Editor / Agent Spotlight

Interview & Critique Giveaway with Agent Christie MeGill

Welcome to the Mixed-Up Files, Christie! We’re thrilled to have you here. Can you share how you became an agent…and what a typical day is like for you? 

Hi Mindy! I’m so happy to be chatting with you.

My path to becoming an agent is a bit rambling, but I think that’s very common in book publishing! I started out in academic book publishing, but I changed course and became an elementary school teacher. Once I had been teaching for a few years, I returned to writing. I’ve been a writer since I was six years old (and I have the old school assignments to prove it!) but became discouraged during my college writing courses and so I stopped for quite some time. When I started writing for fun again, it was like a new chapter of my life had begun. I started reading contemporary middle grade books, and I knew these were the stories I wanted to create for today’s young readers.

When I found the children’s publishing and children’s writing communities, they made me feel like I’d finally found where I belonged. I stepped away from teaching to stay at home with my growing family, and in early 2020, the early days of the pandemic forced some deep introspection. It became necessary to return to the workforce for a variety of reasons, and when I considered where I’d been and where I wanted to go, children’s publishing was the only path that made sense to me. I was fortunate enough to intern with Writers House, then fill in as a temporary assistant to a kidlit agent, where I learned how much I love agenting. After a few remote internships and lots of searching, I met with Christy at The CAT Agency, and now I’m an Associate Agent who’s building my own list as I continue being mentored by the incredible agents at the Agency.

As for my workday, I’m sure it’s been said before, but there is no typical day! That’s one thing I love about the position. As both a literary and illustration agent for children’s books, I work with illustrators, author-illustrators, authors, and graphic novelists. On any given day, I could be doing an illustration portfolio review for a client, putting together new promotional emails, creating submission lists, sending out manuscripts to editors, communicating with clients, editing manuscripts, looking over contracts, talking with designers and art directors about projects, or collaborating with the CAT team on Agency matters. Our small company is fully remote, which I really appreciate. I try to meet up with the team whenever possible, especially as we travel together to conferences or book events. But we’re tight knit and supportive, which makes such a difference!

 

It definitely makes a difference. The CAT Agency (and you) are amazing. 😊

What do you love most about middle-grade novels?

Middle grade is magical. I particularly love the optimism. Middle grade novels rarely shy away from the hard realities about life, nor should they. But no matter what, there’s always some glimmer of hope. There’s the prospect of inner growth, or effecting real change in the world, or things generally just getting better. There’s possibility, which so many adults forget is real.

Maybe it’s because my entire world is children’s books, but I feel very connected to my inner child. Middle grade literature is a surprising, but potent, way to nurture and value that younger version of myself. It’s common for me to read a middle grade novel and come across a lesson or a statement that makes such an impact on me, I need to pause and take it in, because I desperately needed to hear it.

 

What are some of the biggest issues you’ve seen in middle grade manuscripts?

I think one issue is when a middle grade manuscript creates a world that an adult writer wishes were real. I don’t mean high fantasy, alternate worlds, or magic; but situations where there’s no conflict, where every character is nice and kind, and where there are no stakes. Young readers don’t want a sanitized or romanticized world where nothing is ever truly wrong, and they don’t want to be infantilized.

I realize this may seem contradictory to my previous answer, but there’s a difference between finding hope in complex and nuanced realities, versus never coming up against any difficulties.

 

Wow. I can’t imagine reading a middle grade novel without any conflict.

What do you wish people knew about the life of an agent?

Agents want writers to succeed, and we want to help make books. There are always bad apples who make it seem otherwise, but the kidlit agents I know are passionate and are working hard to build strong relationships with writers and illustrators in order to support them in creating the best books possible for kids.

 

Since you’re also an author…what do you wish agents knew about authors?

It’s been interesting to watch my experience as an agent concurrently with my experience as an author. I’m very reflective of it, and I think it’s made me even more compassionate on both sides. One thing that I’m aware of is that there are so many intricacies and norms of the book publishing landscape, like the contracts process and what to expect while on submission, and so I do my best to communicate those quirks to creators. I hope it alleviates some anxiety and that feeling of being in the dark while trying to make it in the industry.

 

I’m sure it’s a huge help!

Can you share a great writing exercise for teachers to use with students?

I have so many! The most powerful thing that teachers can do for a student is to help them realize they have a story to tell. Everyone is a storyteller. No matter how naturally writing comes to a person, everyone has the capability to express themselves.

One great writing exercise that works especially well for the beginning of the school year is to guide students in finding inspiration in the everyday. Students should have a notebook they carry with them daily for a week, and their job is to notice what’s around them and write down anything that could be part of a story. It can be as minor or as major as they want, and it can come from everywhere: conversations, simple observations, books, articles, movies, homework assignments. Once they’ve begun gathering snippets of life, they can go over their list and consider what elements could be used for a story. Does anything stand out to them? Are there any emerging commonalities or themes? Is there room for metaphor or symbolism?

The students can then connect topics they’re interested in with elements from their list to find story seeds, then develop an outline, and finally, a story.

Of course, this writing exercise is great for authors of all ages!

 

Thanks for the amazing writing exercise! I’m sure teachers, students, and authors will love it. We enjoy posting helpful writing exercises—we’ll have to invite you back to share some more. 😊

What are your favorite middle-grade novels…and why do you love them so much?

Oh no, the impossible question! There are so, so many middle grade novels and authors I adore. Honestly, it makes me a little jealous of the tween readers today – I didn’t have this variety when I was growing up! But I’m so glad that I’m still a middle grade reader, and I’m thrilled that young reads have the reading options they do.

When I first decided to write middle grade, I went to my local bookstore and browsed the kid’s section. One title jumped out at me, and it’s the first middle grade book I read as an adult and MG writer: Finding Perfect by Elly Swartz. Her books are still favorites of mine. I also love The Vanderbeekers series by Karina Yan Glaser, the Front Desk series by Kelly Yang, From the Desk of Zoe Washington by Janae Marks, and The Boys in the Back Row by Mike Jung. I’m drawn to these books because they’re masterfully constructed stories with tween characters who are so real, they could be kids in my own community.

I’m also a big fan of scary stories. I love Small Spaces by Katherine Arden, The Girl in White by Lindsay Currie, Ghost Hunters by Ellen Oh, The Stitchers by Lorien Lawrence, and Ghost Girl by Ally Malinenko. These books are layered and deep, blending frights with heart in a way I aspire to achieve as an author.

 

These sound incredible! I need to add a bunch of them to my must-read list.

What do you look for in chapter books and graphic novels?

As a newer agent, I tend to be very selective in these areas. There are so many amazing books coming out in both of these formats, and so I’m looking for stories that will really stand out and do something new.

Chapter books have a big responsibility—they’re coming to kids during a foundational moment in their reading lives. I really like to see chapter books that are fun, engaging, and accessible to the age 6-8 age range.

As for graphic novels, I look for stories with strong character and plot arcs, and illustrations that understand how to tell a story. There’s a steadily growing market of nonfiction graphic novels, and I’d love to see more of these. I’m also interested in young graphic novels that are lively and sweet, with characters we haven’t seen before.

Additionally, I represent picture book authors and I’m always looking for stories with stand-out characters, sweet humor, and lots of heart. I always love to see author-illustrated dummies, too.

 

Thank you for sharing that with us! I have a feeling you’ll see some wonderful queries soon.

Can you tell us a bit about Middle Grade Book Village?

Middle Grade Book Village is a longstanding community of middle grade readers. It’s a website that features interviews with middle grade authors, reviews of middle grade books, cover reveals, and much more. It’s volunteer-run by some of the most amazing and enthusiastic book people I’ve ever met, and everyone’s appreciation for kidlit really comes through in everything we do.

The Village also hosts a weekly book chat on Twitter on Mondays at 9 pm EST using the #MGBookChat hashtag. Everyone is always welcome! Once a month, there’s an open chat with no specific theme, which is a great time to get to know the community of readers.

We also maintain and share a calendar of the middle grade books released every week, which can also be found on the website.

I’m absolutely honored to be a part of the MG Book Village team. It’s a welcoming, supportive, and warm place full of people who care deeply about middle grade books—very much like The Mixed-Up Files…of Middle Grade Authors!

 

Thanks, Christie. Middle grade books are so amazing, it’s wonderful to have groups like ours celebrate them and boost their visibility.

Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?  

I’m currently working on revisions for a spooky middle grade novel of mine that I’m incredibly excited about—I hope I’ll get to share details soon! Most of my day is spent talking and thinking about kidlit, which I adore, but I also enjoy baking, taking nature walks, and horror movie marathons. I recently started rollerblading for the first time since I was a teenager, and now I’m telling everyone they should brainstorm their childhood hobbies and try them again just for fun. I’m from New England, and while I now split my time between New York and California, New York City is my forever home. I’m a cat person, and my kitty Juniper is the best assistant I could ask for.

 

She’s adorable. Furry assistants are the best! Fingers and toes crossed that your spooky middle grade novel quickly sells.

Thank you so much for joining us at the Mixed-Up Files, Christie! It’s been wonderful chatting with you. 😊

Thank you! You do so much for the middle grade community, and your efforts are very much seen and appreciated. It’s been fantastic to speak with you!

Aw, thanks for your sweet comment…and your generous giveaway.

Enter the Rafflecopter below for a chance to win a
5 page MG critique or a picture book critique from Christie!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The lucky winner winner is: 

Mia Geiger!

 

 

Do you have a question for Christie? She’s a wealth of information.
Leave it in the comments, and she’ll pop by and respond. 🙂


To find out more about Christie, visit her website, The CAT Agency, Twitter, and Instagram

Agent Spotlight: Victoria Doherty-Munro of Writers House

Literary Agent Victoria Doherty Munro

Literary Agent Victoria Doherty Munro

 

Let’s give a warm Mixed-Up Files welcome to Victoria Doherty-Munro! Torie is a junior agent at Writers House, where she represents middle grade, young adult, and adult authors. She started at Writers House as an intern in 2010 and, after graduating from Wellesley College with a degree in English, was hired as the assistant to senior agent Daniel Lazar in 2012. She began building her own list in 2015.

What a treat it’s been for me to interview Torie and learn about her enthusiasm for good books, her preferences as an agent, and her many and varied interests, from Central Park to soccer fields!

SK: Tell us about your path to becoming an agent.

VDM: I majored in English in college (to the surprise of exactly no one, as that had always been my favorite subject in school) and had no idea what I wanted to do with that degree until the end of my sophomore year – I was in my favorite bookstore and was suddenly hit by the realization that there were people involved behind the scenes in bringing books to the world. I’d just never thought about it before, somehow! I started researching the industry and was lucky enough to get an internship at Writers House the following summer; I fell in love with both agenting and the company itself, and I sort of just…refused to leave? (Not really, but I was hired to assist senior agent Dan Lazar a few months after I graduated from college and promoted to junior agent a few years later.)   

SK: What are the best and worst parts of being an agent?

VDM: The best part is always the moment I get to tell a client that they’re going to be published! And I love the feeling I get when I’m reading a manuscript, either a new client project or a submission, and I can start to see things really coming together.

 The worst part is rejections, for sure. It really is a privilege when authors choose to submit their work to me for consideration and having to pass is never a good feeling, but I try to keep in mind that they deserve an agent who is head-over-heels in love with their work and that if that isn’t me then I’m not the right fit. And on the flip side, it’s never fun to get a rejection from an editor on a project that I’ve submitted on behalf of a client – I love those books so much, too, that getting passes can sting a little!

SK: What do you look for in a query?

VDM: An interesting premise and something that grabs my attention in the opening pages.

 SK: What are the top reasons you pass on a submission?

VDM: This is kind of hard to answer! Often there’s just something about a submission that doesn’t quite feel like a fit for me, or something that I know isn’t working but that I don’t feel I have the editorial vision to address.

 I will say, though, that recently I’ve been passing a lot due to pacing issues – either the story starts off too fast and I can’t get oriented in it or it feels like it’s taking too long to get to the heart of the plot.

SK: What do you love most about middle-grade novels?

VDM: I love that they can tackle big topics with humor and heart, in a way that makes things accessible for kids as they figure out themselves and the world around them! I also think these books can be so special because they’re often the ones that make kids into readers – one of my closest friends teaches 6th grade Language Arts and I always love hearing stories about that moment when one of her students finds *the* book that opens up the whole world of reading to them.

 SK: Which middle-grade book(s) influenced you most as a child?

VDM: How much time do you have?! I could list a million…but in the interest of brevity, I’ll say that The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler was a constant favorite (so I got a kick out of the name of this website) as were Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry and all its sequels by Mildred D. Taylor and Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine (I actually went to a book event of hers when I was in college and got her to sign my incredibly bedraggled 15-year-old copy). And my brothers and I still have several inside jokes stemming from our love of A Series of Unfortunate Events, though it’s been years since any of us have read those books.

 I was also absolutely obsessed with Running Out of Time by Margaret Peterson Haddix for years and almost lost my mind when I saw the news that she’d written a sequel! 

 SK: What are some of your favorite current middle-grade novels?

VDM: Ghost Squad by Claribel A. Ortega, Sir Callie and the Champions of Helston by Esme Symes-Smith, The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill, Front Desk by Kelly Yang, Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga, and The Jumbies by Tracey Baptiste all come to mind! And obviously I will be reading Falling Out of Time by Margaret Peterson Haddix as soon as possible.

SK: Which genres/themes/subjects are you drawn to?

VDM: I tend to be most drawn to contemporary, speculative, and fantasy – and am really loving that horror is having a moment in middle grade right now! And I’m particularly interested in seeing projects from marginalized authors whose voices and perspectives haven’t historically been represented in publishing.

 SK: What advice do you have for authors who would like to send you a query?

VDM: I’m not sure I have any specific advice, other than…please do send me a query if you think we might be a good fit! I’m actively building my list of clients and would be thrilled to find another middle grade project (or two! or more!) to fall in love with.

 SK: What are your favorite things to do that have nothing to do with being an agent?

VDM: I love soccer (playing it sometimes, watching it always), trying new recipes, going to the theater, and finding new corners of Central Park to explore. I’m also sort of getting into baking, though I’m still in the phase where it kind of stresses me out…but I’m getting better!

SK: Please tell us a little about your agency.

VDM: Writers House was founded in 1973 with a vision for a new kind of literary agency, one that would combine a passion for managing a writer’s career with an integrated understanding of how storytelling works. With this two-pronged philosophy, Writers House has played a critical role in developing the careers of hundreds of novelists and non-fiction authors. We believe in offering our clients not only our expertise in negotiating contracts, but in contributing to all phases of the editorial and publishing processes. Our goal is to maximize the value of our clients’ work by providing hands-on editorial and marketing advice, as well as leading the way in branding, licensing, and selling film/TV, foreign, audio, dramatic and serial rights. 

SK: It’s been so great getting to know you, Torie. I’m sure a lot of our readers are going to be interested in connecting with you. Where can authors learn more about you? 

The best place right now is probably on Twitter, @toriedm! I tweet out specific #MSWL asks there and also post my to-read piles periodically so authors can get a sense of my taste.

Agent Spotlight: Molly Ker Hawn of The Bent Agency

Molly Ker Hawn, Managing Director and Literary Agent at The Bent Agency

Hi, everyone! I’m so excited to welcome Molly Ker Hawn of The Bent Agency to our Agent Spotlight here on The Mixed Up Files. Molly leads the London office of TBA and works with authors from all over the world — including Angie Thomas, Hilary McKay, Dhonielle Clayton, Casey Lyall, Stephanie Burgis, Meera Trehan, and many more—selling directly to publishers in the US, the UK, Canada, and Australia. I’m also lucky enough to call her my agent, and she graciously agreed to answer some questions about querying, author-agent relationships and the publishing world today. Thank you, Molly!

MD: Lately I’ve been spending a lot of time listening to the podcast The Sh*t No One Tells You About Writing, where each episode begins with the agents critiquing query letters listeners have sent in for feedback. What are you looking for in a query letter? Other than NOT addressing you as “Dear Sir” or “Dear Agent”, how important is the personalization part of the query letter for you? 

MKH: I know writers really agonize over query letters, so I’m pretty forgiving when I’m reading them. A hook-y pitch is most important to me, and maybe a line or two of bio. It doesn’t have to be long. You don’t have to convince me that you’re interesting; I’m trying to evaluate your book, not you. Personalization is less important  – I don’t need to be flattered or to be convinced that I’m The One. If there’s a particular reason they’re querying me, then I’m glad to hear it, and it’s always nice to hear that someone enjoyed a book I represented (and why), but there’s no need to scrabble around for a connection that isn’t genuinely there. 

MD: My query to you was the old fashioned way: a cold query with no connections. What percentage of your clients would you say have come to you that way?

MKH: That’s such a good question! I think a lot of people assume that you need an ‘in’ to find representation, but most of my clients have come to me via out-of-the-blue queries. There is nothing – nothing – like the feeling of reading a submission from someone I’ve never heard of and feeling that zing of recognition that they’ve written something special.

MD: Something that’s not often talked about is that sometimes a writer’s first agent is not their forever agent. My understanding is that before querying a new agent one must no longer be with a previous agent. What other etiquette is important to know when looking for a new agent? How should the author handle putting information about it in a query letter? Have your clients who’ve previously had other agents come to you through recommendations or through the slush pile?

MKH: I think most agents would agree that it’s bad form to approach a new agent before you’ve parted ways with your current one. I personally am uncomfortable with it. Once you’ve formally terminated your agreement, you can say in your query that you were previously represented by [name] — you might as well say who your old agent was, because potential agents are likely to ferret that out anyway via Publishers Marketplace or Twitter or some other online source. The important thing that agents will want to know is whether your current project has been submitted to publishers by your former agent.

In the last couple of years I’ve started working with a few writers who’ve had previous representation, but not even all of those came with a personal referral. It’s lovely when they do, because a recommendation from a current client is the kind of praise I value most. It’s not at all necessary, though.

MD: In the UK, it’s uncommon to see middle grade novels in hardcover. In the US recently there was a lot of brouhaha on social media about Barnes & Noble no longer stocking a majority of hardcover middle grade novels. Have you seen this hurting newer North American MG releases? Have you seen this changing how publishers are buying middle grade novels—and going about their sales and marketing of them?

MKH: I know that many children’s writers saw B&N’s shift to stocking fewer hardcovers as a targeted attack on MG, but we’ve been watching their overall buying practices change for a while now. And when you look specifically at MG, B&N has reported returning about 80% of the hardcovers they bought in from publishers. You don’t need an MBA to see that the status quo wasn’t sustainable. 

I’m starting to see more publishers plan to release new MG simultaneously in hardcover and paperback – that’s an interesting solution. A lot of libraries will be happy to keep buying the hardcovers, and the retailers can have the editions that they think they can sell. I don’t love the effect this has on advances and royalty earnings, of course – a paperback sale earns less than a hardcover sale. But I want there to continue to be a wide range of children’s books published for a diverse audience, and some experimentation is going to be necessary to make that happen.

MD: What are you loving about being a children’s book agent these days?

MKH: The same things I’ve loved since I started: the thrill of discovery, the sense of satisfaction I get from helping books I care about find an audience, the camaraderie of the children’s book industry, the satisfaction of effectively advocating for authors and making them as much money as I can. And I love working with my team at TBA. We have such a good time, and we’re constantly learning from each other. I’m very lucky.

MD: Where can people find out about what kind of projects you’re looking for and how to query you?

MKH: I’ve got detailed information here and I keep it up to date. I read all my queries myself and respond to all of them, as long as spam filters don’t get in the way.  

Thank you again to Molly for this fabulous interview!