annie hwang of folio literary management

“Writing groups are nurturing, but not necessarily informed about the industry,” said Van Hoose, who has worked with authors including Honorée Fanonne Jeffers and Fiona Davis. Independent editors complement an agent or editor, said co-panelists Will Allison, Liz Van Hoose, and Alexis Washam in another session about professionalizing. Cooper suggested that the audience think about the question, “Do you want to be a writer or do you want to be a published author? It’s an important distinction.”ĭepending on how they answer that question of identity-“do you want to be a writer…or a published author?”-some people apply to MFA programs or join critique groups, while others hire independent editors for focused, one-to-one feedback. Mariah Stovall of Trellis urged everyone to “please be reading other people’s work,” and be up front with agents about potentially awkward subjects like advances and financial goals. Scovel reminded the audience that no matter how special, “your book always has comp titles,” while Amy Bishop of Dystel, Goderich and Bourret remarked that specificity matters: calling a manuscript “upmarket book club fiction” is not as persuasive as making accurate comparisons. Hakim said that she asks her colleagues to introduce her to rock-star editors.Ĭooper prompted the group to discuss queries, trends, and publication goals. An early career agent wants to develop your work-you just have to remember that they might be working a part-time job or assisting” those better-known agents. Lauren Scovel of Laura Gross Literary Agency agreed: “You want an emerging agent attached to an agency or being mentored.” Serene Hakim of Ayesha Pande added that a famous agent has “name recognition out on submission, but you might have to fight for their attention. Asked about the merits of signing with a “famous or fancy agent” versus a fresher talent, panel moderator Maggie Cooper of Aevitas felt that “popular editors want to know what the cool young agents are doing,” but those cool young agents need to demonstrate strong networking abilities.

Some 200 audience members turned up for another panel, “Kind of a Big Deal: Emerging Agents on the Path to Publishing,” featuring five early-career literary agents. Greenburger Associates to demystify the traditional submission process. At a session called “From Slush to Sale,” Trellis cofounder Stephanie Delman and agent Danielle Kukafka talked with Annie Hwang of Ayesha Pande and Iwalani Kim of Sanford J. For instance, AWP’s annual Writer to Agent Program, established in 2017, attracted 887 hungry applicants with completed manuscripts or nonfiction proposals in hand, and five literary agencies-Aevitas Creative Management, Ayesha Pande Literary, Folio Literary Management, Serendipity Literary Agency, and Trellis Literary Management-held 142 in-person and virtual meetings.

Practical sessions with agents, editors, and small presses facilitated connections between writers and those who shepherd books and stories into print. At any given hour, attendees could meet kindred spirits invested in writing speculative fiction, comics, or experimental poetry coalition-building and decolonizing their writing workshops or mulling the questions posed by a session on “Literary Fame: Should We Strive for It? Should We Care About It?” Multimedia readings and craft discussions were among the more than 350 on-site and 250 off-site events at this year's Association of Writers and Writing Programs meeting in Seattle.

Annie hwang of folio literary management