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2021 AGENT ONE-ON-ONE MEETINGS
No Additional Cost/Limited Availability
Included with your Regular 2-Day Conference Registration
Take advantage of this opportunity to secure one individual session with a literary agent, based on availability. These are optional sessions, which must be scheduled in advance unless otherwise announced. Included with your regular conference ticket at no additional cost.
These appointments are not transferable to others and no one can have more than one agent meeting/consultation. Appointment slots are limited.
Scheduling
When you register for the conference you will be able to select your first and second choices for agents. Your second agent choice indicates who you would like to see if your first choice is not available. It is not a second meeting. Be sure to review the agent choices below and make your selections prior to beginning the registration process.
By early September, we will send you further information about your scheduled appointment(s). Please do not contact us with questions about scheduling until after that time.
These individual meetings are assigned on a first-come-first-served basis and may fill up. Early registration is recommended to ensure you can take advantage of these opportunities.
We will provide further instruction closer to the conference date, including how to access your online literary agent session.
On Selecting an Agent
How to make the best use of your appointment
We are pleased to offer a diverse selection of agents who represent a wide range of genres. However, please note, not all genres are available. When reviewing which agents you would like to select as your first and second choices on your conference registration form, review each bio carefully, including any links to their agent websites, to make sure you are selecting agents who represent the type of work you write. Many of these agents are not currently open to submissions or queries without referrals, so this is an opportunity not to be squandered. It’s a waste of your time and theirs (not to mention taking an appointment that might be a good match for someone else) if you pitch an agent on your inspirational memoir when the agent primarily represents young adult science fiction and fantasy. Choose carefully to maximize the benefit to everyone.
You will make your agent selections when completing your regular conference registration form.
Here is our list of agents who will have one-on-one appointments available this year.
LITERARY AGENTS
Dawn Michelle Hardy
As a high energy, award-winning book publicist, literary agent, and publishing consultant, Dawn Michelle Hardy advocates for storytellers, entrepreneurs, and executives who want to share their creativity and knowledge with the world using a book. Ninety percent of her clients over the past eighteen years come from referrals or online research. For the past eight years Dawn has facilitated campaigns that have garnered awards and industry honors for debut authors in the categories of poetry, children’s books, women’s fiction, non-fiction sports and business books. Dawn is a creative strategist who understands that promoting authors is rooted in discoverability, granting access and taking an entrepreneurial approach. For more about Dawn\’s Manuscript Wishlist, click HERE.
Website TheLiteraryLobbyist.com | Facebook @TheLiteraryLobbyist | Twitter @DawnMichellePR Instagram @TheLiteraryLobbyist
Rebecca Podos
Rebecca Podos is a literary agent with the Rees Literary Agency, representing Middle Grade, Young Adult, and Adult genre fiction (including fantasy, magic realism, paranormal, romance, and some mystery), as well as a Young Adult author herself. Her forthcoming books include Fools in Love (Running Press Kids, 2021) a co-edited YA romance anthology, and From Dust, a Flame (Balzer + Bray, 2022). She is a graduate of the Writing, Literature and Publishing Program at Emerson College. Rebecca\’s Manuscript Wishlist can be found HERE.
Website rebeccapodos.com | Twitter @RebeccaPodos | Instagram @beccapodos
Eric Smith
Eric Smith is a literary agent and Young Adult author hailing from Philadelphia. An agent with P.S. Literary he is looking for genre-bending commercial and literary fiction, select fantasy and science fiction, and nonfiction of all kinds. As an author, his latest novels include Don’t Read the Comments and the forthcoming You Can Go Your Own Way. View Eric\’s Manuscript Wishlist HERE.
Website ericsmithrocks.com | Twitter @ericsmithrocks
Latoya C. Smith
Latoya C. Smith is an award-winning editor and literary agent. She has been featured in Publishers Weekly, Forbes, and USA Today, as well as on various author, book conference, and book blogger websites. Latoya provides editorial and consultation services through her company, LCS Literary Services, LLC, and is an agent and Co-Founder at the newly launched ArtHouse Literary Agency. She is looking for projects in both fiction and nonfiction. Latoya’s Manuscript Wishlist can be found HERE.
Website arthouselit.com | Facebook @latoya.smith.9655806 | Twitter @GlamEditor_Girl | @arthouselit
Laurel Symonds
Laurel Symonds joined The Bent Agency in Fall 2018 after nearly a decade of experience in the publishing industry. She began her career in the editorial department of HarperCollins Children’s Books/Katherine Tegen Books and has also held positions in the marketing department at a small publishing house, in a library, and as a bookseller at one of the nation’s best independent bookstores. As a literary agent, she is seeking children’s fiction and nonfiction. Laurel\’s full profile and manuscript wishlist can be found HERE.
Website thebentagency.com | Twitter @LaurelSymonds | Instagram @LaurelSymonds
Erica Bauman
All available slots with Erica Bauman are booked up. Please choose another agent. Erica Bauman represents a wide variety of authors across middle grade, young adult, and commercial and upmarket adult fiction. Based in New York, Erica is most interested in commercial novels that feature an exciting premise and lyrical, atmospheric writing; imaginative, genre-blending tales; speculative worlds filled with haunting, quietly wondrous magic; fresh retellings of mythology, ballet, opera, and classic literature; sharply funny rom-coms; graphic novels for all ages; fearless storytellers that tackle big ideas and contemporary issues; and working with and supporting marginalized authors and stories that represent the wide range of humanity.
Website aevitascreative.com | Twitter @Erica_Bauman
Heather Carr
All available slots with Heather Carr are booked up. Please choose another agent. Heather Carr is a literary agent at The Friedrich Agency where she represents fiction and nonfiction for adults. Originally from the suburbs of Portland, Oregon, she went to school in the Midwest and ended her eastbound journey in Brooklyn, NY where she now lives. Heather is drawn to those who are writing the book they urgently need to write, in their own singular voice. In both fiction and nonfiction, she loves to be invited into a world she may not otherwise have access to, or that has been left out of the “canon.” She’s easily enticed by offbeat humor and setting as character. For more on what Heather is looking for, check out her agency bio HERE.
Website friedrichagency.com | Twitter @heatherannecarr