Kidlit411 Birthday Bash 2017 Day 4: All About Agents

Jan. 19, 2017

Welcome to Day 4 of the Kidlit411 Birthday Bash Giveaway!

Today, ALL ABOUT SUBMISSIONS, is the day you've been waiting for - GOLDEN QUERY PASSES! This is the last of our four days of celebration. Be sure to enter our previous giveaways this week:

Jan. 16, All About Books (win the Caldecott & Newbery books and more)

Jan. 17, All About Craft (writing & illustration courses)

Jan. 18 All About Critiques (professional critiques)

Day 4's giveaways end at noon, EST, Jan. 26, 2017. We will pick winners each day next week, Monday through Thursday.

Each prize has its own Rafflecopter widget. You must enter each prize separately. (Sign in with your name and email on each widget and follow the instructions). Taking an action once (like commenting on this post or following us on Twitter) qualifies you for all of that day's giveaways.

A GOLDEN QUERY PASS gets you ahead of the line and guarantees that you will get a response from the agent!

As with any agent submission, if you win these prizes, please do your homework and research what the agents want. Be sure to follow all of the agency submission rules.

We at Kidlit411 are so grateful for each one of you who have spent time with us, on our website, Facebook group, and elsewhere. We hope you'll stick around!

If you've just found our site, welcome! Please sign up for our weekly emails, which provide links to all the articles we add each week to this site, or join our Facebook group for a supportive community.

PRIZE 1: GOLDEN QUERY PASS for Stephanie Fretwell-Hill of Red Fox Literary

Stephanie Fretwell-Hill started her publishing career in 2004 at Walker Books Ltd. in London, where she sold foreign language rights. Working in a design-led company with legendary artists such as Helen Oxenbury and Lucy Cousins sparked her love of illustration, while her sales role gave her an international perspective on children’s publishing.

In 2011, Stephanie moved back home to the United States, where she joined Peachtree Publishers as an editor. During her four years there, she acquired fiction and non fiction picture books, middle grade, and young adult titles. Her acquisitions received such honors as YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults, Bank Street Best Children’s Books of the Year, Parents’ Choice Awards, and numerous starred reviews from major trade magazines.

As the newest agent to join Red Fox Literary, Stephanie represents both authors and illustrators of board books, picture books, middle grade, and young adult. She will consider stories in any genre, but looks for a strong voice, rich and multi-layered plots, and stylish, classic, or quirky illustrations. Most of all, she loves anything that really makes her laugh.

Find out more about Stephanie at the Red Fox Literary website.

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PRIZE 2: GOLDEN QUERY PASS for agent Brent Taylor of Triada US Literary

Be sure to read Kidlit411's interview with Brent Taylor.

Associate Literary Agent Brent Taylor's tastes are eclectic (from picture books to women's fiction), but all of his favorite novels are similar in that they tend to have fresh voice and fantastic writing.

These days he is focusing more on kidlit. He has recently completed two picture book deals and is excited to grow his list of author-illustrators. He's sold a lot of middle grade, and is interested in finding a terrific chapter book project—something fun and fresh with a dash of a STEM tie-in. In middle grade and YA, his sweet spot is realistic fiction but he is open to anything.

Find out more about Brent at the Triada US website.

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PRIZE 3: GOLDEN QUERY PASS for agent Anna Olswanger of Anna Olswanger LLC

Anna Olswanger has been a literary agent since 2005. She started her career at Liza Dawson Associates in Manhattan, and in 2014 launched her own literary agency, Olswanger Literary LLC, where she represents picture books (author-illustrators only), middle grade fiction and adult nonfiction. Anna has sold to major publishers, including Bloomsbury, Chronicle, HarperCollins, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Macmillan, Penguin Random House, and Simon & Schuster.

Anna is always looking to add to her client list. She enjoys discovering new authors and illustrators, and is looking for “voice,” the sound and rhythm of an author that is hers alone. She has a particular interest in picture books (author-illustrators only).

Anna has developed a special interest in animal advocacy and unusual books with a Judaic or Israel theme.

Find out more about Anna at her website.

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PRIZE 4: GOLDEN QUERY PASS for agent Linda Epstein of Emerald City Literary Agency

Before moving to Emerald City Literary Agency, Linda Epstein worked at Jennifer DeChiara Literary Agency for 4 1/2 years, where she represented titles like Bill Koenigsberg’s award winning YA novels, OPENLY STRAIGHT, THE PORCUPINE OF TRUTH, and HONESTLY BEN; Joe McGee’s hilarious zombie picture book PEANUT BUTTER AND BRAINS; M-E Girard’s GIRL MANS UP; and Natasha Sinel’s well received THE FIX.

Linda represents picture books, middle grade and young adult fiction, and children’s nonfiction. In addition to being agent, she's also hard at work writing a middle grade novel.

Find out more about Linda at the Emerald City Literary Agency website and last year's Kidlit411 interview.

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PRIZE 5: GOLDEN QUERY PASS for agent Marietta Zacker of the Galtt & Zacker Literary Agency

Marietta has worked with books, authors and illustrators throughout her career -- studying, creating, editing, marketing, teaching and selling. She supports independent bookselling, believes in libraries and takes pride in her work as a Latina in the world of publishing. She is always on the lookout for visual and narrative stories that reflect the world we live in, not the bubbles in which we put ourselves. She loves books that make readers feel and shies away from those that set out to teach the reader a lesson.

Whether she is reading a young adult novel, a middle grade novel or a picture book, Marietta looks for a book in which young readers can identify with the actions and reactions of the characters, not the perspectives of the author or illustrator. Diversity in the story must be inherent and authentic, not trendy. She is thrilled to shine the spotlight on soulful, insightful, well-crafted, literary or commercial projects aimed at any age group from young adult to the youngest of readers.

Find out more about Marietta at the Galtt & Zacker Literary Agency website, follow her on Twitter: @agentzacker or Instagram: @galltzacker

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PRIZE 6: GOLDEN QUERY PASS for agent Sarah Davies of The Greenhouse Literary Agency

Sarah Davies founded the Greenhouse when she moved to the US in 2007 after a long career as a UK children’s publisher. Sarah has been an editor most of her life and has considerable experience in contract negotiation, marketing and rights.

What Sarah is seeking: Fiction by North American authors, from Middle Grade through Young Adult and across all genres (note: she is currently closed to debut picture books but does rep PBs by clients whom she’s initially taken on for older fiction). She loves strong, hooky, layered plots, writing that is gorgeous but also conceptually strong, stories that are really moving but make you think too.

In YA, she is currently keen to find big, magical worlds derived from non-Western mythologies; unique and hooky contemporary fiction – perhaps involving unreliable narrators and/or interesting perspectives, structures or timelines; multicultural settings and diverse #ownvoices characters; magical realism – perhaps where the “real” is skewed by some other dimension.

In MG, she is looking for pacy/adventurous fiction, but also classic-voiced and heartfelt stories for girls. She loves stories of friendships, magical realism (again!), and new ways of interpreting the classic “coming of age” trope. Again, she looks for a fresh hook, matched by strong writing.

Find out more about Sarah at the Greenhouse Literary Agency website.

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PRIZE 7: GOLDEN QUERY PASS plus a 20-minute call and written critique from agent Jennifer March Soloway of the Andrea Brown Literary Agency

Jennifer March Soloway is an Associate Agent with the Andrea Brown Literary Agency, an agency that specializes in children’s literature. She enjoys all genres and categories of children’s literature, such as laugh-out-loud picture books and middle-grade adventures, but her sweet spot is young adult. Although she mostly represents children’s literature, she is also open to adult fiction.

Jennifer is a suspense junkie. She adores action-packed thrillers and mysteries, full of unexpected twists. Throw in a dash of romance, and she’s hooked! She’s a sucker for conspiracy plots where anyone might be a double agent, even the kid next door. She is a huge fan of psychological horror that blurs the lines between the real and the imagined. But as much as she loves a good thriller, she finds her favorite novels are literary stories about ordinary teens, especially those focused on family, relationships, sexuality, mental illness, or addiction. In such stories, she is particularly drawn to a close, confiding first-person narrative.

Prior to joining ABLA, Jennifer worked in marketing and public relations in a variety of industries, including financial services, health care, and toys. She has an MFA in English and Creative Writing from Mills College, and was a fellow at the San Francisco Writer’s Grotto in 2012. She lives in San Francisco with her husband, their two sons, and an English bulldog.

Jennifer is giving away a 20-minute phone call plus a written critique of a PB or the first 3 chapters (up to 35 pages) of a MG or YA manuscript.

Find out more about Jennifer at the Andrea Brown Literary Agency website.

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