Representation Announcement

Hi everyone! It’s been an incredibly busy past couple of weeks and I’m so glad to be back writing here. 

June is always an incredibly exciting and busy time of year. School is winding down, report card deadlines are fast approaching, summer is on the horizon, and this June there’s an extra special element added to the mix: I found my dream literary agent!! 

I’m officially represented by Analieze Cervantes at Harvey Klinger Literary Agency!! 

So what does that mean? It means we’ll work together to find a publishing home that’s the best fit for my books. Pitching to bigger publishing companies is impossible/non-existent without an agent, so I’m beyond grateful to Analieze for unlocking this next level in the publishing world for me! I cannot wait to grow our careers together with many books to come!  

I love Analieze’s enthusiasm, inclusiveness, knowledge of the industry, and supportive atmosphere that she’s provided for me and all of the authors that she represents. I know she champions for all of her authors, and that in itself is a huge gift. 

Now you might be asking yourself, “How does one get a literary agent?”. Let’s back up and get the full story: 

For me, writing has always been an incredibly private affair. I rarely shared my writing, and up until recently, had always held onto writing as a secret dream. When the pandemic hit last year, I decided I was ready to take my dream to the next step. My picture book, Tallulah’s Magic Ears, was all that I could think about. 

I hired an editor to look over my manuscript, re-joined Twitter for the first time since college to immerse myself into the amazing #WritingCommunity and threw myself into writing more manuscripts whenever the inspiration hit. It felt right, and when my gut gives me a certain feeling- I know I have to listen. It led me to the right college, told me to make the move to Italy, and it was telling me that I needed to get my stories out. 

Next came querying. Ah, querying. It’s an emotional roller coaster that all authors experience. There’s the hopefulness of researching literary agents, imagining how each one could be a good fit for your book. There’s the excitement of nailing your query letter and hitting “submit” to those agents. And then, there’s the waiting game. You refresh your email and check your query status just minutes after submission when you fully know that it could be months before you hear back from an agent. 

Then comes the low of the roller coaster: the rejections. The first few you anticipate. “Of course you weren’t going to get representation on your first query,” you tell yourself. Then the next few roll in, or you don’t get any responses at all. With each pass you tell yourself, “It just wasn’t a good fit- this is very subjective”. And you know what? It’s true! If anything, with each pass it’s just more fuel to remind yourself that your story is important, and it’s worth each chance it gets! At least that’s what I was telling myself. 

Boy am I glad I did. I then experienced the high of the roller coaster again when agents  requested the whole manuscript. I admit, I was doing happy dances in the kitchen. Though even after this step, I still had agents pass. Until one day, when Analieze emailed asking me if we could chat about the book. I almost couldn’t even type a response- I was in such shock! She blew me away during our call, laying out a plan of what our next steps would be to make publishing happen. I knew from my research that she was the perfect person to bring Tallulah’s Magic Ears to the next step. 

I think it’s important to note that everyone’s querying process will look different. I sent out well over 40 queries before finding my dream agent. I know many authors send out more, and many send out less. The most important component to querying, I believe, is to always maintain faith that the story you want to tell is the story that the world needs to hear. 

I cannot wait to update everyone with our next steps. 

Lots of Love, 

Sofia