a STEM component, biographies of lesser-​known trailblazers who have made a significant impact in their fields, stories with environmental themes, and creative nonfiction that almost feels like it could be shelved in the fiction section. I’m also always especially excited when I receive submissions from BIPOC creators, queer creators, disabled creators, immigrant creators, and creators who are writing stories of joy and celebration at the intersection of these identities.

RVC: Is there anything you don’t want to see?

SS: I don’t usually find stories that have a very heavy moral or “lesson” component very appealing.

RVC: Picture book trends. Should writers pay attention to them? 

SS: Writers should absolutely pay attention to trends–knowing what kinds of stories the market is responding to at any given point is important because books aren’t published in a vacuum. Writers can (and should feel free to) choose not to respond to or write to these trends, but I do think they should know what kinds of books are selling if they’re seriously pursuing publication.

RVC: How do you describe your agenting style?

SS: Forthright, honest, encouraging, collaborative, and flexible.

RVC: One final question for this part of the interview, Saba. What’s are some picture-​book projects that you’d like to brag about?

SS: Ooh yes, thank you for the opportunity! This year a picture book very dear to my heart called Laxmi’s Mooch by my client Shelly Anand (and illustrated by Nabi H. Ali) was published–it’s a really sweet, joyful story that celebrates body hair and inspires kids to be confident about who they are—it was featured on the Today Show which was really thrilling!

And then next year, I have three PBs forthcoming: The Meaning of Pride by Rosiee Thor (illustrated by Sam Kirk), Zahra’s Blessing by Shirin Shamsi (illustrated by Manal Mirza), and If You’re a Kid Like Gavin by Kyle Lukoff and Gavin Grimm (illustrated by J. Yang), all of which I’m very excited about!

RVC: Alrighty. It’s now time to double the points, double the speed, and double the overall goodness. Welcome to…THE LIGHTNING ROUND! Are you ready? 

SS: Go for it!

RVC: Biggest time waster?

SS: Someone sent me a few funny Instagram Reels and I made the mistake of going back to browse for more–don’t get sucked in, it’s a trap!!! Even more so than TikTok, I think, because of how much shorter the videos are and how easy it can be to tell yourself you’ll only watch one more…

RVC: If we overheard you singing in the shower (we get it—the acoustics are great!), you’d be belting out…

SS: It varies a lot depending on my mood but “I Want More” from The Little Mermaid is definitely a repeat offender and has been since I was a kid–both my mom and my husband can definitely attest to that.

RVC: A favorite autocorrect misadventure?

SS: I once praised a client for how fantastic and transportive their decryptions are. That was fun!

RVC: A recent picture book that really impressed you?

SS: Ooh, there are so many but I’ll name the most recent one–it’s a picture book biography coming out in January 2022 from HarperCollins called When the Schools Shut Down by Yolanda Gladden and Dr. Tamara Pizzoli, and illustrated by Keisha Morris. It’s got such beautiful, contemplative, rich, nuanced, and rousing storytelling, such gorgeous, warm illustrations, and it’s such an expansive story told with intimate, emotionally exacting detailing–I just love it. Both the author and illustrator really managed to convey a sense of Yolanda Gladden’s soul, her family, and her nurturing community, which is so difficult to do with a PB biography.

RVC: Three must-​haves in a picture book manuscript?

SS: Voice, kid-​appeal, and a sense of sincerity.

RVC: Best moment in your agenting career (so far)?

SS: Probably the day I found out one of my clients got longlisted for the National Book Award–I was actually in the middle of what’s been one of my best runs to date, so it was a great personal moment as well!

RVC: Thanks for joining us here at OPB, Saba. Best of luck with everything!

SS: Thanks for having me, Ryan!

Agent Interview: Elizabeth Bennett (Transatlantic Agency)

On By Only Picture BooksIn Agent Interviews

This month’s Industry Insider interview is with Elizabeth Bennett, a Senior Literary Agent and Partner at Transatlantic Agency. She’s spent her entire career in the children’s publishing industry, having worked in marketing, product development, and editorial at such companies as Scholastic, Reader’s Digest, and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. One especially cool thing she did at HMH was establish an IP program that launched several middle grade series, including The Next Best Junior Chef, Survivor Diaries, and Junior Ninja Champion.

Let’s get right to the interview to find out more about Elizabeth and her career!

Her agency’s website

Her Twitter

Her Instagram

RVC: At what point did you first fall in love with books?

EB: When I was in third grade I read the All of a Kind Family series by Sydney Taylor. I loved them so much that I wrote to the author and asked if she was planning on writing more. She wrote back (SHE WROTE BACK!!!) telling me she hoped to some day write more books in the series (spoiler, she did…) and suggested another book she had written. I’m pretty certain that hearing from the author of a beloved book series cemented my love of reading.

RVC: I had the same kind of thrill with Piers Anthony when I wrote him a handscrawled letter about his bestselling Xanth series. He wrote back to me, too! Crazy, right?

When did you go from being an avid reader to knowing books would be your career?

EB: I should have known that a career in children’s books was the right path for me (my favorite course in college was a children’s literature), but I actually stumbled upon it. I wanted to work in children’s television, but back in the 80s there weren’t as many opportunities in kids TV, and the job market was tight all around. Fresh out of graduate school, with a degree in communications, I took the first job I could find–a marketing position at Scholastic. I changed lanes throughout my career, but from that point on, I stayed on the publishing road.

RVC: What type of training did you have along the way to prepare you for success in the publishing industry?

EB: The knowledge base I have from a child study major in college and a communications degree have certainly helped, but in publishing, much of the training happens organically. You listen, you question, you take chances, you grow…

RVC: You spent a good bit of time on the editing side of things. What are some of the key lessons you learned that help you in your work as an agent?

EB: I know that some successful agents don’t have experience on the editorial side and I’m flummoxed by (and slightly in awe of) them. For me, the ability to help my clients finesse their manuscripts before they go out on submission has been key. Because of the volume of my work, I can’t do the kind of line edits that I did as an editor (nor is that my strength), but I know how to make a good manuscript better, getting it ready for submission–while leaving room for the acquiring editor to take it on and make it really sing.

RVC: Scholastic is kind of the 800-​pound gorilla in the kidlit world. What was it like working for them?

EB: So many of us in the industry cut our teeth at Scholastic. When I started there, some of the big brands it is known for were just being launched–Goosebumps, The Babysitters Club, The Magic School Bus. It was an incredibly exciting time to be in publishing and Scholastic was small enough then that we all felt like we were a part of it. To this day, I’m still close to many of the people I worked with there–it truly was a great training ground.

RVC: I’m sure OPB readers will want to know about franchise publishing—you worked on Doc McStuffins, Hello Kitty, and Clifford, among others. What’s different about working with a franchise? 

EB: I’ve worked on brands both as an editor and writer–brands from Scholastic, Disney, Nickelodeon, Marvel, and more. With a franchise, you have to keep the brand bible in mind–the world has already been created and there are boundaries that you have to keep inside of, but you still have the opportunity to tell stories. Franchise publishing is a great entry point for many readers, so I’m a big fan.

RVC: You’ve also worked with some big-​time classics at HMH (Curious George, Little Blue Truck, and The Little Prince). What was the best thing about working with those?

EB: It’s really fun to take a classic character and find a new story to tell or a new format to try. Curious George can celebrate Ramadan. Little Blue Truck can find baby animals on a farm. Toddlers can be introduced to The Little Prince in a series of board books.

RVC: You’ve been at your current agency for some time now. Why is Transatlantic Agency a good fit? What do they do especially well?

EB: We are lean and nimble. Small enough for each of the agents to have autonomy, but established enough to have the systems we need to run our businesses and support our clients. We each are independent contractors, but we come together as an agency to share thoughts, experience, and knowledge. I also love that we have agents and clients on both sides of the Canada/​US border–we can offer our clients a broader market and network.

RVC: Recently, you were made a Partner at the agency. Congrats on that! What does that mean for you? Do your day-​to-​day duties change?

EB: I’ll be honest, the appointment was more of an honor than a promotion. It doesn’t change my day-​to-​day responsibilities. But it does mean that I have more of a stake and interest in the operations of the agency. And it was lovely to be recognized for my work considering that I’m relatively new to agenting.

RVC: You’ve been involved with a lot of graphic novels, so you’re the ideal person to ask this question. More and more, I see publishers making graphic novels for kids. What’s the difference between those and picture books?

EB: Well, the easiest answer is that picture books are for young children–ages 2–5 or so–while graphic novels are for readers of all ages and, as of late, can be found across all genres. But it’s more than that. With a graphic novel, readers are drawn into the storytelling in a way that they may not be with a more traditional text. The pacing and emphasis on action can be captivating and a real bonus for more reluctant readers. Inference comes into play. Using visual cues, readers make connections they may not have to make when storytelling is done through text alone. They build comprehension and critical thinking skills.

Let’s just say, I’m a big fan!

RVC: Me, too! I love them.

Let’s talk submissions. What’s one thing you see too often in picture book manuscripts that ultimately earns a pass from you?

EB: I’m open to accepting a rhyming picture book text, but I see too much bad rhyme. Writing in rhyme is easy–doing it well is really, really hard. That’s why many agents and editors won’t even look at a text that’s written in rhyme.

RVC: You’re busy enough these days that you’re only accepting submissions from non-​clients by referral only. I don’t ask this question enough—what’s an effective way to get a referral without being pushy, aggressive, or stalkery?

EB: I will always look at a submission that comes through a client of mine or a colleague. So, the best way to get a referral is through relationships.

  • Do you have a peer in a critique group who is agented?
  • Did you meet an editor at a conference?
  • Did you go to school with someone in the business?

But, I’ll add that if an agent is closed to submissions, it’s usually because they truly aren’t looking to grow their list. Better to focus on agents who are actively acquiring–your chances are just that much better of getting an offer.

RVC: That last point is really astute. OPB readers, take heed!

Now, I often hear that it’s important for early career authors to be active on social media.

EB: Some of my clients are very active on social media – others not so much. And I always tell them that it’s up to them. Social media is a great way to grow a platform, to make connections, to self-​promote. But I don’t want anyone to think they have to be active on social media–unless of course fame and recognition is part of their pitch (i.e. a celebrity book).

RVC: Brag time. What’s a book project or two you’re working on that you’re really excited about? 

EB: Ack–so many. But I’ll mention a few.

Kayla Miller, the creator of the NYT best-​selling graphic novel Click series, has collaborated with writer Jeffrey Camino and illustrator Kristina Luu on Besties–a spin-​off series which is launching in October. It’s exciting to see this franchise grow.

Damian Alexander’s Other Boys, a touching and poignant graphic memoir about transcending trauma and embracing self, is receiving a lot of (deserving) buzz, and Debbie Dadey is authoring a picture book memoir about Kati Kariko, the woman who’s mRNA research led to the development of the COVID vaccine. It’s the kind of story we need right now.

RVC: Okay, Elizabeth. It’s time for the Speed Round! ARE YOU READY?!?

EB: Ready!

RVC: Favorite place to get a terrific slice of pizza?

EB: I love pizza, but as a New Englander, I’m going to go lobster roll here–Alive and Kickin’ Lobsters in Cambridge is my hands-​down favorite.

RVC: A surprising song that’s on your current playlist?

EB: Shameless plug for my daughter’s boyfriend, Carson McKee. Any song by his group, The Other Favorites–everyone I recommend their music to becomes a fan.

RVC: If your life were a Hollywood movie, which actress would play the role of you?

EB: How about Annette Bening–Annette Bening in An American President…

RVC: What’s the One That Got Away?

EB: I won’t mention any names but there was a YA rom-​com that I really should have taken on–great title, great concept. It’s already been acquired and has a movie deal. I really regret letting that one slip away…

RVC: A recent picture book that really got your attention? 

EB: The Day the Crayons Quit is a recent favorite – so clever!

RVC: Five words that describe your picture book philosophy.

EB: I can do it in four: Never seen this before.

RVC: Thanks so much, Elizabeth. It was great getting to know you and your work better, and congrats on making Partner at the agency!

Agent Interview: Emily Mitchell (Wernick & Pratt Agency)

On By Only Picture BooksIn Agent Interviews

This month’s Industry Insider Interview is with Emily Mitchell, an agent at Wernick & Pratt Agency. Emily began her career at Sheldon Fogelman Agency where she says she “handled submissions, subsidiary rights, and coffee.”

Emily then spent eleven years at Charlesbridge Publishing as senior editor, contracts manager, and director of corporate strategy. Things get wonky from there (details on that below) before she eventually found her way to Wernick & Pratt Agency, where she’s been since 2013.

But that’s all just the stock bio material. Let’s gamify this getting-​to-​know Emily thing by playing 9 Biographical Truths and 1 Whopper! Ready?

Emily:

  1. is the shortest person in her family.
  2. considers herself a “terrible eater.”
  3. unironically believes Grease 2 to be a Top 3 movie.
  4. has a playlist that’s an even balance between show tunes and Kesha.
  5. thinks that in her heart of hearts, she’s a twelve-​year-​old kid.
  6. ran five overnight, 200-​mile relay races before she got old and lazy.
  7. can juggle any fruit smaller than grapefruit (she has tiny hands).
  8. regularly conflates loungewear with sleepwear, especially in the past year.
  9. has a fave gadget—a desktop coffee mug warmer.
  10. enjoys an ALL CAPS relationship with the Cubs and Red Sox.

Here are some URLs to get to know Emily and her agency even more, if you’re so inclined. But let’s delay no longer. It’s time for the interview!

RVC: Let’s deal with the career elephant in the room. Not only do you have an MBA, but you left publishing at one point to join corporate America. What the *!$#^ happened? 

EM: I had a little midlife crisis in my early/​mid thirties. I got my MBA and stuck with publishing for a while, but I was determined to branch out—if only to make some more money, and to prove to myself that the skills I’d developed in publishing really were transferable to other industries. I ended up doing marketing communications strategy for a large printing company.

I liked my coworkers, and the work was fine, with some new challenges I enjoyed. But the job and the industry didn’t inspire or motivate me the way publishing did. And then I got laid off. Wheeee!

RVC: It happens to the best of us. I’m glad you found your back to the book world.

EM: Me, too! Fortunately, my former coworkers from my first publishing job had since started their own agency, and were willing to take me on.

RVC: In some of your bios, you claim that you were supposed to be a teacher. What’s the story there?

EM: I grew up in a family and a community full of teachers. I really didn’t understand till I was like nine that there were, in fact, other jobs in the world.

I went to college expecting to become a high school English teacher, and after undergrad, went directly into a master’s program in secondary English ed. I graduated in the middle of a school year and moved to the NYC area to be with my fiancé (now husband). I figured I’d get a job for a few months, and then look for a teaching position for the following school year. Instead, I found a job at a literary agency specializing in children’s books, and that was that.

RVC: Let’s talk agenting. What does a typical day look like for you? 

EM: *snorty laughter* There is no typical day. Most days include a bunch of emailing: follow-​ups on submissions, follow-​ups on contracts, follow-​ups on permissions. Then there’s redlining contracts, working on sub lists and pitch letters, and drafting foreign rights agreements and permission letters. Sometimes I have client calls or editor calls, and I have regular Skypes with my colleagues a few times a week. If I’m lucky, there’s reading and commenting on client manuscripts, and/​or reviewing non-​client submissions.

Sometimes, there’s also handling tech issues (I am the IT department), making website updates (I am the webmaster), waiting on hold with the IRS (I am the foreign-​tax-​exemption filer), and posting client news online (I am the social media manager). Working at a small company means we all wear many hats.

RVC: Wow!

EM: Oh, and there’s also normal life stuff, like doing laundry and taking the dog out and getting a kid to the orthodontist and helping with musical rehearsals and going to the post office and watching the other kid’s softball game and putting out various fires in my volunteer life. I would be nowhere without my phone, which lets me be reachable and work-​able even when I’m not at my desk.

RVC: That’s it. I AM impressed. But I’m curious–what’s your agenting style like in terms of how you deal with current and prospective clients?

EM: I’m much more of a writer than a talker—I do most of my communications with my clients over email. That said, I’m always happy to hop on the phone with a client when they need it.

Apart from that, I try to adjust my style to whatever the client needs. I have some clients who don’t want any updates about their projects on submission: once it’s out of their hands and in mine, they don’t want to hear anything unless and until we have an offer. For other clients, I send regular submissions check-​ins, and we brainstorm ideas for other editors and imprints together. Some people have lots of questions about their contracts; some people just sign and return with little fanfare. I try to be flexible.

RVC: If you had to summarize the most important thing you’ve learned about agenting, what would it be?

EM: Don’t lie. I mean—I’m not a lying person anyway, or at least I try not to be. But I have found my strongest negotiating tool is just to be honest and clear about we want and why. I hope that’s my reputation with editors and contracts departments, and I think my clients appreciate knowing that I’m neither sugarcoating nor catastrophizing whatever news I have for them.

RVC: You recently scored a multi-​book deal for the Arithmechicks. What do you like most about that series?

EM: Honestly, the title sold itself. Chickens! Math! ARITHMECHICKS! Ann Marie Stephens uses her experience as a first-​grade teacher to make books that are so engaging, and so clearly trade (as opposed to textbooks or educational books). They’re just terrific.

RVC: How do you go about crafting a pitch for a series? What’s your strategy?

EM: Arithemechicks notwithstanding, I don’t actually do a ton of series or multi-​book deals, at least for picture books. I’ll often sell a book that has series potential, which I’ll mention in the pitch, but in my experience, publishers are hesitant to make a big bet on a full series off the bat. They’d rather buy one or two and see how those do before acquiring more.

I’ve also found recently that some publishers are open to multi-​book deals where the subsequent books are untitled or unspecified—an open contract, essentially. While this can demonstrate a commitment on the publisher’s part to support the author for a medium- to long-​term, in practice, it can end up being more of a burden than a boon. There’s not necessarily urgency on the publisher’s part to line up a manuscript for that second or third book, so the author ends up submitting story after story that the publisher can reject, which can stall momentum or cast a pall on the relationship. It’s one of those things where both parties go into it with the best of intentions, but the outcomes can be less than ideal.

RVC: A good number of OPB readers are writers who want to land an agent. What’s a question or two most don’t ask prospective agents…but they should?

EM: I think agents and authors need to have clear expectations going into a working relationship. How long could it take to sell a project? What are the likely terms for a picture book acquisition? How many books can a client reasonably work on in a year? What happens if an agent doesn’t sell a project quickly, or at all?

RVC: That’s a good list of questions, for sure. Readers? Take note!

EM: Publishing is a deeply weird industry, with lots of historical practices that don’t really make sense anymore. It’s also an extremely slow industry: books acquired today aren’t likely to be published before 2023. (My MBA classmates who work in high-​tech and finance were flummoxed when I explained that our time-​to-​market was measured in years, not weeks or months.)

RVC: I, too, am flummoxed by this. Clearly we have the technology and infrastructure to go from manuscript to finished book in a few months, or less. Why not make that the norm? Why insist on the wait?

EM: Well, part of the waiting for picture books is art: illustrators need time to create and perfect their vision for the text. Another part is production: most picture books are printed in Asia, so it takes time to get books physically to market on container ships. But it’s true: in publishing, we wait All The Time—for responses to submissions, for draft contracts to arrive, for revisions to be done, for monies to hit the bank account, etc.

People hear lots of buzz about high-​stakes auctions and rapid-​fire acquisitions and books being crashed to market, but that’s not the reality for most books or most creators. We don’t do ourselves any favors by setting our expectations based on the latest deal announcement or Twitter thread.

RVC: How important is it for picture book writers to have an agent these days?

EM: It’s more important than it used to be, as houses have consolidated even further, and more imprints are closed to submissions. It’s still not 100% necessary, but having an agent makes it easier to get your work seen by editors, and gives you protection and perspective when it comes to contracts.

RVC: Brag time. What’s a picture book project you’re really excited about? 

EM: This is the “who is your favorite kid” question, isn’t it?

RVC: Yes, indeedy!

EM: I can’t possibly pick just one. I’ll cheat and name a handful of upcoming 2022 titles:

RVC: Two last questions for this part of the interview. If I asked Marcia (Wernick) and Linda (Pratt) what they thought your agenting secret weapon was, they’d say…

EM: I think they appreciate my experience working at a publisher. I’ve got behind-​the-​scenes knowledge and an understanding of the “other side” of the negotiating table, which can be helpful in sorting through certain issues.

RVC: What’s your ACTUAL agenting secret weapon?

EM: A painful aversion to an inbox that’s more than one screen full (i.e., if I have to scroll to see all the messages, I AM BEHIND AND THAT IS BAD).

RVC: Okay, Emily. Here we go—it’s the LIGHTNING ROUND! The questions will zip. The answers will zap. Are you prepared?

EM: Zop.

RVC: Best place in Massachusetts to get a Fluffernutter?

EM: Fluffernutters are disgusting. Our go-​to apple-​picking place is Carlson Orchards in Harvard, MA. They have excellent cider donuts and hard cider.

RVC: A theme song that describes your agenting life right now?

EM: “BusyBusyBusy” by Sandra Boynton, from the brilliant Philadelphia Chickens.

RVC: You’ve got four extra Hoodsie Cups. Which four figures from the world of picture books gets invited over for an ice cream social?

EM: James Marshall, Frances the badger, Jan Thomas’s Fat Cat, and Ashley Bryan.

RVC: A recent picture book that really caught your attention?

EM: Since COVID kept our library closed to the public till just recently, I haven’t had the chance to do a lot of serendipitous browsing. That said, I’m intrigued by Home Is in Between by Mitali Perkins, illustrated by Lavanya Naidu.

RVC: Five words that sum up your picture book philosophy?

EM: “Can we tighten this up?”

RVC: A favorite line from a recent picture book you repped?

EM: “Except when the drag coefficient causes the end of fun.” From Frank Dormer’s forthcoming. We Have a Playdate (Abrams).

RVC: Thanks so much, Emily! Oh, and for those who wanted to know what the Whopper of a Lie was in the introductory bio, it’s the juggling (though she does have tiny hands). No joke!

Agent Interview: Adria Goetz (Martin Literary Management)

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This month’s Industry Insider Interview is with Adria Goetz, a Senior Literary Manager at Martin Literary Management. In addition to earning a BA in English (with a creative writing emphasis) from the University of Washington, she graduated from The Columbia Publishing Course’s intensive coursework in all aspects of book, magazine, and digital media publishing.

Before moving into her current role, Adria worked in the Pierce County Library System’s Communications department, in addition to spending three years as an intern and assistant at Martin Literary.

These days, she lives in an old Victorian farmhouse in the Seattle area—which she dearly hopes is haunted with friendly ghosts—with her husband and two cats.

Adria represents a wide range of writing, including:

  • picture books
  • middle grade
  • young adult
  • graphic novels
  • adult fiction (especially rom-​coms, female-​driven thrillers/​suspense, and general fiction)
  • quirky gift books
  • Christian devotionals

Let’s share some links and get right to the interview!

RVC: I’ve heard rumors that you’ve got a secret weapon in terms of your agenting—the 5 in 5 Rule. Care to dish?

AG: Sure! The 5 in 5 rule is: if I can’t think of 5 specific editors I’d send a project to within reading five chapters of a manuscript, I pass. This is because I want to make sure that if I offer representation to someone, it’s because I love their work but also because I think I’m the right advocate for them. If I don’t have a good sense for which editors would be a good fit for a project, then I’m probably not the right fit for that writer and am better off cheering them on from the sidelines, rather than guiding their career.

RVC: What’s the picture book equivalent of 5 in 5?

AG: I think it’s the same general idea with picture books, in that when I’m reviewing a picture book submission, I really need to make sure that I have a strong sense for which editors are looking for that type of project. Most of the time with picture books, I can make that call at based off their pitch/​description of the project in their query letter. If the concept excites me, then I’ll take a good look at the manuscript to review the writing.

RVC: What appeals to you most about picture books?

AG: I’m a very visual person and I’ve always loved art (my house is covered in art and wallpaper with lots of different patterns and textures), so I love that picture books are a very unique and specific form of visual storytelling.

RVC: What was the story of your first picture book sale?

AG: Aw! The first picture book I ever sold was Rice from Heaven, which was written by Tina Cho and illustrated by Keum Jin Song, and sold to Little Bee Books. I represented the author, Tina Cho, who crafted a really interesting manuscript based on a real story of people in South Korea who fill giant balloons full of rice and float them over the mountainous border into North Korea, with the hope that they’ll be able to help feed the starving, impoverished people who live there. It’s a beautiful story of empathy and kindness.

RVC: That sounds absolutely lovely.

AG: We submitted it to a small list of publishers, and we received good feedback, but it felt like something was missing. It was sort of a straightforward text at the time. I shared the manuscript with my colleague Clelia Gore [OPB interjection and horn-​tooting here–we interviewed her back in 2020!] to get her perspective, and she encouraged us to rework the language to make it feel more lyrical. Once I gave that simple note to Tina, it was like she knew exactly what to do. She reworked it to make it more lyrical and poetic, and the text came to life. We shopped that new version and sold it pretty quickly to Little Bee Books.

Tina Cho was one of the first clients I ever signed, and she really, really took a chance on a brand new, very green agent. Since then, we’ve done a slew of books together: Rice from Heaven (Little Bee Books, 2018), Korean Celebrations (Tuttle, 2018), My Breakfast with Jesus (Harvest House Kids, 2020), The Ocean Calls (Kokila, 2020) which received three starred reviews, and an upcoming graphic novel-​in-​verse called The Other Side of Tomorrow, which will publish with HarperAlley in 2023. There will be many more in the future, too!

RVC: I know The Ocean Calls quite well. It even made it onto the OPB 20 Favorites of 2020 list!

AG: It’s a very special book!

RVC: What about Rice from Heaven initially grabbed you in manuscript form?

AG: I loved that it showed an example of a tangible way to show kindness in a very conflict-​filled world.

RVC: Let’s get into the agenting day-​to-​day stuff. You recently announced on Twitter that while you’ve never closed to queries before, you’re temporarily doing that. How bloated did you inbox get?

AG: That’s right, this is the first time I’ve EVER closed since I started agenting! It’s bittersweet because I love getting to review submissions every day. I’ve never felt like, “Ugh, my slush pile.” I still think it’s somewhat magical to wake up every morning and have a bunch of new stories in my inbox, waiting for me to read them. I only closed because I am taking a temporary medical leave while I recover from an upcoming surgery. (Nothing scary, for what it’s worth.) I already can’t wait to open back up, though!

RVC: I’ll definitely be sending you some warm, healing thoughts!

AG: Thanks!

RVC: In the past, you’ve given a workshop entitled “The Art of the Query Letter.” What’s the extra pizzazz you recommend people use to capture the attention of an agent or editor?

AG: I love teaching that workshop! The most important part of query letters is to make sure to include all of the basics: title, genre, reader category (meaning PB, MG, YA, etc.), word count, concise pitch, comp titles, and an author bio.

My hyper-​specific “pro tip” is to use a specific subject line in your email. When I receive a query, the first place I usually see it is on my phone when I get an email notification. So if I see the subject line “Query” or “Submission” it doesn’t catch my eye and I’ll probably quickly shuffle it to my query folder to look at later. But if I were to see the subject line “Query for MG Fantasy – THE LIBRARY OF CURIOSITIES” I’m instantly intrigued, and probably going to stop everything I’m doing to take a look. And that did happen, by the way, when Jenny Lundquist queried me with The Library of Curiosities, which we are now shopping. 🙂

RVC: When you start reading queries again, what type of picture books would you be most interested in seeing? Mermaids? Raccoons? Ghosts? Karaōke? Something else?

AG: Yes to all of those! Also, my picture book trinity tends to be the three following categories: humor, Own Voices, and magical.

RVC: I find that writers often aren’t sure how to navigate a career that spans both the Christian and general marketplace. What advice do you have for them? 

AG: I would say: learn how to tailor your projects for both markets. Some projects might be inspired by scripture, but if they don’t directly reference the Bible or the Christian faith, they could potentially appeal to the general market. It works the other way around, too. Rice from Heaven by Tina Cho and Keum Jin Song, Taste Your Words by Bonnie Clark and Todd Bright, and The Other Side of Tomorrow by Tina Cho and Deb Lee are a few examples of projects that were pitched to both markets.

RVC: Do you have other clients who offer a good blueprint for this kind of wide-​ranging career?

AG: Caryn Rivadeneira and Dave Connis both write for the general market and the Christian market, and juggle things beautifully, I think.

RVC: Speaking of advice, what’s the best piece of agenting advice you ever received?

AG: My boss Sharlene Martin has always said, “You can’t get what you don’t ask for.” And my colleague Clelia Gore has oftentimes told me, “Plead your case.” I keep both of these in mind when I’m negotiating for my clients, or advocating on their behalf. It’s amazing what you can get if you just ask for what you want, and explain why you should get it. It’s very intuitive and it’s basically Negotiating 101, but it’s stuck with me because I remember when I was a kid watching Trump on “Celebrity Apprentice” and just thinking… there’s no way I could ever be a businesswoman that negotiates because I thought you had to be a bully in order to be good at negotiating. It seemed so scary to me. Now that I’m in the real world as an adult, working with all female mentors and in a heavily female industry, I know that when it comes to negotiating, just being smart and respectful in negotiations can usually get you what you want.

RVC: I ask this a lot, but writers want me to keep asking, so here goes. What are your thoughts on illustration notes?

AG: I think a handful of illustration notes in a picture book manuscript is just fine. I encourage my clients to only use them when it’s something that is crucial to the storytelling, and can only happen within the illustrations themselves. It’s also a project-​by-​project basis. For example, comedic picture books that utilize dissonance between what the character is saying and what is happening in the art, like The Big Bed by Bunmi Laditan, might require more notes to clearly communicate what’s going on in the story.

RVC: We’re on the same page here, it seems. We reviewed The Big Bed, as well!

Now, here’s a weird curveball question—in your “My Favorite Books” board on Pinterest, you have Lisel Mueller’s Alive Together: New and Selected Poems. She’s one of my top five poets of all time because of how she (among other things) manipulates language and animates the world with wonder and sorrow in equal measure. I could go on and on about the bittersweet, shadowy depths of her writing.

What do you like about her work?

AG: Oh my goodness, that collection of poetry is just pure magic, isn’t it? I pulled out my copy this morning and have been rereading all of the dog-​eared and marked-​up pages I have. I personally love reading poetry that feels very accessible, but still has depth to it, which is exactly how I would describe her work. You can see how much empathy and imagination and whimsy she had as a person, but as someone who was a young girl in Germany as the Nazis were rising to power, and then immigrated with her family to the United States, she experienced a lot of trauma and grief at a very formative time in her life, and you can see that in her work. So, her poetry has whimsy, but it also has grit, and I think that’s a really captivating combination.

P.S. It makes me so happy to think of people visiting that Pinterest board, so thank you!

RVC: Happy to help!

Now… last question for this part of the interview. What’s a current picture book project that you’re totally stoked about?

AG: Lou by Breanna Carzoo. It’s about a fire hydrant named Lou who has grown weary of being the neighborhood dog toilet. It’s hilarious, the art is incredible, and I’m so excited for it to publish with HarperCollins in 2022.

RVC: Hah–sounds great! But now it’s time for the SPEED ROUND. Blasty fasty question and zippy skippy answers please. Are…you…ready?

AG: Let’s do it.

RVC: Dinosaurs, dragons, or dolphins?

AG: Dragons.

RVC: Best place to get a Seattle cup of coffee?

AG: Jewel Box Café. Mostly because of the atmosphere—it has a very dark academia aesthetic, you feel like you’re having a cup of coffee in the Beauty and the Beast library.

RVC: If you had to be “trapped” in a picture book for a day, what book would you choose?

AG: Hello Lighthouse by Sophie Blackall! I’d love to be a lighthouse keeper.

RVC: What’s a recent Christian picture book that really got your attention?

AG: I thought The Wonder That Is You by Glenys Nellist and Aurelie Blanz was beautiful.

RVC: What’s the One That Got Away?

AG: Oh, gosh! Just one? So many people have turned me down over the years! Well, there is one wonderful author/​illustrator in particular who comes to mind, but I won’t mention her by name. She signed with an incredible agent though, so I really don’t blame her!

RVC: Your picture book philosophy in five words or less.

AG: Every child deserves a mirror.

RVC: Thanks so much, Adria! This has been fun.

Agent Interview: Liza Fleissig @ Liza Royce Agency LLC

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Let me introduce you to literary agent Liza Fleissig, who opened the Liza Royce Agency (LRA) with partner Ginger Harris-​Dontzin in 2011. They describe their business as “a cross-​platform company providing development, representation, and strategic career management for clients in all media” that has a goal “to represent clients in all stages of their careers, from the most established to those developing their craft, as well as debuts.”

An unexpected bonus that Liza and Ginger bring to the agenting world is a combined 40 years of negotiating experience thanks to being partners in NYC litigation firms prior to launching LRA. From the start, LRA books have won awards and made waves.

Let’s find out why!

RVC: Clearly you had other plans than being a literary agent (witness those many years in the legal world). What got you back into a more bookish life?

LF: I had been searching for something creative to do for a long time after my children were born. I loved practicing law, but it started to feel more like a chore than a career, and I knew it was time to take a break. I’m a voracious reader and always had a strong sphere of influence from friends in the publishing and film industries, and the light bulb just went off. I guess when you come from an entrepreneurial family, it’s in your blood to take risks and try new things.

RVC: Most people who interview agents ask this same question: “What does a typical day in your life look like?” I’ll bet my next picture-​book manuscript that I already know your answer, which has six parts, given in no particular order beyond how they came to me.

  1. being a great mom to kids (school, homework, sports/​events)
  2. making terrific meals (more on this later)
  3. pounding through work emails, dealing with contracts, and reading/​editing client work
  4. multitasking (probably with lunch meetings, exercise, and hobbies)
  5. being an attentive spouse/​family member
  6. reading, reading, reading until the stars lull you to sleep

Well, did I nail it? Am I close?

LF: Wow, if only… You make it sound so seamless.

My life is more of a comedic sitcom. Especially these days–between the pandemic, remote learning, clients around the country, working with our LA people, and finalizing a project with a company in India–I barely know what day it is. I always try to start the day with a plan, but inevitably by mid-​morning madness ensues; though somehow, almost magically, everything falls into place by the time my husband gets home.

Seriously, one time on a work conference call, my new puppy spilled her water bowl so I slipped and fell, as my daughter called out that her toilet was clogged, and a bottle of ketchup crashed everywhere as I knocked it over trying to get to the paper towels. My apartment looked like a crime scene.

But by the end of the day, it was like it never happened…

RVC: I know the feeling!

Since your life is full of curve balls, let me toss you one more by way of asking something that people rarely ask industry folks. What do you see as the role of the picture book writer in the world?

LF: Such a great question! Picture books are such a special way to introduce kids to the world around them. So, writers who can break down important subjects, offer developmentally appropriate information, or discuss exceptional inspiring people in relatable terms, play such an important role in our future generations’ ways of thinking.

That said, picture book writers should also bring joy and the silly. Like adults, kids need downtime too–and sometimes just want to have fun!

RVC: One of your first big picture book hits was Ada Byron Lovelace and the Thinking Machine, by Laurie Wallmark (who we just interviewed at OPB a few months back). What was it about that book that landed so well with readers and critics (witness three starred reviews—Kirkus, PW, and Booklist)?

LF: Ahh, Laurie Wallmark is an über talented nonfiction writer. You might be surprised to know that her books often take months, if not years, to research. She literally checks out every single book she can find in the library about her subject, often even from other lending libraries. And unlike many picture book bio authors, she writes the dialogue with the subject’s actual words. Through diaries, letters, and other artifacts, she weaves stories with so much dimension.

RVC: Another of your books that’s now garnering a lot of awards and attention is a book we featured here at OPB—Sophia Gholz’s The Boy Who Grew a Forest. That book came out a year ago, though, and my writer friends who publish adult titles with big NYC houses tell me their books get a few months before being deemed a winner (or not). 

How true does that limited success window seem to be for picture books?

LF: There is no magic formula, and whether a big house deems something a winner or not, we see things differently. There are many backlisted books that still get a ton of our attention, and rightly so. Sure, it’s great if your book comes out of the gate swinging, but others can attain just as much success with a slow burn. Circumstances can’t be controlled (pandemic, weather, etc.) but a good book is a good book anytime it finds its way into the right reader’s hands!

RVC: What about for MG or YA?

LF: The same holds true for MG and YA.

RVC: Let’s talk about the challenge of building a brand. In your mind, what IS a successful writer brand? At what point in a writing career should someone have one? What might a writer expect an agent do to create/​maintain/​expand their brand? 

LF: This is not a quick answer or even a one-​size-​fits-​all kind. Some writers are prolific, writing across different genres and even age groups. Others definitely benefit from having a brand–but what is “successful” isn’t the “brand,” it’s the author. Either the author is finding his or her audience, or not. And, what to expect from an agent is opening a Pandora’s box.

I don’t want to speak for others, but LRA is a cross-​platform agency, so we really work with our clients on all levels, from development of the IP to exploiting it on different mediums, and doing so can often include marketing support, from helping with social media building to organizing launch events.

RVC: Your client, Amy Moore, says she knew you were The One when you gave a list of spot-​on revision requests. How extensive do those get? And how much back-​and-​forth generally happens between a client first sending you a manuscript and you firing it off to editors?

LF: As many times as it takes. Full stop.

RVC: Great answer!

LF: We have a very intensive process, both with employing former acquiring editors to weigh in for us, along with our own comments. And between the two of us, Ginger is really the “Picture Book Queen” and goes way into the weeds on PB revisions and it often takes numerous rewrites before we even consider sending it off. Yes, it can take a while, but LRA is known for very strong and polished submissions, even if they miss the mark, and that will never change.

RVC: Your clients are lucky, lucky, lucky,

Now, when you started LRA, it seemed like you participated in a lot of conferences, events, and contests. How much is that a part of what you do now?

LF: No dust grows here. We are happy to attend all of the conferences we did before, such as SCBWI and Thrillerfest any time they will have us–even virtually–and are always open to new ones. We believe that engaging with the community and meeting talent at all stages in their career remains important.

RVC: In all your experience with agenting, what has surprised you the most?

LF: How even when an editor loves a book, and an entire editorial team loves a book, it can still be turned down at acquisitions. There are so many aspects to this business that transcend the joy of storytelling, which can be super frustrating.

RVC: I’ll squeeze in one more question before getting to the last part of the interview. Some people might not realize this, but you’re a longtime, hardcore vegan who makes meat dishes for your family. If you were ever going to eat meat again, which of your own dishes would you nosh on?

LF: Honestly, it’s a non-​starter. I have been vegan for decades, before it was even a “thing,” and meat doesn’t appeal to me on any level. But if you’re hinting at which meals am I most known for? Lambchops are my kids’ favorite, with my Mexican taco night being a close second, and then meat lasagna and Cajun shrimp with sausage are tied at third.

That said, I started making “Freezer Family meals” with a crock pot during the pandemic, and I feel like a major chef now 😊

RVC: I’m trying to stop thinking about tacos because it’s time for the SPEED ROUND! Quicky questions and zippy answers, please. Ready?

LF: Sure.

RVC: What secret talent do you have that no one would suspect?

LF: I have a keen intuition–my family calls it my Spidey Sense and friends call me a witch!

RVC: What’s your literary mascot?

LF: Ha! My puppy. She is a Maltipoo and her name is Lambchop. Lamby follows me everywhere!

RVC: Your favorite place to get pizza in NYC?

LF: This is tricky since as you noted, I’m vegan. But my kids love Don Filippo. They have tons of different types of pizza you can get by the slice plus their garlic knots are fantastic.

RVC: The last WOW-​good picture book not by a client?

LF: The Rabbit Listened by Cori Doerrfeld–it’s stunning and brilliant. And I am happy to give a shout-​out to Cori’s agent, Rachel Orr, who is amazing at spotting talent.

RVC: What would Ginger say is your agenting superpower? 

LF: That I am relentless and never give up when I am passionate about a project.

RVC: The next picture book trend you hope to see?

LF: Hmmm…that’s a good question. Not sure about a “trend” but I think any PB that empowers kids or deals with a historical subject that engages a child to read and learn are my soft spots. Those and silly ones! There’s always room for humor!

RVC: Thanks for stopping by OPB, Liza. We loved having you here!

LF: Thanks for having me! It’s always humbling to be asked.

Agent Interview: Stephen Barr (Writers House)

On By Only Picture BooksIn Agent Interviews

This month, we welcome Stephen Barr to the OPB friends and family club. He’s an agent at Writers House, which is one of the largest literary agencies in the industry.

Fun fact: it’s an actual house—see for yourself!

Back to Stephen…he graduated from UCLA with a degree in English, then flew to NYC with the goal of riding the carousel in Central Park…and maybe becoming an editor. If you bribe him with a Frappuccino, he’ll confess he didn’t even know literary agents existed, but after coming up short in his hunt for one of a slew of editorial assistant jobs, he chased internships, and those were all at literary agencies. So, he landed an agent’s assistant gig at Writers house, and the rest is literary history.

But that’s not enough Stephenness. We need more! So, here are seven fun Stephen-​centric bio-facts.

  1. He had a New York Times article written about him in 2011 where he confessed to being “freakishly, dangerously ambitious.”
  2. His clients include David Macaulay (Caldecott Medalist and MacArthur Fellow), Emily Hughes, and Christopher Silas Neal
  3. He loves silly and/​or sweet and/​or heartbreaking picture books
  4. His Twitter bio awesomely claims “customer at Pancake House”
  5. He’s 110% pro-lightsaber
  6. He wrote and recorded a song to score a book trailer for the very first book he found in the slush pile
  7. He met his future wife in the spiral staircase at Writers House, five years before their first date

For those of you who want to check out Stephen social-​media-​wise, here are some URLs. Everyone else? Let’s get to that interview!

RVC: You joined Writers House in 2008. What’s the story of how you got there? Where did you develop the itch for agenting?

SB: Had I known that literary agents existed, I suspect I would’ve been pretty laser focused on becoming one! But editors are more visible cultural figures, I’d argue, in a way that literary agents are not, so the former was all I knew while growing up as a bookworm.

After graduating from college in Southern California, moving to New York with crossed fingers and whiffing a handful of interviews for editorial assistant positions, I started interning at Writers House and saw how much room for variety and self-​starting there is in agenting.

Cue the itch!

RVC: Please share your literary-​world résumé gimmick. 

SB: Alas, there were quite a few, some more embarrassing than others, but I landed an interview at Bantam Books by rubber-​banding my resume around a Batman action figure, which I’d spent a few hours adapting from “Submarine Adventure Batman” into “Editorial Assistant Bantam,” who looked stupendously nerdy (and for some reason had a trident).

RVC: Sounds totally reasonable to me, but then again I still try hard to convince people that chocolate milk comes from brown cows.

Now, since we’re being honest, one of the reasons you’ve been on my radar is your uncommonly high SPF—Smarty-Pants Factor. My evidence? There’s a lot to choose from, such as your one and only post on MS Wishlist which says “send me your epistolary novel and our correspondence can be a plot point in your larger epistolary novel. #manuscriptofmydreams.” How vital is it that clients—current or future—share your same level of hah-hahness?

SB: As long as they can successfully ignore the majority of my dad jokes, we should be fine : )

RVC: What’s your secret vice when it comes to a picture book manuscript?

SB: Double-​meanings!

RVC: What are the top three reasons you reject a picture book submission? 

SB: 1) no surprises 2) no heart, 3), no double-meanings!

RVC: Since you’ve brought it up twice…please offer up an example of double meanings in a picture book so I’m sure we’re on the same page.

SB: Well, I feel like there are a whole bunch of different ways to peel that banana, but Sydney Smith’s Small in the City does an inhumanly amazing job of getting twice the impact out of single lines.

RVC: Fantastic–thanks! Now, how do you describe your agenting style?

SB: Joyful, creative, collaborative, never settling, always dreaming.

RVC: At one point, you admitted in an interview that you love being an agent “cartoonishly much.” Why?

SB: Let me count the ways, etc. But certainly because it’s given me a golden opportunity to help good people make their dreams come true (and when those dreams come true, the world has more art in it!)

RVC: What’s a favorite author success story?

SB: It’s impossible to pick just one, so here are ninety! Or okay, I’ll at least start with Bethany Barton, who’s practically a walking picture book herself (in terms of her energy, her expressiveness, her casual profundity, etc.) but needed a nudge to carve out time from the rest of her busy artistic life to devote to picture books. Her first two books (This Monster Needs a Haircut and This Monster Cannot Wait!) were supremely delightful but never quite took off…so we were talking about who knows what one afternoon when she mentioned these terrifying spiders that had taken up residence in her studio and how, even though she desperately wanted to squash them, she was “trying to love spiders.”

Bethany’s heart is Guinness-​world-​record-​sized, so it was an utterly Bethany thing to say, but we also immediately realized it was the title of her next book…so what felt like seventeen seconds later, she resurfaced with a perfect dummy for I’m Trying to Love Spiders, which launched a series of briskly-​selling books about facing your fears with curiosity that’s now moving on to its fifth installment, I’m Trying to Love Garbage.

RVC: One last question for this part of the interview. (Spoiler—it’s a toughie.) What type of long-​term effect do you see COVID-​19 having on the kidlit industry?

SB: I was speaking about this to a fellow at the Brooklyn Superhero Supply Co. (a front for Dave Eggers’ 826 NYC literacy non-​profit) and the combination of 1) school districts hustling to provide their students with sufficient technology to support remote learning and 2) authors and publishers adapting so many of their events to online spaces means that more schools serving low-​income students will be able to bring those students in front of more authors, without budget issues or technology issues standing in the way!

RVC: Alright, Stephen…you are now entering…THE LAND OF THE SIX-​QUESTION SPEED ROUND! ARE YOU READY?

SB: Absolutely not, but let us proceed.

RVC: Your six questions start…NOW! Best place in NYC for an astonishingly good cupcake? 

SB: If my son eats more than one cupcake from Ladybird Bakery in Park Slope, he’s capable of generating an apocalypse.

RVC: West Wing, Mad Men, or Twin Peaks?

SB: Twin Peaks, unless it’s past midnight, in which case it would be too scary, in which case I’ll just color in my Twin Peaks coloring book.

RVC: You’re hosting a picture-​book pizza party picnic and can bring four picture book friends. Who gets the invites?

SB: Wait, is this real humans in the picture book world, or picture book characters? Either way, Elephant & Piggie and George & Martha.

RVC: What’s the One That Got Away?

SB: Cindy Derby, bless her beautifully odd heart.

RVC: Last non-​Writers House picture book that you just loved.

SB: The humongous deluxe edition of Big Picture Press’s MAPS by Aleksandra and Daniel Mizielińscy, which is perfect for just leaving open in your living room every day while a little bit of the world slips into your life.

RVC: If you had an agenting motto, it’d be…

SB: in Latin, and I wouldn’t understand it.

RVC: Thanks oodles, Stephen! This was quite the experience!