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Agent Spotlight: James McGowan of Bookends Literary Agency

By on July 29, 2022   /   Articles, Editor / Agent Spotlight  

I’ve been a long-time fan of the YouTube videos with James McGowan, Jessica Faust, and other agents at Bookends Literary Agency and am thrilled to be interviewing James about his career as an agent and a writer. But before we move on to the interview, here’s a brief bio about James and his work.

James McGowan began his career right where he is: at BookEnds. He joined the team as an intern in the summer of 2015, and as the joke goes, they couldn’t get rid of him. He has worked in all departments at the agency and is now a literary agent representing a talented list of award-winning authors and illustrators. James’ list focuses on illustrated projects for young readers (board books, picture books, chapter books, and middle grade) as well as adult nonfiction and mystery/suspense novels.

In addition to being an agent, James is a children’s author. His debut picture book Good Night, Oppy! launched from Astra BFYR in 2021. He is born, raised, and currently living in Staten Island, NY. He is a professional snacker, a huge fan of Jeopardy!, and fluent in sarcasm. To learn more about James, his wishlist, or upcoming client books please visit the BookEnds website or his personal website. To send a query, please use QueryManager. And to find a growing archive of thoughts no one asked for, follow James on Twitter and Instagram.

 

Dorian: Welcome, James, to The Mixed-Up Files! Can you tell us about your path to becoming a literary agent?

James: This is the most boring story since it was pretty linear. I realized I wanted to work in publishing halfway through undergrad, and hit the ground running on applying to internships. And, like anyone applying to a publishing internship knows, I had very little luck. Except for BookEnds, who scheduled an interview, asked me for a reader’s report, and pretty soon offered me the summer position. I instantly loved the team at BookEnds and we all clicked really well. I interned with them for a second semester, and a few weeks after I graduated college, I asked Jessica Faust if she had any openings. By the end of the month, she brought me on as her assistant. From there, I just climbed the ranks to agency assistant, worked in every department at the agency, and in 2018 I started taking on my own clients. I could not imagine myself working anywhere else.

 

Dorian: Not boring at all! Please tell us about Bookends and how our readers can access all the agency’s informative videos on YouTube.

James: Sure! BookEnds is a literary agency consisting of nearly a dozen agents and a dedicated support staff. We represent everything in fiction and nonfiction for the youngest to the oldest of readers. Our team is super collaborative and devoted to our work. We also are dedicated to educating and informing authors about the publishing industry. We know that it is sometimes not the most transparent business, so through our Blog and YouTube channel, we hope to arm authors and illustrators with everything they need to know in order to succeed. You can find us at www.bookendsliterary.com and on YouTube!

Jessica Faust and James McGowan having an animated conversation in one of their YouTube videos.

 

Dorian: What middle-grade books influenced you the most when you were growing up, and what contemporary books do you wish had been available then?

James: Growing up, I read a ton of series. I loved being invested in a long series of books and awaiting the new one every year. I read anything Rick Riordan wrote, of course. I also was a huge fan of Jenny Nimmo’s Charlie Bone series, and Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events. I read the Spiderwick Chronicles, The Giver, A Wrinkle in Time. I loved Louis Sachar. I was (and continue to be) obsessed with RL Stine.

I’m really excited by the middle-grade books publishing now, though. There is a lot more available to children in all genres, and it’s exciting to see new representation in this age range. I hope this middle-grade boom creates even more lifelong readers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dorian: R.L. Stine was an obsession in our house, too. I remember racing to the bookstore after school with my daughter when a new Goosebumps book was coming out. What genres, themes, or subjects are you mostly looking for in manuscripts?

James: In middle grade, two things I’m super excited about right now are middle-grade horror and humor (contemporary or otherwise). Bonus points if you have both! I love stories about a band of friends coming together to accomplish a task; I love sibling stories; I’d love to see a book celebrating cousin relationships; wacky humor at a summer camp or school or afterschool program. Fun set-ups and settings. My door is pretty open! I want to be surprised.

 

Dorian: Please tell us about your picture book, Good Night, Oppy and if you have any other projects in the works.

James: Yes! OPPY was such a fun project to work on. I’ve always been a lover of space exploration, and the Mars Rovers are the epitome of brilliant human engineering. When the news broke that Oppy’s mission was complete, I just had to write something. Everything came together pretty quickly, and the book launched (ha) in September of 2021. I enjoyed that process so much, I’ve been working on a couple more space projects that I hope I’ll get the opportunity to share with everyone soon.

Dorian: What tips do you have for writers who are in the querying stages?

James: So many tips, but my best one is to keep moving forward. Send new queries out as rejects arrive, research other agents, learn more about the industry, read new books, work on the next thing. Publishing is not an industry for staying still.

Of course our blog and YouTube have a ton more information for you!

For those interested in books and publishing, I highly recommend you check out the blog and videos! Thanks, James, for taking the time out of your busy schedule for the interview!

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The (Almost) No-Rules Storytelling Project for Middle Graders: “Tell Me a Story”

By on July 22, 2022   /   Articles, For Teachers  

For those of you starting to compile ideas for the new school year, here’s a storytelling project that promotes creativity, engages interest, and can be readily differentiated.

Early fall is a great time for a storytelling activity for middle graders in your ELA classes, library or author workshop, or homeschool sessions. Learners might be eager to employ creativity after summer break, and seeing evidence of student work through storytelling early on can guide your personalized instruction moving forward. Students’ topics might connect with middle grade titles you plan to introduce. And as these early-in-the-year projects might be a little more loosely structured than formal writing assignments later, it’s a nice way to ease into the workload of a new year.

So for an (almost) no-rules storytelling project, consider saying to your Language Arts, homeschool, or library students, “Just tell me a story…”  Then stand back for the flood of questions! “Real, or made up?” “Does it have to have me in it?” And of course, “How long does it have to be?”  For an open-ended storytelling project like this, almost anything goes—fiction or creative non-fiction; almost any genre; set in current times, recent or long-ago past, or the future. Really, once the most basic of guidelines (appropriateness, length or time involved, etc.) are established, set storytellers free to compose and create.

What’s more, an open-ended storytelling project has great flexibility for differentiation. Some, most, or all of a story might be told visually, told aloud, told through song or drama, told with or through a partner or group… and even if the student utilizes minimal or no written words, you can still assess their story sense with categories that might feed your rubric creation:

  • their ability to perceive and comprehend conflict and characters/key figures;
  • their ability to convey setting and passage of time; and
  • their ability to communicate messages, lessons, and themes to others.

Here are some ideas to get your assignment wheels turning in preparation for an (Almost) No-Rules Storytelling project:

1. Try timed brainstorming by categories for idea generation (books read, places visited, fun family times, cool facts, weird tales), then narrow down to potential story topics.

2. Once a writer has an idea, they can think about all the ways in which the story might be told:

  • Graphic/comics-style story – Show some great graphic novel or memoir examples to get storytellers’ wheels going (When Stars Are Scattered, New Kid, El Deafo).
  • Map story – The writer draws a map that includes all the locations important to their story, then briefly summarizes the story’s events in brief phrases or images associated with those micro-settings.
  • PTD story – Story events are summarized or sketched on a traditional Plot Triangle Diagram (or create a plot diagram that is not so traditional!).
  • Drama performance – Write the story in “sides” like Shakespeare used: Each performer holds a list of their lines, each with a bit of the previous line to serve as the cue. A great exercise in listening, reacting, and communication!
  • Musically – Tell the story set to original music or to a known song reset to the student’s story in lyric form; add movement (dance, statues, interpretive movement, etc.) if the storyteller would like.
  • Art series – Tell the story in a series of sketches, paintings, drawings.
  • Photography – Show examples of photo essays or photojournalism; storytellers use a camera and a series of images they photograph to tell a story. (Or, offer class members a series of abstract, unrelated images taken with your camera and challenge each learner to tell a story based on the images.)
  • Oral storytelling – Storytellers use whatever notes they want to suit their comfort level as they tell the story aloud.
  • Group storytelling – Group members add on lines or plot spontaneously to keep a story going; or, group members can generate a story in pieces while working independently, then compile the events in a way that tells a cohesive story.

3. Encourage students to think outside the box, and to feel free to experiment with form, structure, and style. Combine two or more methods of storytelling or invent an original way to tell the story.

4. Ready some resources for inspiration:

Secrets of Storytelling by MUF’s own contributor Natalie Rompella offers ready-made activity sheets, writer tips, and fun story prompts.

Writing Magic by Gail Carson Levine – Chapter One is online here and includes starters and advice.

Story cubes are fun for everyone and might especially benefit visual learners and English language learners in the idea generation process.

5. Finally, for inspiration, share some MG titles with learners in which characters’ storytelling is part of the plot:

Anything But Typical by Nora Raleigh Baskin – Twelve-year-old Jason is autistic and often struggles with relationships in a neurotypical world. Thanks to a site where Jason posts original stories, he has the chance to make a friend in a fellow writer named Rebecca—if he can just work up the courage to meet her.

Isaiah Dunn Is My Hero by Kelly J. Baptist – To get by in tough times, young Isaiah looks to his late father’s stories about Isaiah’s inspirational superhero self.

Welcome Back, Maple Mehta-Cohen by Kate McGovern – Eleven-year-old Maple loves dictating stories into her recorder—but reading words on the page is difficult due to her dyslexia. When Maple must repeat fifth grade, she uses her storytelling skills to hide the truth from classmates.

Good luck to all educators as you ready your stellar assignments for fall, and thank you for the invaluable work you do for middle graders and all learners.

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Books of Hope for Uvalde’s Kids

By on July 21, 2022   /   Articles, For Librarians, For Teachers, For Writers  

Today’s post features e.E. Charlton-Trujillo and Never Counted Out’s  project to provide “600 Books of Hope” for Uvalde children. All of us felt sick to hear of the mass slaughter of children at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas in May. We wished we could do

something for that traumatized community. San Antonio children’s author, filmmaker, and youth activist e.E. Charlton-Trujillo (www.eecharlton-trujillo.com) felt much the same, but found inspiration after reading about Uvalde public librarian Martha Carreon who decided to continue with story hour scheduled for the day after the shooting.

When Trujillo shared this with children’s author and fellow literacy activist G. Neri, the two discussed how to convert their feelings of hopelessness into something productive. “We could give money, sign petitions, and vent our outrage, but it didn’t feel like enough,” Neri said. “We needed to focus on the kids.”

The IDEA

Through Trujillo’s nonprofit Never Counted Out, they put out an appeal to the children’s book world called #600BooksOfHope. The original goal was to give every child in Robb Elementary School a new book, so they would know others supported them. Soon the goal expanded to an additional 1,300 books, one for every elementary school child in town. As books began to arrive, Never Counted Out expanded their request to included middle grade, YA, board books and graphic novels, hoping to gift every child in the city with at least one book of hope. Because there wasn’t one child who wasn’t impacted by the horrors of that day.

“What you see here is a Wall of Hope!”

THEN. . .

The response has been tremendous! Authors, illustrators, educators, and book lovers from all over the U.S., from Canada, from the UK, and from France have sent children’s books—their own or favorites by others. “This experience has reminded me of the power of what we can do collectively when we might feel we can do so little on our own,” Trujillo said. “Story allows us to seek refuge, to feel seen, to feel inspired – it also provides a way to reclaim our own narrative.” (I hope e.E. included their own children’s books in the collection: her just released picture book LUPE LOPEZ, ROCK STAR RULES; her middle grade novel, prizefighter en mi casa; and her FAT ANGIE Young Adult novels. )

Trujillo’s belief in the power of story and young people was the focus of the award-winning documentary At-Risk Summer which acted as the launching point for founding Never Counted Out. An organization dedicated to access to books and creative mentorship.

There has also been a great response from publishers.  BiblioKids, Candlewick Press, Charlesbridge, Chronicle, Cameron-Kids Abrams, Little Brown, MacMillan Publishers, Penguin Random House, Pesi Publishing, Simon & Schuster, and others have sent numerous cartons of their books for free.

Gia Gordon, COO for Never Counted Out says, “From publishers to partnerships with nonprofits Family Service, Reading Is Fundamental, the educational group Edmentum and others, we are witnessing in real-time the power of what people believe story can do. It’s remarkable.”

AND NOW. . .

Never Counted Out hopes to work with the Uvalde school district and public library to host a day of free author and illustrator visits for school age kids followed by a day for book distribution and author meet and greets. While there are a lot of moving parts, the 600 Books of Hope team is offering, as Trujillo says, “their time in service of the young people. To honor those that were lost at Robb Elementary School and empower those who remain through literacy and tools of storytelling.”

Because children’s books can create hope and healing in the face of all kinds of injustices and disasters. 600 Books of Hope has shown us there is something we can do. If you want to support the efforts of #600BooksOf Hope or would like more information, visit: https://www.eecharlton-trujillo.com/600booksofhope

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e.E. Charlton-Trujillo and Gia Gordon are authors and the cofounders of  Never Counted Out, which seeks to empower at-risk youth through  book access and the arts. Never Counted Out has conducted other book donation projects in response to need or disaster such as #KidLitForCampFire in the wake of one of the deadliest fires in California history and Project Pulse after the tragic shooting at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Florida. To learn more about them go to https://belatina.com/combats-pain-through-expression-voice/ Instagram: @nevercountedout_nonprofit
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nevercountedoutnonprofit

G. Neri is the Artist Program Coordinator for #600BooksOfHope. He is the Coretta Scott King honor-winner for his  YUMMY:THE LAST DAYS OF A SOUTHSIDE SHORTY and GHETTO COWBOY. GHETTO COWBOY, adapted as “Concrete Cowboy” starring Idris Elba, debuted at #1 on Netflix in 2021.  In 2017, he was awarded the first of two National Science Foundation grants that sent him to Antarctica which has inspired two forth coming books for middle graders.

                                                                –e.E. Charlton-Trujillo

 

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