Package Deal: The Insider's Guide to Working with an Agent
Everything You Need to Know
Enroll in Course
Save BIG with this 6-course bundle! Includes a full course with Agent Jill Corcoran not available elsewhere on the site.
The Insider's Guide to Working with an Agent includes honest, no-holds-barred conversation with agents Erzsi Deak and Jill Corcoran about what they are looking for in submissions and what they expect from their clients once they are signed. Marcie Colleen shares the author's point of view in the agent-client relationship, plus she gives us the inside scoop on working with editors after your book is under contract. This bundle includes:
Insider Look at Agent-Client Relationships with Erzsi Deak
Find out what it's really like to work with an agent during this 90
minute Q&A with Erzsi Deak, with Hen and Ink Literary Agency. You'll
learn what you should expect from your agent, when you should send your
agent your newest manuscript, best communication methods and more!
Managing Your Agent and Editor Relationships with Marcie Colleen
In this 110-minute video, you will hear two professional authors (Marcie Colleen and Julie Hedlund) discuss their relationships with their agents. Marcie Colleen also addresses the dynamics of working with editors. You will learn:
- How to develop and nurture the agent-client relationship
- Questions to ask prospective agents
- What you can and can't expect from your agent
- Differences between working with an agent and an editor
Plus MUCH more! This is a rare peek inside the inner workings of an agented, published author's life.
What Agents are Looking for in Picture Book Submissions with Jill Corcoran (This video is ONLY available as part of this bundle.)
Agents get multiple submissions everyday. What makes them say yes to one manuscript and no to another? Agent Jill Corcoran pulls back the curtain and reveals what agents are really thinking when they read your query and your manuscript.
Do spelling errors hurt your chances of getting a reply?
Should you include art notes?
How perfect does your manuscript need to be to get an offer?
How many stories do have to have complete before you submit to an agent?
All these questions and more will be answered in this video.
The Importance of Agent Contracts with Marcie Colleen and Julie Hedlund (This video is ONLY available as part of this bundle.)
Authors Marcie Colleen and Julie Hedlund engage in a lively and frank discussion about the importance of contracts between literary agents and their author and illustrator clients.
This intimate, 30-minute conversation resulted after both were inundated with requests for help from authors who either didn't have contracts with their agents at all or had contracts with questionable clauses.
It is critical for authors and illustrators to understand the risks they take if they operate without contracts and/or don't understand the terms of their existing contracts completely.
From the Agent's Desk
In this webinar, agent Sean McCarthy shares what picture books look like on his side of the desk, including:
- What separates a good picture book from a great one
- Submission pet-peeves
- How prolific should picture book authors be
- His wishlist for fiction and nonfiction picture books
- Plus, lots more!
Your Instructor
Erzsi Deak
Hen&ink founder, Erzsi Deàk, brings her nearly 30 years of experience on the international stage, connecting individuals and companies with those around the globe who can make things happen – no matter where you find yourself.
With her growing list of prize-winning clients and new voices from around the world, Erzsi Deàk meets often with publishers in the US and UK and aggressively markets domestic and foreign rights, attending the Bologna, London and Frankfurt rights fairs.
In addition to representing Hen&ink writers and illustrators, Erzsi is proud to handle foreign rights for Red Fox Literary.
Erzsi is also a writer and Sourcebooks published her picture book with fellow Coop member Doug Cushman, PUMPKIN TIME in fall 2014. Erzsi’s book, PERIOD PIECES: STORIES FOR GIRLS, was a Bank Street pick and her articles on the world of children’s publishing have appeared in CHILDREN’S WRITERS & ILLUSTRATORS’ MARKET. Starting the French chapter of the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators (SCBWI) in 1995, Erzsi eventually ran the international arm of the SCBWI for nearly ten years, developing and mentoring writers, illustrators and publishing programs in 28 countries. She founded and organized the SCBWI Bologna Conference and was awarded the SCBWI Member of the Year in 1999 and 2008. In 2009, she began working with La Martinière Groupe in France, acquiring approximately 40 titles a year for their Le Seuil and La Martinière Jeunesse imprints. Erzsi edits the SCBWI BULLETIN international page, “Here, There & Everywhere,” and interviews writers and other publishing professionals on her blog at Erzsi Deàk.
Sean McCarthy
Before founding Sean McCarthy Literary Agency, Sean began his publishing career as an editorial intern at Overlook Press and then moved over to the Sheldon Fogelman Agency. He worked as the submissions coordinator and permissions manager before becoming a full-time literary agent. Sean graduated from Macalester College with a degree in English-Creative Writing, and is grateful that he no longer has to spend his winters in Minnesota.
He is drawn to flawed, multifaceted characters with devastatingly concise writing in YA, and character-driven work or smartly paced mysteries/adventures in MG. In picture books, he looks more for unforgettable characters, off-beat humor, and especially clever endings. He is not currently interested in issue-driven stories or query letters that pose too many questions.
You can follow Sean on Twitter for his thoughts on publishing news, the inevitable hipsterfication of Astoria, and the Mets' starting lineup.
Marcie Colleen
Marcie Colleen may have been named after the girl who called everyone "Sir" in the iconic comic strip, Peanuts, but she can relate more to Frieda who constantly reminded us that she had "naturally curly hair".
In previous chapters Marcie has been a teacher and a theater
educator, but now spends her days chasing the children's author dream.
Her latest books include the
SUPER HAPPY PARTY BEARS chapter book series (MacMillan), and the forthcoming picture books LOVE, TRIANGLE (Balzer & Bray/Harper Collins, 2017) and THE ADVENTURE OF THE PENGUINAUT (Scholastic, 2018)
Marcie is a faculty member at Kidlit Writing School, the Curriculum Developer for Time Traveler Tours & Tales, the Educational Consultant for Picture Book Month and KidLit TV, plus an active member of SCBWI (the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators), The 12 x 12 Picture Book Writing Challenge, San Diego Writers, Ink, and Children's Literature Council of Southern California.
Marcie is represented by Susan Hawk at The Bent Agency.
Jill Corcoran
Jill Corcoran is President and Founder of Jill Corcoran Literary
Agency and an Executive Partner, Branding & Licensing for EverWitt
Productions, a film and television content developer. Writer turned
literary agent, Jill opened the West Coast arm of Herman Agency in 2009,
then launched JCLA in 2014. Having sold over 200 titles, Jill
represents many award-winning authors and illustrators, including New
York Times Bestsellers, the former US Children’s Poet Laureate, and
Famous Monsters of Filmland/American Gothic Press.
After
earning an English degree from Stanford University and a Marketing and
Finance MBA from the University of Chicago School of Business, Jill
marketed everything from Disney toys to Kellog’s Cereal to sneakers. She
worked for Mattel, LA Gear, Leo Burnett Advertising, and her own
company, LAUNCH! New Product Marketing.
Jill created and edited
the poetry anthology, DARE TO DREAM, CHANGE THE WORLD
(Kane/Miller,2012), which was honored with the American Library
Association’s 2013 Notable Books for a Global Society Award, a
California Reading Association’s 2012 Eureka! Silver Honor, and was
named a Best Books of 2013 by Bank Street College of Education.
Jill
has taught all over the world, from intimate classes of 10 to ballrooms
of 1,200writers and illustrators. She has worked with SCBWI/Society of
Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, Comic-Con International,
Kid-Lit College, Writer's Digest, A Path To Publishing, The Writing Pad,
Central Coast Writing Conference, CYA/Children and Young Adult Writers
and Illustrators Conference, RWA/Romance Writers of America, and the WOW
Nonfiction Retreat, and many more.