Interview with Agent Kayla Cichello

Fabulous First Pages will take place virtually on Saturday, September 10, 2022 at 9 a.m. CDT. Kayla Cichello, agent at Upstart Crow, Quressa Robinson, agent at Folio Literary, and Esther Cajahuaringa, editor at Union Square Kids, will comment on the first 300 words of 10 manuscripts. These manuscripts will be randomly chosen from those who register for this event. Even if your work isn’t being critiqued, this is an excellent opportunity to hear what publishing professionals are looking for! Registration for this exciting SCBWI-WI event opens on July 1. More information will be sent out soon.

Our guest today on the blog is Kayla Cichello, an agent at Upstart Crow.

Kayla Cichello brings to Upstart Crow Literary nearly a decade of experience in children’s publishing. A former Conference Coordinator for the SCBWI Summer and Winter Conferences, she most recently logged several years as assistant to Senior Agent Jennifer Rofé at the Andrea Brown Literary Agency. She is open to picture books through YA and illustrators, and is searching for those voices that make her laugh and keep the page turning. Some of her clients include author Ana Otaru, author of the upcoming MASQUERADE FOR GRANDPA (Atheneum/S&S, 2023) and author/illustrator Kirbi Fagan, illustrator of SUMMER OF THE TREE ARMY (Sleeping Bear, 2021).

As Kayla says, “I’ve always been a voracious reader. From the time I could read, I would spend summers staying up late with a flashlight reading, making my way through each Nancy Drew mystery and the Little House on The Prairie series. I would often imagine myself as a new character in the stories; a kind friend to Laura or Nancy’s sassy sidekick (move over, George). For me, reading has never felt like an escape from reality, but rather an invitation to run alongside the author’s imagination, and strengthen my own.”

WHAT DO YOU LIKE TO SEE IN AN AUTHOR’S FIRST PAGES?

“The number one thing I look for in an author’s first pages is voice. I ask myself these questions: Do I connect to the voice of a character and the writing? Do I want to go on the journey with these characters? Is this something I want to read over and over again? Other elements can be adjusted, that’s the fun part of being an editorial agent. I love to collaborate with creators. If I’m not drawn to the voice, it’s not the right submission for me, and that’s okay. This industry is subjective and there may be another agent who does connect to that voice and style.”

Thank you so much, Kayla, for these great insights. We’re really looking forward to learning more from you in September.

An Interview with Author/Agent Zabé Ellor

The weather is warmer. The flowers are blooming. And the SCBWI-WI virtual Spring Studio – PrePAIRing for Success is just a few weeks away. On May 1, 2021, you will have the unique online opportunity to find out how publishing pairs collaborate. Each faculty pair will lead a joint presentation, sharing their dual experiences and/or collaboration, in their specialized track. Our MG/YA faculty include author (and associate agent at Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency) Zabé Ellor and Amazon Publishing editor Tiffany Shelton. They will discuss how to create great character relationships for young readers just growing into their own.

Go to this link to find more information and sign up for the Spring Studio. Please don’t delay. Registration closes at 10 p.m. Central Time on April 16, 2021.

Zabé “Z. R.” Ellor grew up in Washington, DC and narrowly escaped a career in the sciences to write and agent novels. He holds a BA in English Lit and biology from Cornell University. When not writing, he can be found running, playing video games, and hunting the best brunch deals in Dupont Circle.

I asked Zabé: does your background in biology give you a fresh angle on romance? Or not?

I wouldn’t say my degree has much impact on how I write romance. I think it’s important to understand the basics of writing romance because it’s a good way to learn writing relationships as a whole. Once you understand what readers find compelling, then you can use that to inform all relationships you write on-page.

Thanks for taking the time to be on our blog and to be part of our Spring Workshop. We look forward to more of your insights on May 1.

An Interview with Agent Christa Heschke

The SCBWI-WI virtual Spring Studio – PrePAIRing for Success is just a few weeks away! On May 1, 2021, you will have the unique online opportunity to find out how publishing pairs collaborate. Each faculty pair will lead a joint presentation, sharing their dual experiences and/or collaboration, in their specialized track. Among the pairs are agent Christa Heschke and author Stef Wade. In their workshop, ComPAIR & Contrast: Making Your Picture Book Stand Out, you’ll learn how to find your style, turn your ideas into stories, and discover what it takes to create a marketable picture book. Go to this link to find more info and sign up for the Spring Studio.

Christa Heschke graduated from Binghamton University with a major in English and a minor in Anthropology. She started in publishing as an intern at both Writers House and Sterling Lord Literistic, where she fell in love with the agency side of publishing. Christa has been at McIntosh and Otis, Inc. in the Children’s Literature Department since 2009 where she is actively acquiring for all age groups in children’s.

The Spring Studio will have a moderated Q&A panel, in which participants will have the chance to ask questions. I asked Christa, what can creators do to make an agent’s job easier?

I’d say that authors and illustrators should make sure to do their research on each agent and agency before submitting to them. Make sure you are sending to the correct email address and following ALL submission guidelines. Usually an agent’s website or blog or MSWL on Twitter is the best place to look for the most up-to-date info. Agents get a lot of queries so try to do what you can to stand out. It’s really helpful to me when authors use the email subject line to their advantage. Put in the title, age range and genre, i.e. TITLE X, YA contemporary. I get a lot of queries that simply say query or submission. It helps me to know what I will be reading when I open the email. If a genre I’m eagerly looking for is noted in the subject line or the project has an intriguing title, I likely will look at it much sooner than an email with a subject line without any details.

Thank you, Christa, for sharing this information and for being part of our Spring Studio. We look forward to hearing more from you on May 1.

An Interview with Agent Clelia Gore

Clelia Gore is one of the amazing faculty members who will be sharing their insights at the Marvelous Midwest Conference in May. She kindly agreed to answer a few questions for the SCBWI-WI blog.

Clelia Gore leads the children’s and young adult division of the Seattle-based agency, Martin Literary & Media Management. A former attorney originally from the suburbs of New York City, she represents picture books, middle grade, and young adult fiction and nonfiction. One of her most recent client successes is the New York Times-bestselling picture book, RESCUE & JESSICA by Jessica Kensky and Patrick Downes. You can find Clelia on Twitter at @MadmoiselleClel and read more about her and the agency at www.martinlit.com.

In your intensive “Navigating the Nonfiction Market,” one of the insights you plan to discuss is “concept hunting.” Can you give us a preview of what that means and why it’s important?

I think that some subjects for kid lit nonfiction are better than others. Several things inform what makes a good book topic — current holes in the marketplace, concepts that feel topical or are in particular need of being addressed, trending concepts, concepts that have a broad appeal, concepts that make sense for that particular author to write (do they have expertise in that area, a personal connection), is it distinct from what has come before, etc.

You do rep fiction, but your bio mentions that you want to develop your nonfiction clientele. What is commercial nonfiction and why is it important?

Commercial nonfiction is for the trade market–books that are sold at bookstores, on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, that you can find in libraries, etc. These books have a strong hook that helps sellers attract buyers and are meant for a broad audience. Trade publisher include Random House, Simon & Schuster, Candlewick, etc. I use the term “commercial nonfiction” here to distinguish from nonfiction for the school/library market. Books for the educational market have a different goal and different approach–they are often more straight informational and are serving educational needs. They are often not found in stores–mostly only at schools and libraries. They tend to rely less on a strong hook, i.e. are less commercial. Educational publishers (who often have commercial arms) include Capstone, Lerner, Nat Geo, Abdo. At this time, I’m focused only on commercial nonfiction for the kid lit market.

You said you were too “whimsical” to be a lawyer. We are very glad you ended up working in kid lit. Does your legal background help you now?

Thanks! I’m glad too. My legal background helps me tremendously. We deal with a lot of contracts at the agency–I feel like I have a leg up in contract negotiations and can also pick up on complex or nuanced contract issues easily and quickly because of my background. My legal knowledge helps out a lot generally when advising clients on a variety of matters, administering the agency business generally, and when any legal issues arise during the course of business. It’s something I value very much and think helps make me a great agent and businesswoman.

Thank you so much for sharing your insights. We look forward to hearing more from you in May!

If you have already registered for the Marvelous Midwest Conference May 3 – 5, you can still add an intensive to your registration by contacting Darcy Zoells at notmrdarcy at gmail dot com.

An Interview with Agent Patricia Nelson

Today we’re getting to know more about Patricia Nelson, agent at Marsal Lyon Literary Agency as we prepare for our 2019 Winter Webinar Agent Day!

A little about Patricia

Patricia Nelson is a literary agent with Marsal Lyon Literary Agency, representing all genres of young adult and middle grade fiction, as well as select adult fiction. Recent children’s sales include books placed with Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, Bloomsbury, Candlewick and Simon & Schuster, among others. She holds master’s degrees from the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Southern California and previously taught literature and writing at the college level.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/patricianels

SCBWI-WI talks with Patricia

SCBWI: This year’s Winter Webinar is all about first impressions. What are some of the first things you look for in a query that make the best impression?

Patricia: In a query, it’s really all about story! I’m looking for queries that effectively and concisely introduce an interesting main character and compelling conflict — and crucially, lay out the stakes of that conflict for the protagonist. Well-chosen comparable titles can also be helpful to convey that the author is well-read in their genre and knows where their book will fit in the market.

SCBWI: Let’s face it. First impressions are not always good ones. What are some red flags that give off a bad first impression in a query?

Patricia: I’m generally wary of query letters that are much longer or shorter than the norm — you want to try to aim for 250-350 words total. A query that talks more about the author than the the story is always a bad sign. And it tends to also be a red flag when authors can’t identify their category or genre (e.g. your book can’t be “YA/MG” because those are two different audiences — it needs to be either/or) or list a word count that is far outside the generally accepted range for the genre or category (for kidlit authors, this is a great reference on word count).

SCBWI: We often read about the important of the first pages and the power of that first line. What are some of your favorite first lines in literature?

Patricia: The best first lines are specific, surprising, and jump right into the heart of the story, leaving the reader impossibly curious to know more. Favorite first lines in all of literature is too daunting a task, but here are some of my favorites in recent kidlit:

“The feathers were Lace’s first warning.” –Anna-Marie McLemore, The Weight of Feathers

“What’s surprised me most about seeing my sister dead is the lingering smirk on her face.” –Erika L. Sánchez, I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter

“On the morning of its first birthday, a baby was found floating in a cello case in the middle of the English Channel.” –Katherine Rundell, Rooftoppers

Guest Post by Stef Wade

Stef Wade used to write about cardboard boxes, but thinks writing for children is far more exciting. She’s the author of A PLACE FOR PLUTO (2018) and LANCE COTTONWOOD IS AFRAID TO FALL (Capstone, 2020). She holds a BA in advertising from Marquette University and an MBA in Integrated Marketing Communication from DePaul University. She is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI). She currently resides in Wisconsin with her husband and three boys.

An Interview with Agent Elana Roth Parker

The SCBWI-WI 2019 Winter Webinar Agent Day is less than a month away and we want to introduce you to our participating agents! This year’s theme is First Impressions, so we spoke with our agents to get a sneak peek on some of their thoughts.

Today we’re talking to Elana Roth Parker, agent at Laura Dail Literary Agency.

A little about Elana

Elana has specialized in children’s publishing from the beginning of her career, from her very first internship at Nickelodeon Magazine followed by 5 years as an editor at Parachute Publishing. She’s been an agent since 2008, joining LDLA in 2016 after running her own agency, Red Tree Literary. Elana is a graduate of Barnard College and the Jewish Theological Seminary, with degrees in English literature and Bible. It all adds up to her loving books that expertly combine the timely and the timeless.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ElanaRoth

SCBWI-WI talks with Elana

SCBWI: This year’s Winter Webinar is all about first impressions. What are some of the first things you look for in a query that make the best impression?

Elana: I look for concision and clarity above all else. Queries that are easy on the eyes, not overloaded with information not related to the book, or too many words in general—those are the ones that make the best first impression. When the words have space to be seen, I’m more likely to read closely and know what I’m getting.

SCBWI: Let’s face it. First impressions are not always good ones. What are some red flags that give off a bad first impression in a query?

Elana: Avoidable mistakes are the biggest red flags that are hard to get past. Spelling my name wrong. Spelling one of my clients’ names wrong. Not updating info from a letter you sent to another agent. Sending me something that’s not in a genre I represent. Now, I’m human, and I’ve screwed things up like name spellings sometimes, so it’s not a dealbreaker, but those errors do set a tone to my reading experience. Especially if they are avoidable with a little diligence.

SCBWI: Have you ever known from a query and first pages that you would fall in love with a project? What about the first impression led you to that conclusion?

Elana: Hmmm, a first impression so strong I knew I’d really fall in love with a project? No. First impressions are really only as good as making me excited to request material. I honestly get hopeful and excited about every solid query and sample pages that make me request material. I always want the project to be amazing and most of the time I feel like I have a Kindle loaded with potential, all based on the good first impressions left me by the pitches. But…to know that I was going to fall in love? No. For that I have to finish the book and make sure my last impression matches the first 🙂

Guest post by Stef Wade

Stef Wade used to write about cardboard boxes, but thinks writing for children is far more exciting. She’s the author of A PLACE FOR PLUTO (2018) and LANCE COTTONWOOD IS AFRAID TO FALL (Capstone, 2020). She holds a BA in advertising from Marquette University and an MBA in Integrated Marketing Communication from DePaul University. She is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI). She currently resides in Wisconsin with her husband and three boys.

An Interview with Agent Jennifer Mattson

Today we are talking to Jennifer Mattson of Andrea Brown Literary Agency, who will participate in our January 6 pre-webinar Facebook event, with her client and SCBWI-WI member, Lisl Detlefsen.

A little bit about Jennifer

Jennifer has been an agent for nearly a decade, and has worked with children’s books and children’s writing in some capacity her entire career. Bookseller, editor, and children’s book reviewer are some of the hats she has worn. She represents all kid-lit genres, but especially picture books and fiction. Her touchstone novels hinge on seeing changes in a character’s perceptions, circumstances, or (perhaps best!) both. She loves survival stories; mind-bending fantasy; and puzzles of all sorts. In picture books, whatever the manuscript’s defining tone might be, her holy grail is a solid structure, emotional resonance, and an ending that feels as surprising as it does inevitable. Twitter: https://twitter.com/jannmatt

SCBWI-WI talks with Jennifer

SCBWI: This year’s Winter Webinar is all about first impressions. What are some of the first things you look for in a query that make the best impression?

Jennifer: Besides writing that’s been proofread and a structure that feels like it’s been within 100 yards of a “how to write a query letter” blog post? I look for a query that gives a good rationale for why I personally might like the manuscript; a plot description that succinctly highlights what makes the manuscript different and intriguing; and an author bio that’s only as lengthy as it is relevant to publishing (SCBWI membership always catches my eye!)

SCBWI: Let’s face it. First impressions are not always good ones. What are some red flags that give off a bad first impression in a query?

Well, you can probably reverse engineer some answers to this question from my answer to the first question! But here, off the top of my head, are a few additional pet peeves.

—An overly sell-y tone (“destined to be a NYT Bestseller!”), especially one that seems to focus too much on the book’s future success (movie versions, branded plush toys, backpacks … )

—Gimmicks (like writing the query in the voice of the main character)

—Disregard for proper submission guidelines (we really do notice this!)

SCBWI: We often read about the important of the first pages and the power of that first line. What are some of your favorite first lines in literature?

Oooh, what a fun question, and actually I just recently read a first line that I thought was brilliant. It’s from Ann Patchett’s COMMONWEALTH, so not exactly for the kiddies, but here it is:

“The christening party took a turn when Albert Cousins arrived with gin.”

I love how it plays with our expectations—and there’s such great symmetry in its structure, balancing the christening with the gin at either end. This deceptively straightforward sentence really sets the tone for something both domestic and dramatic to ensue, and it certainly does.

I also love the way M. T. Anderson grabs you by the throat with both voice and sci-fi scene setting in the first line of FEED.

“We went to the moon to have fun, but the moon turned out to completely suck.”

Finally, I have to give a shout-out to the debut YA of my client Katy Loutzenhiser, whose hilarious and page-turning novel IF YOU’RE OUT THERE (Balzer + Bray, March 2019) starts out with an email from the main character to her best friend. The email’s subject line always makes me crack up, and I vividly recall how it caught my attention when I first read it as a submission:

I’M DOING DRUGS! LOTS AND LOTS OF DRUGS!

Of course, the character isn’t doing drugs—the line winds up being just the perfect introduction to the character’s smart, funny voice.

Guest post by Stef Wade

An Interview with Agent Sean McCarthy

The blog welcomes Sean McCarthy. He’ll be sharing his insights about revising — a subject we all need to know more about! If you want to hear Sean and the other astounding faculty, there’s still time to register for the fall conference. Click on this link for more information.

Sean McCarthy founded his own full-service literary agency in 2013. He began his publishing career as an editorial intern at Overlook Press and then worked at the Sheldon Fogelman Agency as the submissions coordinator and permissions manager before becoming a full-time literary agent. He works on children’s books for all ages, and is actively looking to build his client list. His clients include New York Times Bestseller Zachariah OHora, Jamie A. Swenson, Hyewon Yum, Mark Fearing, Dana Wulfekotte, Andrea Offermann, Kurt Cyrus, and Judith Robbins Rose, among others. Sean graduated from Macalester College with a degree in English-Creative Writing, and is grateful that he no longer has to spend his winters in Minnesota.

You encourage writers to “stop being polite and start getting real about your manuscripts.” What do you mean by polite? Is that true for ALL writers — or just those of us from the Midwest who are known to be too nice?

Although it took me a couple of years to adjust to “Minnesota Nice” when I first moved to St. Paul for college (I couldn’t understand why everyone was smiling at me when I walked by them on the sidewalk), I think this is applicable for all writers (and if anything, I’ve found Midwestern writers to be super pragmatic when it comes to their work). When I was first thinking of this workshop, I had in mind a quote that Lucy Ruth Cummins (Author/Illustrator extraordinaire and executive art director at S&S) uses in one of her talks – “Don’t cling to a mistake just because you spent a long time making it.” I think that’s an invaluable skill to have as author – to be able to detach yourself from your work, in a sense, and look at it with a cold and clinical eye to see what’s working and what isn’t working, and then be ruthless in your revisions. So “polite” would be skipping over those sections of your manuscript that you know aren’t 100% working (either because you love them too much or have spent a lot of time on them), even though there’s a part of you that knows something is wrong, because you don’t want to further disrupt your manuscript.

Clearly you have a great sense of humor! You said in an interview that you are looking for project where the humor comes from character development. Can you elaborate on that?

Sometimes in children’s books there’s a tendency to do wacky/zany humor that is totally dependent on the plot (it’s almost similar to how children will tell stories themselves – “and then this happened, and then this other thing happened, and then this other crazy thing happened!”). My issue is that sensibility doesn’t usually hold up on multiple readings (which is particularly essential for picture books), and once you’ve learned how the story goes, the humor will start to fall flat. But if you give me comedy that derives from a character’s personality and how they see the world, I can take hold of that perspective and make it my own. I love to see manuscripts where I could take the main character, transport them to an entirely different story, and still have a good idea of how they’d react (and the hilarious things that they would say and do).

What else do you look for in a manuscript?

The longer that I work in publishing, the more broad my taste becomes. Although it sounds vague (and not that helpful, I realize – sorry!), I’m always looking for a manuscript that will demand my attention and make me keep reading. I’ve found myself drawn into stories that I never would’ve expected to enjoy if the voice is strong enough, or if the narrative arc is so compelling and dynamic that I’m dying to see what happens next. But it’s usually a combination of these factors – unforgettable voice, wholly original plot and concepts, and pitch-perfect characters – that will make me want to request more work. Easy, right?

The theme of our conference is Reality Check: Exploring the Truth. Is there a truth about your job as an agent that you can share with us?

One of the truths about agents is that we’re not all alike (other than that most of us have aggressively hip eyewear), and that finding the right agent for your work is the most important thing. We have different ways of working and communicating with our clients, as well as different submission strategies and negotiation tactics. I also can’t represent everybody (this was a favorite saying of my former boss, Shelly Fogelman), so sometimes if I pass on author, it doesn’t mean that I don’t think they’re talented or that they’ll never publish a book, it just means that I’m not the right match at that particular time to take their work to the next level.

Thank you so much for sharing your insights, Sean. It will be an honor to have you as part of our SCBWI-WI community at Green Lake.

Jane Kelley copy 2.jpg Jane Kelley is the new blog editor for SCBWI-WI. She is the author of many middle-grade novels, including The Desperate Adventures of Zeno and Alya, which was honored by the CCBC in 2014. Her most recent work is the chapter book series, The Escapades of Clint McCool. For more information, see http://janekelleybooks.com