Category: Industry Insider

Editor Interview: Carol Hinz (Millbrook Press & Lerner Publishing)

On By Only Picture BooksIn Industry Insider5 Comments

OPB readers, friends, and fans, what better way to wrap up 2019 than getting to know Carol Hinz, Editorial Director of Millbrook Press and Carolrhoda Books at Lerner Publishing Group? Her Twitter bio gives a lot of extra insight into who she is and what she’s about: “Also knitter, baker, ballerina, and wrangler of two small humans.” Talk about some pithy bio data, right?

Since OPB is all about underpromising and overdelivering, here are three more Carol Facts to enjoy.

  1. First book publishing job was an internship at Graywolf Press.
  2. Favorite color? Blue (in all shades and hues).
  3. Most unusual airplane carry-​on item? She brought her figure skates to the NCTE conference in Baltimore at the end of November so she could skate at the rink that’s along the harbor. Carol says, “It was totally worth the effort—and all the funny looks I got when people at the conference found out I’d done it!”

With that, let’s get to the Qs and As!

RVC: You ran into a pre-​career crossroads in high school—science and English. We know which choice you made (obviously!), but what appealed to you so much about science?

CH: I’ve always been a curious person, and I think my science classes and my English classes fed my curiosity in different ways. With science, I loved finding out more about the ways the world—and the universe—works, and at least at the high school level, I liked that the questions I was grappling with had definitive answers. There’s something comforting about being able to follow a procedure or a certain line of thinking and come up with a consistent result.

RVC: An example of that scientific curiosity appears in the range of books you’ve edited, like The Vast Wonder of the World: Biologist Ernest Everett Just and If You Were the Moon, or Dazzle Ships: World War I and the Art of Confusion and One Plastic Bag: Isatou Ceesay and the Recycling Women of the Gambia. What’s an unexpected topic or two you’d love to deal with via a book at some point?

CH: I like to be surprised by books—whether that surprise comes from encountering a topic I was previously unfamiliar with or from encountering an innovative presentation of a familiar topic. And I think many reviewers, educators, parents, and kids (especially kids!) enjoy being surprised as well.

I’m not someone who has a running list of super specific topics I’m looking for, but here are some things that have been on my mind lately:

  • Books that incorporate antiracist concepts and work toward dismantling white supremacy in ways that are engaging and meaningful for children (and adults).
  • Books that present science topics other than biology. Kids in the typical picture book age range often love animals, but I’d love to see some innovative, kid-​friendly approaches to other areas, including technology, mathematics, and engineering.
  • This last one isn’t a specific topic, but I’m looking for BIPOC authors and authors from other marginalized backgrounds to write about all manner of topics. Particularly in nonfiction, the vast majority of authors are white, and I would love to see a greater diversity of voices and perspectives represented.

RVC: I share that BIPOC wish, as well, and I’m doing what I can here with my cadre of students at Ringling College of Art and Design’s Creative Writing program. (Watch for their manuscripts in about three years!)

But let’s talk directly about where you work. One of the things I like about Lerner is that they take the time to carefully brand their products via imprints. I think of Millbrook as being curriculum + engagement. With Carolrhoda, it’s more imagination + inspiration. 

CH: Yes, that’s a great way of putting it! I typically say that for Millbrook, I’m looking for books that present curricular concepts in playful or unusual ways. And in Carolrhoda, I’m looking for quirky humor and books that give children an opportunity to see the world (or themselves) in new ways.

RVC: One of the things I admire about your work as an editor is how you’re not afraid of going right after tough topics, as readers encounter in Can I Touch Your Hair? Poems of Race, Mistakes, and Friendship, and Sachiko: A Nagasaki Bomb Survivor’s Story, to name just two examples. How do you negotiate the balance between what readers NEED and what readers WANT? And while we’re at it, let’s add in the challenge of what parents, teachers, and librarians think, too, right?

CH: Thank you, Ryan. With the books you mention, a couple of key things were not rushing the editorial process and incorporating the feedback of other people—both colleagues at Lerner and expert readers. I don’t think any one person is going to have perfect instincts for how to handle a challenging topic on the first draft or on the first read through a manuscript. But having time to sit with it, to read other, relevant writing on the topic, and to get feedback from fellow editors or consultants is enormously helpful.

Beyond that, we also need to be humble—the authors and I are going to do our best, but all books, especially those that grapple with topics not traditionally covered in children’s books, will still be criticized. Not every reader is going to be looking for the same thing from a book on a given topic, and we have to be okay with that, whether or not we agree with the criticism.

RVC: While Can I Touch Your Hair? has received a lot of critical praise, some readers are uncomfortable with parts of it—most specifically the poem called “The N‑Bomb.” That’s a prime example of what we’re talking about here, isn’t it?

CH: Definitely. I think adults (particularly white adults) don’t give kids enough credit for what they can handle. This often comes out of a desire to protect kids from all the terrible things that are a part of our world. But we need to keep in mind that not all kids receive that protection, and we can’t control when a kid is going to first encounter something biased, racist, or hateful. To those adults who feel uncomfortable, I say: Isn’t it far better for a kid to encounter the N‑word (or some other “difficult” subject matter) for the first time in the pages of the book, when there’s time and space for a kid to think about it and talk with a trusted adult about it, rather than encountering it first in some other way when there might not be opportunity for thought and conversation?

For more, check out a blog post that Irene Latham, Charles Waters, and I wrote about this very topic.

RVC: Thanks for extending our conversation with the link to that informative post. Much appreciated!

Let’s move back into your work as an editor in general by asking a question few editors get asked. How do you measure success?

CH: Ultimately, success is a book reaching a young reader who appreciates it. And I want our books to get into the hands as many of those young readers as possible, which means connecting with the people who put books into kids’ hands—booksellers, educators, librarians, and parents.

RVC: How do you achieve such a thing?

CH: There are different routes to achieving this goal. It could be getting multiple starred reviews, winning one or more awards, getting on state reading lists, having an author who does a lot of school visits and events, or some other combination of things. Success isn’t always the moments we see on social media—and a whole lot of work and revision and doubt and hope go into every single book we make, with the goal of each book finding its own path to readers.

RVC: Since you brought up the idea of writers/​books finding a path to readers … a lot of writers come to OPB to gain insight into how to improve their chances of selling a picture book manuscript, and sometimes that means investigating the submission process itself as much as talking about issues of craft. So, let’s help them out. Plenty of editors encounter phrases and words in cover letters and queries that are an absolute turn off. Got any to warn writers away from using with you?

CH: Ultimately, I’m a lot more interested in the manuscript than I am in the cover letter or query. That said, I’m turned off by bashing an entire category or genre because an author thinks their work is better than all of it, comments that the author’s child/​neighbor/​grandchild loves the story (because I need people who don’t already know and love the author to also love the story), and an obvious lack of knowledge about a certain genre or category (e.g. a 3,000-word picture book).

RVC: Let’s go with one more writer-​friendly question. How has nonfiction changed over the years of your editing career, and what trends/​shifts might we expect in 2020 and beyond?

CH: Oooh, interesting question. There’s definitely more interest in STEM and STEAM topics and less interest in historical topics (unless the book is about a historical “hidden figure” of some sort). Animal life cycle books used to be a nonfiction staple, but I almost never see them anymore unless they have an innovative approach (such as My Awesome Summer by P. Mantis by Paul Meisel.)

The last few years I’ve been thinking a lot about the different categories of nonfiction, as described by Melissa Stewart. For picture books, I’m seeing lots of narrative nonfiction, some really great expository literature, and a small amount of traditional nonfiction. (For more about nonfiction categories, check out Melissa’s blog and read her School Library Journal article on the topic.)

I’m also seeing a lot of interesting approaches to blending nonfiction and fiction. For instance, Flower Talk: How Flowers Use Color to Communicate by Sara Levine, illustrated by Masha D’yans is narrated by a cantankerous cactus, but the information conveyed is all true. I realize books like this can pose a challenge for librarians—where to shelve them?—but I also expect to be seeing more in this vein.

Word counts remain higher than for fiction. With narrative nonfiction, I generally go for 1,000 or fewer words in the main text, though Dazzle Ship: World War I and the Art of Confusion by Chris Barton is about 1,400 words and Let ’Er Buck!: George Fletcher, the People’s Champion by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson is 1,500 words. Expository literature typically has a lower word count, though a book with multiple levels of text (such as those in Jess Keating’s World of Weird Animals series) may go higher.

Including back matter and providing sources has become increasingly essential, and I’m enjoying just what a wide range of elements authors are including in back matter. Different topics will necessarily be served by different back matter.

Incremental but important progress has been made in publishing picture books by and about BIPOC and people from other marginalized backgrounds (and those books being recognized with starred reviewed and awards), and it’s my belief that this is not a trend but rather part of a permanent, ongoing shift.

Overall, I believe it’s a great time to be making nonfiction. There’s so much room for creativity and experimentation in terms of both format and topic, and I am inspired by all the great nonfiction I’m seeing out there!

RVC: A few years back, you (delightfully) interviewed your own kids on the Lerner Books blog. I’d like to wrap up the first part of this interview with variations on three of the questions you asked them. Here we go. 

#1—What do you like best about being a mom who is a children’s book editor? 

CH: I love that what I do in my job has such a meaningful connection with being a parent: my experiences with my kids inform my work and my experiences with making books inform the way I raise my children. I also think that the act of reading picture books aloud is incredibly powerful, and doing so night after night after night can’t help but shape my understanding of how to make a great picture book.

RVC: #2—What’s your favorite picture book to have worked on?

CH: All of them! That’s a valid answer, right? Truly, I love the books we publish and feel so lucky to be able to work with such incredible authors and illustrators.

If I had to pick a picture book that has had particular meaning for both me and my kids this year, I would choose A Map into the World by Kao Kalia Yang, illustrated by Seo Kim. My 6‑year-​old son loves it [OPB Note: Carol was kind enough to provide a snapshot of her and the aforementioned son enjoying that very book!], and we’ve been reading it multiple times a week for months now. Although it’s a book I completely adore, I was surprised to see it have such staying power for him. This blog post shares more of the story behind the book and how it has led to some very meaningful connections for both of my kids.

RVC: #3—How many picture books have you read them in their lives?

CH: Oh, probably a couple thousand.

RVC: That’s a good answer, Carol, but it’s wrong. According to child #2, it’s 5,952. But you were close!

And now, we move on to the SPEED ROUND where the point values are doubled, and the answers will zing as fast as the answers zoom. READY?

CH: You betcha!

RVC: Best place in Minneapolis to get hot dish?

CH: Probably in a church basement or at someone’s home! Instead, I’d like to recommend the fantastic fry bread tacos at the Four Sisters Farmers Market. I went there on a day last fall when illustrator Marlena Myles was signing copies of Thanku: Poems of Gratitude with the Hennepin County library system, and there I discovered that books and fry bread tacos are a great combination! (Though you do need to be careful not to spill on your book…)

RVC: Favorite late-​night reading beverage?

CH: Water.

RVC: Who’d you most like to edit a picture book from? LeBron James, Kim Kardashian, or Ariana Grande? 

CH: Hahaha! Whichever one of them has spent the last 5+ years reading recently published picture books, drafting multiple manuscripts, and working with a critique group as they honed their writing skills—and would respect my editorial input. 😉

RVC: A Lerner picture book that’s totally awesome yet somehow underappreciated?

CH: Love, Agnes: Postcards from an Octopus by Irene Latham, illustrated by Thea Baker. It’s an innovative look at the giant Pacific Octopus life cycle as portrayed via a series of postcards exchanged by Agnes, various other sea creatures, and a boy on land. It’s clever and charming, whether you’re primarily interested in the storyline or in the octopus facts!

RVC: The coolest picture book of 2019 that wasn’t edited by someone named Carol is …

CH: Gah, this is so hard! I’m going to cheat and break this into a few categories.

For fiction, I’d have to say Home in the Woods by Eliza Wheeler. Every aspect is so well done, and the text, the illustrations, and the design work wonderfully together to create a cohesive whole. Both of my kids also love it!

For nonfiction, I’m going to go with The Undefeated by Kwame Alexander, illustrated by Kadir Nelson. When I first saw the book, I thought it was gorgeous but perhaps too sophisticated for a young audience. But when I brought it home and read it to my younger son, he was very engaged. While he and I had previously talked about race in different ways, we’d not talked much about systemic racism and the long history of racial injustice in the United States, and this book opened the door to some really powerful conversations.

For a science-​themed picture book, I’d say Moth: An Evolution Story by Isabel Thomas, illustrated by Daniel Egnéus. I’d been hearing good things about it and finally got it from the library. My 6‑year-​old son  and I both learned a lot! It is such a clear presentation of a complex idea, and the illustrations are fantastic as well.

RVC: Sum up your picture book philosophy in three words.

CH: Make me care.

(By which I mean that you the author start off invested in the story you’re telling or the topic you’re writing about. But your readers may not be invested in the same way, so you need to find a way to make me–and all readers–care about it.)

RVC: Thanks so much, Carol! This was a sincere pleasure.

 

Editor Interview: Emma Ledbetter (Abrams Books for Young Readers)

On By Only Picture BooksIn Industry Insider

This month’s Industry Insider interview is with Emma Ledbetter, Editorial Director of Picture Books at Abrams Books for Young Readers. Why am I so stoked about this that I’m including a gif of a dancing Muppet here? It’s because she wowed the crowd at an SCBWI event in Orlando this past June, and yours truly was in the audience. And I mean wowed as in WOWed.

I could say more, but let’s instead hear what her new colleague, Andrew Smith (senior VP and publisher of the kidlit division at Abrams), wrote about her in a November 2018 article for Publisher’s Weekly. “Emma’s editorial career includes an expansive and impressive array of engaging picture books that have earned countless stellar reviews and accolades, but most important, they’ve delighted and enlightened young readers. I’m thrilled that she will be bringing her keen eye and expert taste to Abrams, and I’m very excited about the contributions she’ll be making to our list.”

Gosh, that’s so nice that I’m blushing!

Need more, though? I’ll give you five additional Emma bio/​career nuggets, then it’s interview time.

  1. She has a BA in Art History from Yale University.
  2. She had internships at Little, Brown, Nickelodeon, and Nick Jr.
  3. Her Twitter handle is indeed a shout-​out to fans of Frances (the most famous badger in all of kidlit).
  4. She loves Edward Gorey.
  5. She edited the picture book Ida, Always by Caron Levis (illustrated by Charles Santoso).

Ready for the interview now? Onward!

RVC: How did someone studying Art History at Yale end up with internships at Nickelodeon and Nick Jr.? Did we almost lose you to an adjacent-​but-​not-​quite-​kidlit career?

EL: Ha! Actually, I was always interested in children’s entertainment—around high school, I dreamed of working at Pixar, and that interest led me to Nickelodeon. And in my art history major, I wrote my thesis about Little Golden Book illustration. So I was always trying to find the kid-​angle while I was in college. I think it left some of my professors kind of confused.

RVC: Since I run into all kinds of art-​loving students at Ringling College, I also try to introduce a kid-​angle to their efforts, regardless of their major. Why not, right?

Let’s circle back to the presentation I mentioned in the bio that earned you the exceedingly rare OPB Muppets shout-​out. One of the things I took away from that Orlando SCBWI talk is your sincere love for and appreciation of nonfiction picture books. What do you like so much about this sometimes-​underappreciated type of book?

EL: First of all, thanks for your kind words about my presentation—it can be nerve-​wracking up there! It’s interesting that my love of picture book nonfiction struck you, because I don’t usually think of myself as a nonfiction editor (I’d say about 80% of my list is fiction). What I DO love is nonfiction that is creative, fun, and/​or unusual—in its subject, its writing style, its angle into the story, etc. Nonfiction that “reads like fiction.” I’m very selective with it. So you can be sure that if you see a nonfiction book I edited, it’s not just because I liked the topic—it’s because I found the approach particularly interesting or engaging.

RVC: Speaking of engaging, one of the nonfiction examples you used in Orlando was Skulls! by Blair Thornburgh (illustrated by Scott Campbell). For those who missed your talk, would you sum up a few of the reasons that you pounced—editorially speaking—on that book submission?

EL: #1, it made me LAUGH. OUT. LOUD. But it’s also extremely smart.

#2, I’d never seen anything like it before. It is completely fact-​based and scientifically accurate; it’s also totally wacky, and not remotely dry. It’s kind of un-​categorizable, actually.

#3, on reading Blair’s text, I could instantaneously picture what I wanted the book to look like (thank goodness Scott agreed and said yes!) The two of them knocked it out of the park!

RVC: A few of my creative writing students are interested in a career like yours. Let’s give it to them straight. What’s your day-​to-​day work like as an editor?

EL: I answer emails and go to meetings all day long, then go home to read and edit! (But some of those emails are really cool—like approaching an illustrator I love, or sending someone an offer. And some of those meetings are really fun—like digging into a sketch dummy with an art director, or presenting my books to get our in-​house teams excited about an upcoming list.)

RVC: Writing those “I love you and your work!” emails can indeed by fun. But what’s the most difficult aspect of your work?

EL: Time management is a big one. I strongly dislike negotiating contract terms (though it needs to be done!) and evaluating submissions is actually really tough. I get so very many of them, and it’s never fun to send a rejection. It’s extra-​hard when I fully see the merit in something and I really like it, but I just don’t have the space on my list, or I’m not 100% head-​over-​heels for it—only 99%.

RVC: Time and time again, I hear writers who lament how they wish they could do their own illustrations, like Jillian Tamaki or Sarah Williamson do. Make a case for the power of two creatives—the author + the illustrator—versus the all-​in-​one author/​illustrator.

EL: Even some of the most talented and successful author-​illustrators sometimes like to mix it up! I’ve seen an illustrator who writes her own stories fall in love with someone else’s text (like Jillian, who illustrated Julie Fogliano’s My Best Friend), and I’ve seen author-​illustrators write a story that they think would be best served by an artist with a different point of view (like Tomie dePaola, who wrote In a Small Kingdom, which was illustrated by Doug Salati).

Illustrating or writing vs. illustrating and writing can be totally different creative processes, stretching and refreshing your brain. Having a separate illustrator can take your story in wonderful, exciting directions that you couldn’t even imagine when you wrote it. And sometimes, particularly if you don’t have an art background and haven’t spent a lot of time developing your artistic craft, not illustrating your own book is simply the best decision for making the best book possible.

RVC: What are your feelings on illustration notes from writers?

EL: I don’t mind them when they’re critical to explaining a certain part of the story that the text doesn’t describe; or (and use this one selectively!) if you have a brilliant idea for what a certain page might show, and you phrase it as a *light suggestion.* Before sending a manuscript to an illustrator, I will delete pretty much any art notes that don’t fall into these categories.

Once an illustrator takes on a text, remember that it is now 50% their book.

RVC: How long does it take an editor to get situated when they change houses? And how soon is too soon to send them work?

EL: When I moved to Abrams, I’d say I felt situated about six months in, and I’ve been growing more comfortable ever since. I think I’ll feel truly at home once I’ve experienced one full round from acquisition to publication—my first full list of books comes out in Spring 2020, I can’t wait! And I’ve been receiving submissions here (from agents) since…two weeks before I started at Abrams?!

So, fire away!

RVC: Last question for this part of the interview. What’s the biggest story in kidlit that no one’s talking about enough?

EL: Did you see how Jeanette Winter’s beautiful picture book about Greta Thunberg, Our House Is on Fire, went from initial conversation with her editor to published book in two months?? That is a feat surpassed only by Greta herself sailing across the ocean to speak at the U.N.!

RVC: Greta is pretty amazing, and that amazingness is a great segue into the always-​amazing conclusion of every OPB interview. 

Cue the theme music. Open the velvet curtain. Turn on the spotlights. It’s time for … THE LIGHTNING ROUND! Zappy Qs and Zippy As, please. ARE YOU READY?

EL: Ready!

RVC: Most unexpected thing on your music playlist?

EL: Not sure if this is unexpected, but there sure is a lot of Hamilton on there…

RVC: “If I didn’t have a career involving books, I’d instead be _________”

EL: I’ll go with my childhood dream job: an elementary school art teacher!

RVC: Three picture book characters you’d love to have over for a dinner party?

EL: Frances the badger, of course; and let’s add in Lilly (and her Purple Plastic Purse) and Olivia. Dinner wouldn’t be boring, that’s for sure!

RVC: What’s your editorial superpower?

EL: I think I’m pretty good at finding the right illustrator to pair with a text! Also I have very colorful pens.

RVC: Best non-​Abrams picture book you’ve read in 2019?

EL: Two came immediately to mind: I absolutely loved The Important Thing About Margaret Wise Brown and Small in the City.

RVC: In five words or less, how do you measure success?

EL: Do it for the kids.

RVC: Thanks a bunch, Emma. It was indeed a pleasure getting to know you and your work a bit better!

EL: Thanks for having me, Ryan!

Agent Interview: Jennifer Laughran (Andrea Brown Literary)

On By Only Picture BooksIn Industry Insider

This month’s Industry Insider interview is with Jennifer Laughran, a Senior Agent at the Andrea Brown Literary Agency.

By way of getting to know her, here are two haiku embedded with things biographical.

Reads and reads and reads,
this Slytherin show-​tune fan
and kids book maven.

“Books are in my blood.”
Runs the Literaticast.
Loves indie bookstores.

What more do you need, right? So, without further ado, let’s get to the interview!

(Though if you want more things Jennifer, the links below will serve you well.)

RVC: Let’s start with something I find intriguing. In addition to being an agent at the Andrea Brown Literary Agency, you have a second job, of sorts—at your local bookstore, Oblong Books & Music. What do you do there?

JL: It’s not really a mystery. I work in my neighborhood bookstore for a few hours on weekend mornings, unless I’m out of town at a conference or something. What do I do there? I… sell people books! And also help run the teen events. I’ve been a bookseller since I was 12, and I see no reason not to keep being one. I like being able to peruse all the new books coming in, and see what kids and parents are responding to on the shelves. Also, as an agent, I work from home, usually extremely long days, sometimes without ever leaving the house or speaking to anyone except online. So it’s nice to actually be forced to interact with people in real time.

(I definitely do NOT work there for the money. I’m a book addict and I’m certain I spend more at the bookstore than I make–but the employee discount is nice!)

RVC: How did being a bookseller since age 12 help prepare you for agenting?

JL: Being a bookseller is, in some ways, like being an agent. As a bookseller, I have favorite books that I’m an evangelist for. I also hand-sell–that is, I ask customers what they want to read, and I find great books that fit their needs.

As an agent, I have authors that I’m an evangelist for. I ask editors what they want to publish, and I find great books that fit their needs. It’s matchmaking, in both instances. Also, my many years in the bookstore gave me a head start at knowing a lot about how publishing works, what the different imprints publish, etc.

RVC: Confession time. I like Kate Messner’s work. A lot. And what do you know, you’re her agent! So, let me ask—which of her picture books has the most interesting idea-​to-​publication story? 

JL: This would probably be a better question for Kate, actually – by the time her books come to me, they are well past the “idea” stage. But maybe Over and Under the Snow?

If I recall correctly, she wrote the original draft for the book on the back of a lunchbag at one of her kid’s field trips. And as you may know, it’s about the “subnivean zone”–which is the area in between the snowpack and the ground where animals chill out during winter. Well, I’m from California and had barely SEEN snow when she sent it to me so I was like “what”? And the editor is from California, as well, and she was like “subWHO zone”? But of course there is no arguing with a brilliant book, and we both quickly got on board the subnivean train.

That book went on to sell brilliantly and have many follow-​up books about different animal habitats, such as Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt, Over and Under the Pond, with more forthcoming!

RVC: I know you could answer this from the perspective of many of your clients (I’m looking at successes like Daniel Pinkwater, Gareth Hinds, and Erin Lange, to name just a few), but what does Kate Messner do well that keeps her cooking along in the world of kidlit?

JL: Aside from creativity and good writing, obviously, I’d say the qualities that most successful writers share are flexibility, openness and positivity. To use Kate Messner as an example: She is constantly coming up with new ideas, she is always willing to dig deep in revisions and pivot if something isn’t working, and while of course this business has low moments, she rolls with the punches and doesn’t get mired in negativity. You can have a lot of talent, but if you aren’t able to push forward and do the work, you won’t be able to have a successful career as an author.

Also, as with most successful authors, Kate’s a great communicator–not just on the page, but in life. From an agent’s perspective: I need my authors to feel comfortable asking me questions and telling me what they need. I can help you in a lot of ways–but I can’t read your mind!

RVC: Great advice! Now in your 10+ years of agenting, what has most surprised you?

JL: I don’t know if it’s surprising but… interesting? When I first started as an agent, everyone said that “Picture books are dead”–and now I’d say it’s a golden age of picture books. So, like fashion, everything is cyclical. If you’re writing a topic or genre or type of book that isn’t in fashion now, it could very likely come back into style if you stick around! 🙂

RVC: Let’s get numbery. How many submissions do you personally deal with in an average week?

JL: I probably get a hundred or so queries a week.

RVC: What are the first questions you have for submissions that—I’m guessing here, but I’ll bet I’m right—knock out more than half of them straight away?

JL: This was a bigger problem before I got the submission form that I use now. When it was email, I’d get twice as many queries where at least half simply weren’t in a category that I represent. Now that the form exists, it just doesn’t let you submit if you aren’t writing in a category I represent (unless you lie? But like… what’s the point of that?).

RVC: Something else you value in stories—you’ve said it’s a common thread in all of your favorite stories—is an “offbeat worldview.” What are a couple of examples that demonstrate what you mean here?

JL: What I mean by “offbeat worldview” is NOT BORING and NOT DIDACTIC; a story or point of view I haven’t read before. I’m more likely to gravitate to quirky, original-​looking art rather than extremely commercial straightforward art. I’m more likely to appreciate stories that are surprising and funny rather than something with a Good Moral Lesson. My books reflect that taste. Some examples: Cindy Derby’s How to Walk an Ant, which is weird and funny and subversive, about a girl who is a professional Ant Walker. Sergio Ruzzier’s Good Boy, which takes a simple relationship between a kid and his dog to the next level. Maggie Tokuda-Hall’s Also an Octopus, which is a book about writing a book (and has a ukulele-​playing octopus and a rocket ship made of waffles!)

An example of “extremely commercial straightforward art” AND a “good moral lesson” is the Berenstain Bears. Hey, there’s nothing wrong with the bears, they’re popular, and I loved them when I was a kid–but they are pretty much the opposite of books I would choose for my own list.

RVC: Is the offbeat worldview in these books part—or most?—of what makes them unputdownable in your mind?

JL: Yes, being surprising and original and NOT BORING is a good recipe for being unputdownable.

RVC: What’s a recent picture book success story that you’ve been part of?

JL: Raúl the Third’s Vamos, Let’s Go to the Market was very well received this year. It’s a Richard Scarry-​esque exploration of a border town mercado, with tons of awesome details in Spanish. I can’t take credit for the creation of the book in any way–that’s all due to Raúl’s genius! But I’m proud of the role I played in bringing it to the world–particularly now that it’s becoming a franchise, with two more picture books and a handful of board books and early readers signed up.

RVC: And with that, it’s time to move forward with … THE SPEED ROUND! 100mph questions and 200mph answers, please. Ready?

JL: I don’t know, but I’ll try.

RVC: Most surprising Twitter account you follow?

JL: I mostly follow friends, writers, book industry people, theatre people, activists, and cute animals. I don’t think any of those things are surprising.

RVC: The most unappreciated Slytherin member is ____________?

JL: All Slytherin are underappreciated, because the HP books are written with distinct Gryffindor POV bias.

RVC: Mystery Oreos. Great snack, or the GREATEST snack?

JL: Neither, by any metric, but it is a fun guessing game.

RVC: Favorite thing about the Andrea Brown Literary Agency?

JL: My smart and amazing colleagues!

RVC: Most vital social media for an agent?

JL: I don’t think any social media is “vital” for an agent. I personally like Twitter, but it’s optional.

RVC: Three words that describe your Dream Client?

JL: Talented, flexible, communicative.

RVC: Thanks so much, Jennifer! The next time we bump elbows at an SCBWI event, the first pineapple smoothie is on me.

Agent Interview: Abigail Samoun (Red Fox Literary)

On By Only Picture BooksIn Industry Insider4 Comments

This month’s Industry Insider interview is with Abigail Samoun—Abi to her pals—co-founder and literary agent at Red Fox Literary. She’s also worked as an editor and has authored a number of children’s books, which makes her fluent in all aspects of the entire book industry. Talk about the ideal person to chat with for an Insider Interview!

Since OPB readers have requested more Five Facts and One Lie games as a way to get to know interview subjects, here we go again. One of these is an out-​and-​out falsity, the others are all 100% totally yeppers. If you’re unsure which is the stinker, I’ll give you the 411 before we’re through.

  1. She organizes her library according to which authors would get along well together (Brontës next to George Eliot, etc.).
  2. Her husband’s an entomologist whose current research project is investigating biological control options of bagrada bug and spotted wing drosophila.
  3. She’s a former Girl Scout who once sold two boxes of Thin Mints to Barack Obama quite a few years before he was the senator of Illinois.
  4. As a child, she used to do acrobatics on horses and was the top girl in a five-​girl pyramid atop a moving horse.
  5. Abi was born in Paris, France and French was her first language. She immigrated to the U.S. at age seven.
  6. She once worked as an intern at the Bronx Zoo and often spent her lunch hour hanging out with the big cats.

Well, with all that terrific bio-​info, I don’t know about you, but I feel tremendously prepared for the following interview. Sound good? Let’s do it!

Website: www.mommikin.com/abigail-samoun

Agency website: www.redfoxliterary.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/abigail.samoun

Twitter: https://twitter.com/abigailsamoun

RVC: Your undergraduate major at NYU–French Studies/Journalism–seems a bit unexpected. How did that prepare you for a career in the book world?

AS: Not all that well! My real love was literature but I thought journalism might be a more practical option. Little did I know at the time that a journalism degree in a world of print newspapers competing with Facebook, Twitter, and the blogosphere, wouldn’t be nearly as practical as I’d hoped. What really best prepared me for an editorial career were the many, many creative writing classes I took. In each, I had to give kind and insightful critiques of my fellow students’ works. I learned a lot about style, form, and characterization in those classes, and also how to give a critique without making the author feel defensive.

RVC: You must’ve learned those lessons well because you were killing it as an in-​house children’s book editor for more than a decade, with the books you worked on receiving honors like the CCBC Charlotte Zolotow Award, the New York Public Library Ezra Jack Keats Award, and the Pura Belpré Award. Why did you switch to agenting in 2011?

AS: The publisher I worked for was bought by Random House and about a year later, they decided to shutter the children’s division. It was sad but it was just the kick in the butt I needed to get to the next stage of my career. I wrote down a list of all the things I liked to do and most of it had to do with working directly with authors and illustrators. The thought of leaving behind all those authors and illustrators I’d developed relationships with over the course of those ten years with the hardest part of being laid off. Agenting was a way to continue that work. The first clients I took on were authors and illustrators I’d worked with and come to know as an editor.

RVC: With nearly a decade of agenting behind you now, I’ll bet you have strong thoughts about this next question. What do you think is the most common misconception people have about agents? 

AS: I always love seeing the way literary agents are portrayed in film and TV. I think the latest example of this was Melissa McCarthy’s agent in Can You Ever Forgive Me?, played by Jane Curtin. Often, they’re depicted as brash and scheming and money-​hungry. But—and I think this is particularly true for children’s book agents—most of them got into the business because they care about books. We may be focused on getting our clients good deals and some of us can become pretty tough negotiators (I had an editor accuse me of this recently and I took it as quite a compliment), but the deals aren’t the most fulfilling part of the work.

Seeing a book you represented on a bookstore shelf, sharing the news of an offer with a client, securing a deal that will allow your struggling young client to quit his day job and spend the next year doing his art—those are what fulfills most kids’ book agents.

RVC: As mentioned in the intro to this interview, you’re an author, too. One of your books—an illustrated biography entitled Mind Afire: The Visions of Tesla—came about through a successful Kickstarter campaign. As someone who has watched writer pals try (often unsuccessfully) to fund creative things via crowdsourcing sites, what did you learn about the process?

AS: What was great about the Tesla project is that we had a built-​in audience of Tesla fans. At the time, there wasn’t that much out there about Tesla and he hadn’t yet reached the height of his cult popularity. So, I think our timing was really good. We also got lucky with our videographer who created an elegant, stylish video that made us look like hot shots. Plus Beth Haidle’s art is uniquely hers and was such a great fit for the subject—she created these charming animations to go with our Kickstarter launch and I think those won a lot of people over. It was also a point when Kickstarter was featuring makers on a monthly basis, rather than daily, so when they featured us, it really had an impact.

It was a wild ride, doing that book. I’d never written a nonfiction book before and I would lose myself completely in research, digging around and finding all kinds of fascinating and obscure info about Tesla. It was a good thing we had the weight of 1,500 backers to hold us to our deadlines.

RVC: You bet–1,500 backers is a ton! What tips do you have to help others who are considering crowdfunding a project? 

AS: It feels like crowdfunding really works best when you can find a subject that has a niche—where you can find a group of people who are really passionate about it and who will be willing to make an investment simply based on that interest. It feels toughest to do a crowdfunded campaign on something really general, for which there’s a lot of competition—for example, a sci-​fi/​fantasy young adult novel. Compare that to a book set, say, in the world of competitive tennis, and you’ll be able to see that the target audience is much narrower and you’re likely to capture their interest just by virtue of the subject.

RVC: I’ve got a couple of students here at Ringling College’s creative writing program who are entertaining the thought of becoming a children’s book editor. Sure, they should probably move to NYC and work for a press—small, indie, or big—to get hands-​on experience and make connections. But what type of personality or attributes do you think make someone well-​suited to the editing world? What actionables might you recommend to help them become ready for the challenges that await?

AS: Well, first and foremost, you’ve got to be part of that passionate, underground society of rabid book lovers. Just about every editor I’ve met spent most of their childhood and adolescent years with their nose stuck in a book (yours truly included). Next, you have to understand how stories work—what makes a good story, what are the tools that are used. Creative writing and English lit classes help, but most of all, read good books. A good editor has a deep respect for the creative process and can intuit what their author is trying to accomplish, paragraph to paragraph, chapter to chapter. She understands that writing books is not easy and that there are always going to be challenges and ways to make the story stronger. An editor also has to be diplomatic and know how to work in teams. The book-​making process is a long and complicated one—there are designers, art directors, copyeditors, proofreaders, production manager, printers, sales and marketing, book buyers, and, of course, the author and/​or illustrators themselves. Much of the time, the editor is managing all these different people, like a conductor, trying to make sure everyone is doing their part properly.

RVC: In all your experience with the book industry—as a writer, an editor, and an agent—what has surprised you the most?

AS: As I mentioned, I took tons of creative writing classes throughout my long and varied college career and most of my teachers would tell us what a tough business writing was, and how it was hopeless to expect to get published, and that editors received literally tons of manuscripts daily and you had a better shot at going to the moon than getting published. But one of the encouraging things I’ve discovered in my career in children’s books is that talent really does rise above. Editors and agents may receive a ton of submissions but much of it isn’t from those bookish types who live, eat, and breathe books and writing. If you’re really passionate about it, committed to it, take your craft seriously, there’s a good chance you’ll get noticed. A writer who cares about words and has a musical ear and something personal and meaningful to say isn’t a dime a dozen. We love seeing work from such authors. We editors and agents are dying to find work we can really fall in love with. As jaded as we get, I think most of us still get that little flash of hope when we open a new submission and think, “maybe this will be the one.”

It’s a bit like kissing the frog and hoping for a prince. Most of us must be eternal romantics!

See the source imageRVC: Let’s circle back to your agency. Your co-​founder, Karen Grencik, and I met at an SCBWI event a while back. I found her to be quite impressive. What do you see as her real strengths as an agent?

AS: Karen is one of the most conscientious and caring people I know. She works hard for her clients and always knows how to keep what really matters—relationships and books you can be proud of—front and center. She’s ambitious in that she wants to see Red Fox’s reputation grow and shine, but she wants it to grow and shine because of the quality of the books we rep and the respect and care with which we treat our clients and the editors and designers we work with.

RVC: If I asked Karen the same question about you, what do you think she’d say are YOUR strengths as an agent?

AS: Ha! I know exactly what she’d say—she’d say I’m the shiny red sports car and she’s the trusty Volvo station wagon. But I don’t think that’s entirely accurate. She’s often more willing to take a chance than I am and she’s been the driving force behind bringing on our other agents Stephanie Fretwell-​Hill, Jenna Pocius, and Jennie Kendrick. Karen has a real vision for the potential of our agency and pushes us toward that potential. I have a tendency to get stuck in the demands of the day-today.

Karen knows my strengths are more in the creative realm—envisioning the website, coming up with promos, editing manuscripts. She’s more of a big-​picture person and she’s super organized and keeps on top of all the bills, banking, and other business‑y things. We balance each other really well and I feel so incredibly lucky to have teamed up with her.

RVC: Want to share the story of how you and Karen met, and how you partnered to become Red Fox Literary in 2011? You bought a manuscript from her, right? That’s what started it all?

AS: Oh, it goes waaaayyy back. She and I first corresponded in 2001, when I was just a young cub editor, checking agent submissions for my boss, the publisher. Karen was a fairly new agent and sent in a manuscript by Sarah Wilson that I loved so I shared it with my boss and she liked it too. Then my boss said, “How would you like to edit this one?” I had no idea how to even make an offer on a book and acquire it, much less edit it. I was scared out of my wits. But both Karen and Sarah were very kind and patient. I remember a meeting early on where I sat at the table with them and my boss and I was so shy I could barely say anything. But Sarah kept turning to me and saying, “And what do you think, Abi?” I’ve never forgotten how kind and generous Karen and Sarah were to an awkward, fairly clueless, and very young editor.

The picture book we did, George Hogglesberry, Grade School Alien, went on to win the Golden Kite Award from SCBWI. I recently read it aloud to my seven year old—eighteen years later—and it’s still a charming story.

RVC: One last serious question before we get to the LIGHTNING ROUND! Could you say a few words about the important relationship between agent and writer, and how one might find the ideal match, whether it’s at Red Fox or somewhere else?

AS: Your relationship with your agent, just like any important relationship, rests on a foundation of trust. You have to believe that your agent has your best interests at heart. I want all my clients to find success in children’s books. I’m in this business to make good books and help artists and writers make a living off their work. That’s the part of the work that’s most dear to me. I believe in the power of art and books to make a better society—to make us better human beings. The books I have loved made me a kinder, more thoughtful, more mature, and empathetic person. Artists aren’t given much support or encouragement in the U.S. today. Through my work, in a very individual and up-​close-​and-​personal way, I feel I’m doing my part to help a small group of artists feel encouraged, supported, guided—and I find good homes for their stories so they can continue to pay their bills and do work they love.

My point here is that you need to know that your agent’s values align with your own. If an agent talks more about the important people he knows than about his clients and their work, he’s communicating a value to you. If an agent doesn’t speak respectfully of other people in the biz, that’s another thing to pay attention to. Finding an agent is similar to dating. On those first dates, you have to listen carefully and intuit what this person really cares about and if those are the same things you care about. And if there’s one thing I’ve learned in this business—at times the hard way—is that you’ve always got to listen to your gut. If your gut is telling you that this isn’t the agent for you, listen to that, no matter what the agent’s reputation is.

One of the things I love about this industry is that most of the people in it really and truly love books and believe it’s important that children hear and read many, many stories. Every once in a rare while, you’ll come across people who put their egos front and center, but that’s not the norm in this biz. (I suspect those types usually end up in Hollywood or Washington DC!).

RVC: Thanks for the inspiring, honest advice, Abi. And now, without further hubbub, to-​do, or ballyhoo … it’s time for the Lightning Round! Fast questions and zippy-​quick answers, please. ARE YOU READY?

AS: Go for it!

RVC: Best place in Sonoma, California for a burger?

AS: Picazo Café on Arnold Drive. A local family owns it and they take great pride in the delicious food they serve. The French fries are the best in town too.

RVC: Would you rather have a rewind or pause button for your life?

AS: Pause. I’m perpetually late to everything—all the women on my side of the family are. It’s terrible. My sister is the worst—it’s impossible to serve her a warm slice of turkey on Thanksgiving, no matter how late we put the bird in the oven.

RVC: Batman, Deadpool, or Captain Marvel—who’d write the best picture book?

AS: Oh, I’m so out of the whole DC/​Marvel universe thing. Now if you asked me which Brontë sibling would write the best picture book… I’d say Emily, because she loved animals so much.

RVC: What’s on your playlist that you listen to at work?

AS: I love this question! I’ve been spying on my fellow kid-​lit people’s Spotify playlists and have discovered some really interesting stuff. Lately, I’m listening to the late sixties band CAN, atmospheric techno from Beach House and Morcheeba, Nirvana’s demo recordings (I particularly like Marigold), Pavement, Yacht, De-​Phazz, ‘70s disco and funk, and Arcade Fire.

You can tell I’m a child of the ‘90s, right?

RVC: If you went back into the editing world, name one picture book author—not including a Red Fox client—who’d you LOVE to work with?

AS: Mem Fox—because she has such a wonderful understanding of the form.

RVC: If Red Fox Literary had a motto that struck at the heart of what it does and encapsulated its mission, what would that be … in ten words or less? Bonus points for rhyme, Yoda-​speak, or emojis!

AS: It’s funny ‘cause a client was talking to a big-​time editor who asked her what agency she was with. When she said “Red Fox Literary,” the editor said, “Oh, good! They’re not jerks.” Well, he actually said something a little stronger than “jerks.” So the joke among us at Red Fox is that this should be our slogan, “Red Fox Literary: We’re not jerks.” We could put it on our business cards.

But beyond that, I would say… hmmmm… (my attempt at Yoda speak): Good people, we are. Make good books, we must.

RVC: Thanks oodles, Abi. It was a pleasure getting to know you better and sharing all of this with the OPB family. 

And for those of you didn’t figure out which fact from the intro section was, in truth, a big honking lie, I’ll let you in. The falsehood was #3. Abi did NOT sell Girl Scout cookies to Barack Obama, but “I wish that were true!” she admits.

Agent Interview: Mary Cummings (Betsy Amster Literary Enterprises)

On By Only Picture BooksIn Industry Insider4 Comments

**UPDATE: As of 2021, Mary launched her own agency, Great River Literary.**

This month’s Industry Insider interview is with Mary Cummings, a literary agent at Betsy Amster Literary Enterprises. She got on my radar not only for being involved with a number of books that are connected to OPB in some manner (we’ll address those in the interview below), but because her name kept popping up on the Dealmakers section of Publisher’s Marketplace. Yep, we watch that pretty closely here at OPB, for obvious reasons.

Before we dive into the Q&A, let’s learn a bit more about Mary via a Six Facts and One Lie Game. Six of the following are honest-​to-​goodness true. One is a complete falsehood. (Can’t tell which is the pants-​on-​fire moment? I’ll spill the beans somewhere in the interview.)

  1. She can’t stand coffee.
  2. She’s fast in terms of responding to queries. I mean FAST.
  3. She’ll take a pass on any vampire and zombie stories.
  4. She adores opera. Not a day goes by that she doesn’t enjoy an aria or two.
  5. She loves PT Cruiser cars, even though they stopped making them in July 2010.
  6. She spends way too much time following the national news.
  7. She’s GOT to have her annual trip to the mountains or she’ll be worthless to family, friends, clients, and the world in general for the rest of the year.

Now that we’re in the loop with who Mary is and what she’s about, it’s time for the interview. Onward!

Website: www.cummingskidlit.com

Agency website: www.amsterlit.com

Bonus interview #1: https://duotrope.com/interview/agent/24344/mary-cummings

Bonus interview #2: http://www.literaryrambles.com/2019/04/agent-spotlight-interview-with-mary.html

RVC: Unlike many agents I’ve interviewed at OPB, you didn’t start off in the literary world as an agent or as an intern at an agency who then worked their way up. You started at the Loft Literary Center. How did you get involved there? What did those experiences teach you about books, readers, and writing?

MC: As Education Director, I oversaw and sometimes taught classes, workshops, conferences, etc. for adult and kid writers. It was the perfect setting to develop an understanding about what writers need, and my work involved meeting those needs through education, networking, award programs, etc.

One of the most crucial things that I’ve carried forward is my empathy for writers, for their passion and drive in striving to create a publishable manuscript that will reach readers as a book. My area of particular focus was children’s literature. I was in charge of selecting judges from the top editors in the field for the McKnight Award in Children’s Literature, a $25,000 award. I also curated an annual festival of children’s literature featuring authors, illustrators, editors, agents, art directors and other industry professionals. These relationships were foundational for my work as an agent.

RVC: In 2008, you joined Betsy Amster’s agency. What made you take the agenting plunge? And how did your work at the Loft prepare you for success as an agent?

MC: It was a logical next step. I had hired Betsy on many occasions to teach workshops at the Loft. We liked one another, and I brought kid lit expertise and contacts to the agency. She mentored me in some business aspects that I hadn’t had experience with before. As I mentioned, having empathy for writers and understanding for their passion and difficulties was crucial. I also knew writers who talked about what they liked, and didn’t like, about their agents which helped shape my own approach.

RVC: In another interview you did, you called yourself an agent who “takes risks.” That phrase stuck with me (and makes me think of juggling flaming knives, but I suspect you meant something different). What type of risks do you mean?

MC: Well, I’m not cautious! Don’t know about juggling flaming knives, though. I’m willing to take on a project I love even if it’s out of the mainstream, even if it will be extra challenging to explain it to–and hook–editors.

See the source imageRVC: Here’s a fun connection. The first OPB Industry Insider interview was with Sylvie Frank, who WOWed me with a great picture book intensive (with Chronicle Books editor Melissa Manlove) at a regional SCBWI event in Miami. One of the texts Sylvie spoke about a lot was I Have a Balloon. That’s one of your sales, right? What do you think Sylvie liked so much about that book? What kind of behind-​the-​scenes info on that story can you offer?

MC: Yup, it’s one my sales. Here’s what Sylvie Frank said in her deal memo:

This manuscript is so much fun! It’s fresh and funny and totally defies readers’ expectations. (At first I thought it was going to be a sharing book—and then it wasn’t! Ha!) I love that it’s about negotiating and getting what you want. So original.

I worked with Ariel to change the ending before I submitted it (this process is described in an article on cummingskidlit.com). But once it was, there were NO word changes in the publication process. None. Zero. The book’s font sizes were varied throughout the text to give visual energy and suggest areas for emphasis in read-​aloud, but no words were changed. That’s rare. (And this definitely is behind-​the-​scenes. Not many people know this).

RVC: We specialize in delivering behind-​the-​scenes 411 on things here at OPB. Thanks for keeping that trend cooking along!

See the source imageSince we’re talking about OPB connections to your sales record, let’s move to Small Walt and Mo the Tow—another Sylvie Frank book, I’ve got to mention!—which we reviewed here. Do you find that sequels are easier to sell than stand-​alones? Is there a trend here that writers should be aware of?

MC: They typically aren’t easier to sell unless there’s a clear sales record from several prior books in a series. I don’t think there’s a trend here.

RVC: What’s one thing that your client Elizabeth Verdick (author of Small Walt and other picture books) does well that helps her career?

MC: Elizabeth works very hard, and very creatively, to promote sales of her books. There are several things she does which other writers could learn from. (See the article about this on cummingskidlit.com)

RVC: Let’s follow through on offering advice to aspiring picture book writers because many of them come to OPB for guidance, tips, and direction. What can you offer them in terms of using rhyme effectively in picture books?

MC: The hardest rhyme to sell is couplets using end rhyme. Find unusual, fun words and vary the pattern and syllable count. Include other language devices besides rhyme. Consider mixing rhyme with non-​rhyming sections, as Elizabeth Verdick does in her Small Walt books. (See the article on this topic at cummingskidlit.com)

RVC: One of the tips you’ve shared on your website is that “the narration style associated with oral storytelling isn’t suited to picture books.” That’s quite compelling. Could you say a bit more about what you mean by this?

See the source imageMC: Oral storytelling uses different sentence construction than written. It begins differently, has different pacing, depends upon different devices for impact. Take a look, for example, at The Wolf, the Duck & the Mouse (Mac Barnett/​Jon Klassen). It has a sudden start, quick action, fairly short word count, a mix of language styles–and visuals tell part of the story.

RVC: Let’s talk about your agenting partner, Betsy Amster. What are the qualities you most admire about her as an agent?

MC: Her professionalism is #1. She’s ethical, has many years experience in the industry, she’s a deep listener, and a true advocate for authors. We like and complement one another.

RVC: If I asked her the same question about you, what do you imagine she’d say about you as an agent?

MC: She’d say I know my own mind. (I know she’s told people this!). She’s struck by how quickly I’m able to decide if I have interest in a project.

RVC: Dear reader, you’ve been waiting. I’ve been waiting. Mary has been waiting. My neighbor’s twin gerbils have been waiting. And here we are—it’s time for the Lightning Round! [Insert Rick Riordan-​style Zeus lightning crashes! ka-BOOM!] 

ARE YOU READY?

MC: I’ve got my tea. Not that you’re going to give me time to sip it …(and there, I just gave a clue on the Six Facts and One Lie game!)

RVC: Worst pet ever: hermit crabs, gerbils, fish, or ants?

MC: Looks like you have experience with all of them?! I’d say the wrong breed of dog.

RVC: If Hollywood made a movie about your life, what celeb actress would play you?

MC: Meryl Streep.

RVC: In a parallel universe where Mary Cummings didn’t become a bookish person, she instead had a career in … ?

MC: Opera.

RVC: Late night TV talk show you’d most like to see one of your authors on?

MC: Hmm. Depends upon the author, but let’s say Jimmy Fallon.

See the source imageRVC: The last picture book you read—beyond those you worked on—that made you go WOW!

MC: You Are Home: An Ode to the National Parks (Evan Turk).

RVC: Three words that describe what a great picture book is/​does?

MC: Stays in the brain and heart. Not three words. So sue me!

RVC: Fantastic. And for those of you who weren’t sure about which of the Mary Cummings Facts wasn’t, in fact, a fact (wow, that’s a funny phrase to say aloud), the answer is…

MC: I do like some classic stuff, including classic cars. But the PT Cruiser is just ugly. Not classic!

RVC: Agreed! Thanks so much, Mary. It was great getting the chance to learn more about all you do.

Agent Interview: Alyssa Eisner Henkin (Trident Media Group)

On By Only Picture BooksIn Industry Insider2 Comments

See the source imageThis month’s Industry Insider interview is with literary agent Alyssa Eisner Henkin, Senior Vice President of the Trident Media Group. Her Twitter bio adds these two terrific bio facts: “Lemonade-​Maker and Literary Cheerleader.”

While that’s nearly enough useful bio material to set up a good interview, OPB underpromises and overdelivers, so I’ll also note that Alyssa loves the movie Steel Magnolias, the TV show Mad Men, and Beverly Cleary. Plus, like so many people with fine taste, she’s quite the fan of Anne of Green Gables and she adores Bollywood movies.

With that, let’s proceed to the interview!

Agency website: https://www.tridentmediagroup.com/agents/alyssa-eisner-henkin/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AgentHenkin

Manuscript Wish List: http://www.manuscriptwishlist.com/mswl-post/alyssa-eisner-henkin/

RVC: Rumor has it that you were captured on video at age six, sharing your dream about having a particularly bookish future. 

AH: Yes, indeed. I remember also visiting NYC at the age of six and just feeling certain I would live and or work there one day.

RVC: Has it turned out to be all that your six-​year-​old self imagined?

AH: Yes. I’ve got to meet and see quite a few celebrities on the job and I’ve had my fair share of power lunches both in NY and in LA. But while it might have been the surface glitter of the publishing/​film world that seemed cool when I started, what I’ve come to enjoy most about my work are the quiet moments, usually at my home office (in PA!), discovering a brilliant new voice in the slush pile or having a good heart to heart with a current client.

RVC: While you clearly have a love for middle grade stories, what draws you to picture books? 

AH: I love humor, and biographies, and I adore a great rhyme à la Iggy Peck, Architect. I’m also a fan of picture books that do something totally different as in The Scrambled States of America.

RVC: What do picture books do more effectively than MG and YA?

See the source imageAH: They are concise and informative, so you can learn a lot in a picture book biography without needing to read 500 pages. I think a culmination in a picture book can be so gratifying too when done with relatively few words and the perfect image that just kind of says it all. I shared Wemberly Worried recently with my soon-​to-​be five-​year-​old son, and that moment when the two shy little kids in stripes meet is just so rewarding!

RVC: Let’s talk about your agency. It strikes me that Trident is more committed than some to securing foreign rights sales for your clients. Why is that part of your mission?

AH: Trident devotes a lot of resources to its full-​service foreign rights department. Many agencies use co-​agents in major markets so that their bestselling titles are competing with other agencies’ bestselling titles, so we are so fortunate to have a dedicated rights team that sells only Trident titles and attends 3 international books fairs every year. We’ve found that making foreign sales for our clients is great from a financial perspective because a foreign sale is like “found money.” The author does not need to do anything other than approve the deal and the jacket. The author does not pay for translation costs, but they are compensated for this book to exist in a whole other language/​territory.

Also, sometimes books that are moderately successful in the United States can be bestsellers abroad. We have even had clients create special editions just for certain markets if they have a huge following.

RVC: In other interviews, you’ve called yourself an entrepreneur. What does that mean to you, and how does that play out in your role as a literary agent?

AH: Early on in my career when I was still an editor, I realized that sitting in meetings all day and making decisions by committee was not how I wanted to spend my life. I also did not want to be typecast as doing just one kind of book. As an entrepreneurial agent, I get to have my hands and mind in as many projects as I can manage. I love the breadth and diversity of my list and the range of jobs that abound. On any given day, I can be advocating for my clients in myriad ways, from negotiating film rights, to going out on submission, to advocating for an author tour. I also like to approach individuals and brands that have not had books before, but who I think should be in the book business.

I also have a soft spot for sleeper books that exceed expectations and backlist for a long time! There’s nothing I love more than a scrappy story that defies and surpasses everyone’s expectations of what sells. Having a back-​end source of revenue is every entrepreneur’s dream!

RVC: More and more aspiring picture book writers read the OPB interviews, so let’s give them a hand here. Imagine a picture book writer who’s thinking of submitting to you. What are three picture books you’d love for them to read that might offer a good sense of the type of PB you appreciate/​prefer?

ASOR jacketAH: Rosie Revere, Engineer, A Splash of Red (by my client Jen Bryant), and The Day the Crayons Quit. I’m not usually one for really spare language…I like a rich and funny story, and if there’s a feminist empowerment or humor bent, then all the better!

RVC: And one more thing for those aspiring writers, please. What are your feelings about art notes from text-​only writers?

AH: I would try to be judicious and not include too many art notes since we want the text to stand on its own. That said, I think a few well-​chosen art notes can work.

This Is MY Room!: (No Tigers Allowed) by [Jacobson, Jennifer Richard]RVC: A month or so back saw the publication of This is MY Room! (No Tigers Allowed), a picture book by your client Jennifer Richard Jacobson. Please share your process of preparing a manuscript for submission. Are you super hands-​on? Editorial? More focused on marketing angles? Do you see early drafts or is what your clients send you a “final”?

AH: When a client has a new picture book manuscript, we usually do a few rounds of text revisions before I am ready to start creating the pitch letter and the list of editors who I plan to pitch. In the pitch letter, I always highlight what’s unique about this book and also WHERE I see it sitting in the market. Some books are more gift-​oriented and some are more school and library-​oriented with backlist potential. I know I’ve done my job well when I recognize bits of my pitch letter in the flap copy for the book when it gets published.

Once a book is sold to an editor, I don’t usually do much of the editorial work since I think it’s important not to have too many cooks in the kitchen. That said, I always read the revisions and weigh in on artists and jacket and title and, of course, the marketing. Since my job is to sell the next book and the one after that, I always like the current book to be so successful that it makes subsequent sales that much easier.

RVC: Since I run the creative writing program at Ringling College of Art and Design, I semi-​frequently get asked questions about elephants/​the circus/​clown college, all of which have as much to do with my college as bicycles do to fish. 

So, I have to ask—how many questions/​jokes/​comments do YOU hear about Trident sugarless gum and/​or that fifth dentist who just won’t cave?

AH: So cool about Ringing College! Believe it or not, I’ve never gotten a single remark about Trident gum, but I do remember those commercials quite vividly from my childhood! These days, Trident Media Group is also branding itself as TMG, so maybe other folks noted the gum thing? 😊

RVC: Okay. It’s time for … THE LIGHTNING ROUND! Zip-​zappy questions and electrifyingly quick answers, please. Ready?

AH: Ready!

RVC: If I were a character on Downton Abbey, I’d be …

AH: The Dowager, without a doubt!

RVC: #1 hot dog condiment?

AH: Mustard. Never ketchup!

RVC: Which deceased writer would you most love to have shadowed for a full workday?

AH: Edith Wharton.

RVC: What project—picture book or otherwise—are you most excited about right now?

AH: I hate to play favorites among clients, so I’m going to link into the wonderful array of books I have coming out this year on my web page. Short answer, excited about ALL OF THEM!

https://www.tridentmediagroup.com/agents/alyssa-eisner-henkin/

RVC: Best recent picture book with interactive family-​bonding potential baked right into its literary DNA?

See the source imageAH: This is MY Room!, Pirates Don’t Go to Kindergarten!, and Joan Proctor, Dragon Doctor, because we are a big history/​science-​loving family!

RVC: Three words that describe your agenting philosophy.

AH: Passion. Persist. Visionary.

RVC: Thanks so much, Alyssa! (And thanks as well to Alice, your on-​the-​ball assistant, for helping pull this all together.)