Publishing Pals
Welcome to Publishing Pals Podcast, a podcast where two pals talk about publishing. For nearly a decade, we have tried, failed, and sometimes succeeded at being traditionally published. Come along with us as we share everything we've learned in this oddly gatekept, confusing, but incredibly fun and rewarding industry.
Publishing Pals
Mid Atlantic Agents and Editors Day Notes
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Hello!
In this episode we’re talking about notes from the SCBWI mid-atlantic 2026 conference, as well as a few notes from past conferences.
Here are some of the authors, artists, and other things we brought up during the episode. Just a disclaimer - please do not take our word as fact. The publishing industry is always changing, and often we are talking about things we are remembering from a while ago or have heard from others. It’s always important to do your own research! If we realize after the fact that we have gotten anything wrong, we will do our best to correct it in the show notes.
Here are the links for Linda Camacho, the agent from our agency deep dive:
https://www.galltzacker.com/submissions.html
https://bsky.app/profile/lindacamacho.bsky.social
Some of the agents and editors from the agents and editors day that we mentioned:
Agents:
Marie Lamba: https://www.jdlit.com/marie-lamba
Ann Rose: https://www.thetobiasagency.com/ann-rose
Rebecca Williamson: https://tinyurl.com/3hk8trrt
Jennifer Unter: https://theunteragency.com/
Editors:
Catherine Laudone: https://www.catherinelaudone.com/
Alex Aceves: https://tinyurl.com/yc88earj
Brian LaRossa: https://brianlarossa.com/
This is Brian LaRossa’s bluesky where he does artist calls sometimes: https://bsky.app/profile/brianlarossa.com
Irene Vázquez: https://tinyurl.com/mr6rpvnx
Note: Krista Marino doesn’t seem to have a website.
Sinix Design (great anatomy tutorial videos): https://www.youtube.com/user/sinixdesign
Erin Casey Weston (the other agent at Galt & Zacker we talked about) https://www.galltzacker.com/submissions.html
Hello, I'm Katie and I'm Maria. And welcome to Publishing Pals Podcast, a podcast where two Pals talk about publishing. For nearly a decade, we have tried, failed, and sometimes succeeded at being traditionally published. Come along with us as we share everything we've learned in this oddly gatekeeped, confusing, but incredibly fun and rewarding industry.
SPEAKER_02And today we're talking about um, I guess not conferences as a whole, but I just got back from the Mid-Atlantic 2026 Agents and Editors Day. And I want to talk about some of the stuff that I learned and some of the stuff that I ran into and some of the faculty. Um, and Katie has some great conference stories as well. So we thought we've already done an episode on conferences in general and what to expect and how to prepare for them. So you can go back to our later episodes and find that if you want more generalized conference info. Um, but here we're talking about some specifics of things that we ran into and maybe you'll run into and know to expect, or at least get something out of. Um, I don't know. I I feel like overall, like for both of us, we've gotten very lucky at conferences. Um, I feel like most of the connections that I've made that have ended up like panning out or be been something really exciting have come from conference interactions.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I agree. I've had some really good things come out of it, and then um getting my hopes up to not panning out instances as well. So I feel like it's kind of run the gambit. But either way, going to a conference can open up so many opportunities for you that you would never otherwise get and just put you face to face with people. And um, a lot of times people say it's good to just like continually get in front of editors, agents, art directors. So that way after a while they'll recognize you. So even if you just have like a short conversation and introduce yourself, the next time you might be able to say, Hey, do you remember me? And then you start developing a relationship. And I think that's a good foundation. Right.
SPEAKER_02And I guess I want to emphasize like, I think both of us make an effort to like say hi to people and talk to people at the conferences. If you're a little bit more of a wallflower, like think of a way to get yourself out there. Um, for example, I brought chocolate chip cookies to this Agents and Editor's Day. I usually bring baked goods, and that's a great way to like, you know, offer someone a cookie, introduce yourself. Um, or if there's, you know, if you have like a you're an illustrator and you have a card, um, you know, you can offer, you know, artwork or stickers or, you know, something like that, but try and get some kind of a conversation going, do something to, you know, make yourself stand out, ask questions of the faculty, um, do your research, like let them know that you're interested, etc. Um I I feel like you're a lot more likely to get something out of it, the the more of a squeaky wheel you are.
SPEAKER_00Um yeah, I agree. Sometimes I get too scared though, like when we went to the New York conference and there was a there that I really wanted to be repped by, and I was like terrified to go talk to her. But you did talk to her. I did talk to her, and she remembered me. Yes. And I never got a response from her.
SPEAKER_01Right. But I remember you, she was like, Katie, that sounds familiar. And like, I queried you. Yeah, and I didn't want to be like, Well, you read me.
SPEAKER_02I think that's like generally the implication, though. And like agents and editors, like normally I think people say, don't, you know, try and bug them, don't follow up a bunch. But like when they're at a conference, they're there to be bugged and to network. Like, that's why they're there. So it's it's okay in that setting to approach them and talk to them. And obviously, you don't want to be pushy and like don't ask them if they'll rep you right there, but you know, say hi, make a connection, share your work, share what you've got going on. Um I had a really exciting experience uh at the agent senator's day because I I think I've talked about it before. Uh, there was an agent that uh was interested in my work and I had a call with, and she asked me to send her some pages, and uh then she asked me to send her some more pages, and then she stopped responding to me and I followed up and she never responded. And she was there, and I she was not supposed to be there. One of the editors had a last-minute emergency and had a drop out, and she came in like last minute. So I found out the day before that she was going to be at the conference and she recognized me and she came up to talk to me, and she just said her life had been crazy and she felt really guilty about ghosting me and to email her again. Um and she asked me like what projects I was working on and what I had going on and all that kind of stuff. So I'm super excited about that.
SPEAKER_00Um Yeah, I don't think that would be exciting. I'm excited for you. I have a really good feeling. I'm so excited.
SPEAKER_02Um, and I don't think that would have happened, you know, if I wasn't going to conferences. And I'd originally met her at uh a CBWI writers retreat a few years ago. Um, and I I don't think uh the reason I like her so much is because like I like her energy in person um and I like her vibe. She's like a smart feminist Miss Frizzle. Um, and I I feel like I if I just saw her on paper, I wouldn't necessarily be excited to query. And also there wouldn't be that personal connection where they understand who you are and they kind of get a sense of your personality, get the sense of you vibe. Um there were three agents that on paper were coming and several of them I was excited about. And then I met them and I like them just fine. But I think um it's good to see, you know, like, you know, if you're meeting someone in person here interested in being wrecked by, seeing if you click, seeing if, you know, like you you understand what they're saying when they give feedback and stuff like that.
SPEAKER_00Right. Because the communication style is so important when you have an agent because you want to be open with them and you're gonna be working with them hopefully for a very, very long time. So you definitely have like that uh a click.
SPEAKER_02Yes, definitely. I have some QA's from the panels that they did, but I guess maybe talking a little more loosely about um how this one was put together. Because I know usually I've done things that are like more like lecture-based, but this was a round table uh themed agents and editors day, which I'd never been to a round table before. Um, and I'd never heard of it until I saw this email. So if you also don't know what a round table is and you don't know what to expect, a round table is where you literally sit at a round table. Um, though I guess it could have been a different shape, and it's like an A themed AMA. Um I signed up for things assuming they would be a little bit more on theme and I would be listening to like a prepared lecture, and maybe there'd be some questions. But it was like, okay, this is the fantasy round table, ask questions about the fantasy genre. And they went around in a circle and you asked a question and the faculty there would answer. So I guess if if all roundtables are like that, I don't know. I know they're doing some at the Carolinas conference later this year. So I guess we'll find out if they're similar. Cause I think you're going to that too, right?
SPEAKER_00Right. It'll be interesting to see if it is similar because I haven't been to one either.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I'm curious as to um as to the the rise of them. I'm like, hadn't heard of them at all. And now there's two conferences doing them.
SPEAKER_00Um I feel like it is a good idea just because then you get a lot of face-to-face time with certain agencies editors and our directors that necessarily you wouldn't necessarily get if they were just giving you a lecture because you're just a face in the crowd, but you actually get to ask questions. It's a smaller setting so that you have the opportunity to talk to them and hopefully ask like a question where you can get, you know, some really good information.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you can ask about stuff specific to your story. Um, they they do have a couple caveats. Um, you can't ask about um something specific to you being reped by them. Like you can't basically be like, okay.
SPEAKER_00Well, can't just say, Will you rep me?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you can't say, well, I guess what they've they were worried about is people like pitching their story and then asking if the person was interested. And so they're like, you can't pitch your story. If you have questions relating to your plot or fantasy element or something like that, you can ask that. So for example, I'm interested in doing middle grade, um, like a middle grade cozy fantasy graphic novel is my next project once I start querying my my current project. And I'm interested in it centering around these like fantasy animals. And I was doing a lot of research and I found like a cryptid that I thought could work. Um, and I see a lot of Asians asking for non-Greek mythology. And I'm what I was wondering, like, should I change it to a mythological creature or would a cryptid still be appealing? And so I asked that question um, if like cryptids kind of fell into the alternate mythology search, um, or if it was specifically myth-based. Um, and she said that cryptids she thought would work well in that space and not to worry about it. So it like if you have something super specific like that, you can get someone who's seasoned in the industry to talk to you about it.
SPEAKER_00Um But in general, did you go around and just get the opportunity to ask one question and then it was over?
SPEAKER_02So I did two roundtables and a pitch session. And for the pitch session, everyone pitched and then uh got two minutes of feedback, and then they moved on to the next person, even if the agent was like mid-sentence. Hi, this is Future Maria. Uh, I just want to clarify because I feel like I'm making the moderator sound like a jerk, but um, it's not like the agent wasn't allowed to finish her sentence. She'd like finished what she was saying, but the timer went off, and then it was kind of like a gesture to wrap up and continue. The second one I did, everyone went around and asked a question. And then there was time for other people to ask questions, and it was kind of like whoever has a second question can jump in. And then the third one, she didn't seem to care that there was a theme. And she was like, You can ask me anything. It doesn't have to have anything to do with trophes, like just whatever questions you have. Um, and I was like, Did you not pick the theme? She's like, No, they gave it to me. And I was like, Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_00Um, and I feel like I guess, oh yeah, go ahead.
SPEAKER_02No, just it was just like random people like jumping around and asking questions. And the moderator um was was less strict. And then at a couple points, she like pointed to people who hadn't talked and asked them, like, did you have a question, you know, before we move forward? But it it was it was a little more casual that one.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. I guess it's probably good to at least have a theme in place so that way you have something to jump off of, like a starting point. And then if the person doesn't necessarily care, they could just say that. But it'll give some kind of direction.
SPEAKER_02I I think for some people, maybe having a theme helps them come up with question ideas so it's not just crickets. Um, for me, I would have loved for it to just be kind of general. Um, but we ended up kind of devolving into like talking about the politics of the shy girl book with AI usage, and it had nothing to do with tropes. So um it like that one wasn't on theme at all, but it was interesting. But yeah, I so I guess roundtables like I would say come with questions, come with prepared questions. Uh, look at the person doing the round table and come with questions that they are best suited to answer as opposed to questions specific to the theme. Since it sounds like they don't necessarily come up with a theme and they are competent at talking about it, but maybe that's not necessarily the question that would you would most want answered by them. And I I think in general, just like uh there were 10 minutes in between. And I I think just staying and talking. Um, I had a really nice conversation with one of the editors there in between those 10 minutes because um other people were were like running around going to their next place. And I got to stay behind and talk with her a little bit, and she was so cool. Her um, I was actually like fangirling over her a little bit before the conference because I was looking her up. Um, it was Krista Marino, and uh she like acquired Maze Runner and One of Us is Lying and Skyward and like all these big books. And uh she's like the VP at Delacourt, and she's like worked her way up from like an earlier positions, like all the way through the industry, and she just seems like a total badass. And then she got there and she was like super gorgeous and put together and she just seemed really competent. And I was like totally fangirling over her.
SPEAKER_00Um, I love that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, she was really cool.
SPEAKER_00Um I wouldn't like fangirl over these people. I mean they're just normal people, like they're not celebrities, they don't think of themselves that way. They're like, I literally, this is just my job.
SPEAKER_02I I do think though that being like geeks about the industry, it's easier to fangirl over these people because they're not because they're not celebrities. And so they're not like annoyed by it usually. I feel like anything they they might be kind of flattered. Um and I mean, I I don't think I'll talk to her again because I nothing I write fits her list. I just thought she was cool. So um I think it helps when you don't necessarily aren't when you're not trying to submit to them or pitch to them. Um, because I don't feel like it's like it takes the pressure off. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00But it's good to have connections either way because she knows other people in the industry. And if you connect with her, then she might recommend somebody else.
SPEAKER_02She does. She actually offered to uh forward my manuscript to one of the editors that takes fantasy rom coms um that she works with, which was very exciting. I was not expecting that. Yeah, see, there you go. Yeah, because she just reps like edgy dark stuff. Um but no, it was it was a great experience. And it was great meeting everyone. Everyone there is so nice. I I love this organization. It's it's so like wholesome and friendly.
SPEAKER_00Right. I agree. And everybody is like just as much of a nerd as you are.
SPEAKER_02Yes, or at least they want to be. So they're like, if you geek out about something, they want to listen to it. You don't feel like you're boring them. Um what um what are some of your exciting conference experiences that you've had?
SPEAKER_00So I think it was two years ago when I went to the Carolinas conference, and um, I had a picture book, uh, it was a dummy critique uh with an art director. And um I here's a little tip. Um I didn't know if this would work or not, but you can sign up for specific times. They'll give you like all the list of times that you can sign up for. And I thought, well, if I sign up for the very last time, then she won't be rushed to go to the next person. So maybe, just maybe, I could get like a couple more minutes of her time because it's always like very short, what like 15 minutes or something? It's so short. Yeah, and it goes by instantly.
SPEAKER_02If you haven't done any of these before, there's a moderator who will come in, give you like a two-minute warning, and then like cut you off while you are getting your critique if you go over and push the next person in. Cause they they schedule people like back to back to back to back, and they want the person to have a couple minutes in between.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Yeah. So I signed up to be her very last critique of the day. Um, and I walk up to her and I'm like, hi, I'm Katie Dwyer. And her eyes lit up, and she was like so excited to meet me, and I was completely not expecting it. Um, she said, Oh my gosh, I have been excited to meet you. Come sit down. And so we looked at my dummy and she just she loved it. Um and we were just talking about different things. I think we also she had looked at my portfolio online, which is not something that they asked, like is asked of that. But she looked at my dummy and then she went to my website too. Um, and she was talking about it. And then the moderator came by and she's like, you know, warning. And then she came up and she's like, Okay, it's time to be done. And uh this art director just kind of looked at her and she was like, Okay. And she just kind of kept talking with me. Um, and then the moderator was standing there and she's like, It's time to be done. And she's like, No, it's okay. We're just gonna keep talking for a little bit. Um, and so we ended up going over, I don't remember, five minutes, maybe it was probably closer to five, not 10. Um, but then she left with, I would love to talk to you more about this. Um, and I was just like elated. I I couldn't believe it that she was actually excited to meet me. She knew who I was, she looked at my work. Um, and so I oh yeah. And she was saying that um they have a meeting. She's an art director, but they have like a team meeting with editors where they can share all the things that they really liked. And she wanted to share my book dummy with all the editors at her um at her publisher, which is Little Brown. Um, and I was so excited. So um she gave me some things to work on, like some small things to adjust. And I went back to my hotel room. We worked on all that stuff. It wasn't a lot. And then I uh I think it was the next day, maybe, I went up to her and was chatting, and she's like, Okay, yeah, let's like, let's sit down and talk. And so then she sat down with me at the conference for probably like 30 to 45 more minutes and looked at the dummy that I had revised, and then she wanted to see another dummy from me. Um, and then she ended up asking me to email her both dummies so that way she could show it to her team. And it was like, I couldn't even imagine something better happening. Like it was amazing. Right.
SPEAKER_02And I mean, I think it helped that like your guys' taste really clicked, and I feel like you guys have a very like a vibe that really clicked too. Like, I it seems like you clicked on a very personal.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, she was so friendly and kind. And I feel like all art directors that I've heard interviews with or talked to have been just like very sweet and kind of they all have like the same vibe of just like they love art and they're so positive. So I ended up emailing her both dummies, and she showed them to her team and they passed. But it was a really both of those books have already been picked up by different publishers by now.
SPEAKER_02So um it feels like it was a sales decision thing, not like it didn't have anything to do with her.
SPEAKER_00Right. It had nothing to do with her. She actually um we're still in contact. And so I've been able to like email her every once in a while. And um, she recently asked for more of my work. And she saw that one of the books got um picked up and she was like missed by it because she did pick it up.
SPEAKER_02Are you gonna send her the dummy you're currently working on?
SPEAKER_00I might, I might. Uh I don't know. I'm still like I still have to do the art for it, the final art. So and I, you know, up to my neck in other art deadlines. So that's it. You've got a lot of deadlines going on. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02What an amazing like Cinderella experience. I I feel like, and and there is like the opposite end of the spectrum. Like I've had critiques with um an art director who I was like fairly certain the first time they they looked at my work was when they sat down for the critique. And uh, you know, they gave some helpful comments and I did like apply those before I queried. But generally, like, I mean, you you don't go in to have that experience. You go in like hoping like maybe that would happen, but you go in to get critique on your work to improve it. So keep in mind, you know, like when you're getting critique, write it down, think about it. You know, you can apply it later. Don't argue with the person giving it about why they're wrong. Like, oh no, don't do that. I know some people can get very, you know, like a little defensive or try and like push and sell what they currently have, but that's not why you're there and that's not what you want to do. Um, so you know, be gracious about the critique and you know, this is what you're paying for. Um, you're not there to sell your work, you're you're there to receive the critique.
SPEAKER_00I have also had bad critiques.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_00Really good ones and really bad ones. And I think it also just depends on the person and their communication style. But for them, it's not personal, even though for you it is. So you just have to keep that in mind.
SPEAKER_02And, you know, you're probably building your agents or your art directors or your editors' lists as you go to these conferences. So it's good to know like people you don't want to work with, people you would love to work with, and kind of getting a feel for these people and you know the sort of people you would want to have connections with in the industry. All right. I have a few uh QAs that I wrote down from the conference that I thought might be like interesting tidbits to go over. So there were some from the agent panel, um, and that was Linda Camacho, who's a senior agent at Galton Zachar. Um, we'll be talking about her for our agency deep dive. Um, Anne Rose, who's at the Tobias Literary Agency, Jennifer Unter, who does a picture book to adult, um, she's also a copyright lawyer, and uh Marie Lamba, who does uh uh blah blah blah, she's a senior agent at the Jennifer Dichiara Literary Agency. Oh, and Rebecca Williamson, um, who is at the Sheldon Fogelman agency. She's an assistant agent and she just started taking on clients, which if you're interested in, you know, like a newer agent that's still building their list, um she's probably more open to queries than the rest of them. Um, although I think I think a couple of them are open to queries. Um, but yeah, uh so the moderator like asked a question and then a couple of the people chimed in. So I'll go over the questions and then maybe like the individual answers uh that seemed helpful from a couple of these people. Um so they asked what atypical questions should you ask on the call? And uh I think I think this is something that we've gone over before, but I think it's always good to reiterate and always, you know, hear what other agents view as normal and what they kind of expect. Um, so Anne said communication style and frequency of communication style. Jennifer talked about how does collaboration work because if your agent is not open to you changing things a lot, and if you're not open to your agent changing things a lot, you guys need to be on the same page with that. Like if you want a ton of creative control, you want an agent who's not editorial at all. And if you, you know, really want someone to tell you what to do, then you want an agent who's like super, super hands-on and stuff like that, and just kind of figure out what that balance is. Uh, because she's found that's that's where a lot of friction between agent and client comes up. So you want to be on the same page. Um, Maria had said, um, asked to speak to one of their other clients. And if they say no, that's a huge red flag. Um and then Rebecca said, What happens if my book doesn't sell? Just make sure they want to rep you for your career as opposed to just the singular book. One of the other questions they asked, um, which was the question that I asked. So I was very excited it got answered, um, was what is your approach to art direction being agents who generally take illustrators but aren't necessarily illustrators yourselves? So Linda said it depends on the illustrator, but usually when she picks up an illustrator for a project, they're not going to have, they don't always have a portfolio that represents what they want to get work in. They just put their best work out there regardless. So for her, it's tailoring their portfolio and making them redo their portfolio until it just shows what they want work in and then taking out the stuff they don't want jobs in because she doesn't want to send stuff out and have them get jobs that the client doesn't want. Um, and then I finding out what their interests are and having like half their portfolio be their interests and half their portfolio be like more generalized commercial interests. So it's like, oh, can they do middle grade interior pages? Oh, can they do dogs because that's what this person's obsessed with or something? Um and trying to marry those two together in a way where they can get work and still feel like their own voice is being heard. Um, and then Marie said she looks at illustrators' online presence the most and looks at how their portfolio is presented if you Google them and if it represents what they want to do and really curating their online presence and making sure if an art director Googles them, what she they show up, what shows up is what she wants them to be showing. And I thought that was interesting. I hadn't realized how much agents curate your social presence, or maybe it's just this agent, but I I don't know. Has your agent talked to you about that at all? Or is it is it more hands-off?
SPEAKER_00She's more hands-off in regards to my portfolio. The only thing she said about my portfolio is like she'll look at it and pieces that will stand out to her. She'll say, Do you have a story for this? Um, and you should think about doing a story for this because this is really good if there's like something there. Um, but then otherwise I just send her my dummies when I'm presenting her with an idea, and it's just like really rough sketches, so she can get a sense of where I'm going with the story. Um, and then she might have an opinion about certain art when the dummy is finished or like the sketches are more refined. But she will like she will direct me in terms of this color's working or this isn't, or you know, your shape work or your composition. She doesn't do any of that. She just kind of looks at me at the overall story.
SPEAKER_02Right. And then I I guess like some agents who have more of a an illustrator background might be more critical. And then some just kind of send your work out and focus on like the writing aspect.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I imagine an illustration only agent would have would be much more hands-on as opposed to like a literary agent. Um, and they help you develop your portfolio.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that makes sense. And so I guess like tailoring who you submit based on the kind of feedback you want to receive for your career from your agent.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. It is interesting how all of all of them said that they want you to have the work that you want to do. So it's all about like what you are passionate about as a client and showcasing that work.
SPEAKER_02Right. Which I get. I mean, like if you hate drawing cars, don't put cars in your portfolio. Because if you if you become a successful picture book illustrator of a book about cars, that's the other, those are the other jobs you're gonna get. And then you're gonna be miserable and you're gonna be slow on your deadlines.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I know um an author illustrator who's very popular, who uh she's not represented by an agent anymore. She doesn't really need to be. Um, but she was, and she kept getting nonfiction books like over and over and over because that's what her like that's what she did. And so she just kind of got stuck in that. But she had no desire to do nonfiction. She only wanted to do fiction. And probably like 10 books came out that were all nonfiction until she left that agency, started doing what she wanted to do.
SPEAKER_01Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's it's easy to get stuck in something. And you know, like when that rut is what's paying the bills, like obviously you don't want to push yourself out of it, even if you kind of wish you were in a different rut. I don't know. What things would you most want to be known for if like your book took books took off? Like, what are the commonalities you wish people would be like, oh, we have one of these, like give it to Katie.
SPEAKER_00Oh, I would want anything that's like kids with imagination, imaginary worlds. Um I love doing backgrounds like outdoors, foliage, trees, flowers, plants. I love doing that. I don't like doing I don't really care to do interior scenes. So anything that involves that is what I want would want to be known for.
SPEAKER_02I love like outdoor nature scenes too.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02What about you? Uh definitely fantasy. Like high fantasy fantasy creatures, you know, you know, mythology kind of stuff, and lots of animals. Like I love drawing animals. So fantasy animals, regular animals, like books with a lot of outdoor settings or greenery settings. I love plants, like magic and animals. Like I would love that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's interesting because a lot of people say they don't like doing backgrounds. They only like drawing characters and they find backgrounds to be hard. But I'm the opposite where I find that characters are harder for me. I'd rather just like have loose watercolor washes that turn into like these beautiful outdoor scenes.
SPEAKER_02Um yeah, no, I'm the opposite. I I definitely like really love characters, but I don't mind backgrounds. Um, I think it depends on the background. I'm not a big fan of machines. Like a steampunk sci-fi world, I I don't think would be nearly as fun as like a fantasy old-time world.
SPEAKER_00I feel like, oh, machines would just be really hard. And they're very detailed.
SPEAKER_02They are detailed, yeah. Um, there's this YouTuber, uh, Cynix Design. I think he teaches like animation at Laguna, but his YouTube videos on like painting anatomy are fantastic. And when I was learning how to, you know, like render the human body so that I could like teach some of my kids that were working on their portfolios. Like I watched his videos over and over. And if you look at his other stuff, like he's really into mech design and he has all these videos about like let's design a robot. And I was like, How is this fun for you? I know, like your anatomy paintings are so pretty. Why don't you want to lean into that? Yeah, but I I think he just like is like, oh, these are helpful videos, like people will watch them, but but he's into mechs. And I I guess different strokes for different folks, but I still don't see appeal. I guess I'm glad there are people with appeal, and then you know, everyone has their niche, but yeah. Um but yeah, they did the um the agents panel and then they did an editor's panel, which was with art directors and editors. So um one thing that I thought was interesting is uh I of course I thought it was interesting. I got to ask this question. Um, but I asked uh what um what you think, what are a few words that you think represent the imprint uh or the publishing house that you art director edit for? And then what are a few words that describe your taste that are different from like necessarily what the broad publisher's broader taste is? Um really good question. Oh, thanks. Um there is Catherine Laudone, um, who seemed really sweet. I liked her a lot. Um, she's uh like the number one selling picture book uh editor on Publishers Marketplace. And she works for Beachlane Books, which is a Shyman and Schuster imprint. Um and she said that Beachlane is known for read-aloud timeless picture books. Um, but she's actually starting their middle grade list. So she thinks that's what sets her apart right now. Um, and she's interested in coming-of-age stories and mysteries. Um, and then she also picks up picture books that she thinks are a little bit more in line with the imprint's broader taste. Um and Krista Marino, who was the um she's the VP uh publisher of Delacourte that I was fangirling over. Um, but she she basically said, you know, she works for Random House. Um, that's Delacourte is an imprint of them. And she said they publish everything. Delacourte's tagline is like meet the reader where they are, but that also kind of means everything. So it just means there's a range of like um try like within their fantasy list, they'll have something that's for kids who can barely read and need something kind of younger, and then something that's a little bit more complex. So I think it sounds like within their list, they try and have a broad range instead of being like all our high fantasy assumes you're at a high reading level versus we we cater towards low reading levels. So I guess they emphasize range. Um, but she she really likes unsettling books that feel twisted um and a little bit dark. And she's not a fan of happy endings. So she's I feel like she's like the the edgelord subset of the publishing house. Um and then Brian LaRosa, who's an art director at Scholastic, he's like huge on blue sky, he's everywhere. Um he just said he he likes uh literary award picture books, um, whereas Scholastic kind of publishes everything. That's more of a niche for him. Um, and then Alex Asivas, uh, who's an editor at Holiday House, um she said that Holiday House has a more classic feel, and she was hired specifically to um branch out and create their Spanish division. And she's interested in BIPOC voices and uh she likes things that feel a little bit more experimental. And because they kind of hired her to push a little bit more and experiment, then she gets to do that instead of like some of the other editors, which have to keep a little bit more of a classic feel. Um and generally editors and art directors are not open to submissions unless you see them at a conference, but you can sometimes send your stuff to art directors, for example, like promotional postcards or emailing or messaging them samples of your work just to see if they're interested. So Brian LaRosa and Catherine LaDone are the ones that take illustrators. Um, if you're listening and you're uh interested in looking them up. And I know Brian LaRosa is on Blue Sky a lot and we'll look at stuff sometimes for just pitch events and stuff.
SPEAKER_00Um Yeah, he does calls for specific illustrators for like books he's working on. So he'll say, Hey, I'm looking for an illustrator who can draw unicorns and leprechauns or something. And then there's you know hundreds of comments underneath of people with like those kinds of examples. And he also has a form online that you can fill out um with your information and your website, and that he just keeps like a whole list of different illustrators.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I'm not on Blue Sky very much, but I I at least know to look out for him. And I feel like that's that's like one of the main reasons is like a couple of art directors that do open calls.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And I will also say I have a spreadsheet with editors and art directors that I try to regularly reach out to, you know, like a couple times a year. And it's not just art directors, it's designers and editors because the editors a lot of times have a say in the illustrators that get picked. Um, so it's not always just the art director's say. So I try and email them um with my portfolio pretty regularly.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, especially if you've updated your portfolio. Like it's it's a good idea to send stuff out regularly. Um I I don't know how how regularly do you think is too regularly versus too infrequent to send your portfolio to an art director?
SPEAKER_00Um, I mean, I wouldn't do once a month. I would say at the most once a quarter, as long as you've updated your portfolio and you have new stuff. If you don't have new stuff, don't I wouldn't necessarily send it that frequently. Um I'm kind of behind. So I'm looking at probably like well, you do have two book deadlines right now. Yes. I can't even take on new projects now. Well, I could if they were like next year, but um yeah, I would say like every six months, I think is probably pretty good.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I I sent my stuff out like when I have new things, which honestly is probably like once a year. Um, I feel like I have to have like at least a few new things on there. And since I'm working on a prose book, I feel like my portfolio this year has taken a back seat. Whereas the years I do graphic novels, there's more to show.
SPEAKER_00Right. Honestly, the only time that I update my portfolio is if I make a new picture book dummy and I have art from that.
SPEAKER_02Which is not just like art and pieces. And unfortunately, if you're interested, you can send it to them.
SPEAKER_00Right. Yeah. And don't feel discouraged if they don't respond or if you don't hear from them for a very long time because sometimes they'll like something, bookmark it, and they're just waiting for the right project, which could be a couple of years from when you originally emailed them.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. I think a lot of times editors just don't respond, uh, or directers just don't respond. Like, don't expect them to. It's not like querying where a response is expected. It's you're you're just hoping they flag you and that you sending them stuff every few months keeps you, you know, reminds them that you exist. Right. A couple takeaways just from the roundtables and from the editors um on trends is dystopian is coming back. Uh, there is currently a horror moment, according to uh Alex Asivas. Uh graphic novels are still selling well and they're very big. And Brian said to market the holidays. Uh, you know, if it takes place in the winter, cozy. It doesn't necessarily have to be Christmas, but it, you know, defined seasons or defined themes really helps sell. And the market is revolving around that a lot. Um, and he said what's popular changes whenever the holiday changes. Um from Krista Marino, uh, she said DD inspired fantasy is still popular, and there's a surge in RPG-esque lit adventures. For example, like Carl Dungeon Crawler or Dungeon Crawler Carl, um, I think is the series that's really big right now, and people are still asking for stuff kind of like that. Um, people are looking for old tropes done in a new way. Um, stuff that was popular around when dystopian was popular is making a resurgence, but they want a twist. So, for example, people are looking for vampires again, but they don't want sparkly Edward Cullen vampires. They want some other interesting aspect of them. The example she gave is like a vampire trapped in a time loop or something like that. Like put another trope with it or put another interesting thing with it in order to sell. But the idea of it coming back is happening. Um also, one thing that I hadn't realized, apparently, crossover fiction is not the same as cross-genre fiction. Crossover fiction, uh, according to Marie Lamba, is YA that adults would buy or upper middle grade that lower middle grade would also read, et cetera. Whereas cross genre is like a rom-com horror or a sci-fi thriller where like genres are mashed together. Um, and I thought those were the same things. So I want to let people know because they're different, apparently.
SPEAKER_00That's good information. I feel like every time I go to a conference, I learn something new that I didn't about the industry, be it like what the inside looks like. Like Little Brown has the their acquisitions meetings um with the art directors and the editors, and they discuss everything together and they can bring what they've seen that's interesting to them.
SPEAKER_02It was new to me too. I didn't realize they did that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. And you know, just different things like that, you know, like what the specific agent is looking for, or um, you know, how a publishing house works, you know, that that kind of stuff. I I remember Tracy Shaw did a talk on um what like what their timelines are, how things work, like um how to set in the artwork, who who scans it.
SPEAKER_02That might be a good just episode to do at some point. I feel like doing a breakdown of that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. And I mean, every house is different too. I've worked with only two publishing houses, but like it's been vastly different how they deal with the art um the edits. So every time I go, I just learn something new about that. And it just is like a little puzzle piece of the whole picture.
SPEAKER_02I feel like I get something new each time. Um, just kind of figuring out how the industry works or how people communicate. Let's see.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think it's not necessarily such a secret. It's just we don't have access to them to know how it works.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. And I mean, I guess it's gate kept in the fact that like it's not widely available information, but um, it's such a niche industry. Um, I think some of it is kind of gatekeeped, like people don't want to talk about it. And then some of it is just you have to know to ask the right questions because people don't think to share the day-to-day of their jobs. I would love to get an art director in here to to talk to for an interview at some point. But yeah, I think I mean that's all I have for notes from this conference. Um, like I have a couple smaller things, but I don't think it's necessarily worth just reading out all of my notes. I feel like we got the gist. Um, is there anything else you want to jump in with about conferences or your conference experiences?
SPEAKER_00Well, I would say don't go thinking that you're gonna get a feel or get represented. Go with an open mind, just that you want to learn as much as you can.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. And meet other people in the industry who are doing what you're doing. Like connect with people, like, because if you do become part of the industry, you know, you want people who will, you know, who are also successful, who you've lifted up with you, who will also post about your book and, you know, help you with your book launch and you know, be in this with you. And this is where it starts. All right. Well, shall we move on to our agency deep dive? All right. So today we're talking about Linda Camacho, who is a senior agent at Galton Zachar, and she is the uh agent that I did my pitch with um for the round table. And she seems really nice. I liked her. She was a cool lady. Um, she's ranked number four in graphic novels for children. Um, and that's her, that's her top rank um under 100. But she's been around for a hot second. She's got like what, 73 deals right now. And she started making deals in 2015. So she's been around for a minute. Um, she was formerly a prospect agency. She's at Golton Zaccher now. She's worked her way up to be like a senior agent. Um, her most recent deal was like February of this year. So she's actively acquiring and actively making deals. Um, under her notable title, she seems to have a fair amount of uh picture books as well. Um, and I'm seeing a couple graphic novels on here. And there's also one of the uh official descendants novels that she uh that she wrapped, which I if I'm I don't know if it was this one or like one of the sequel ones, but I uh the year I worked at Scholastic Book Fairs, we were selling that one.
SPEAKER_01Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_02That was fun seeing that title. Um and uh at Golton Zachar, uh you can go to their submissions and they'll say if they're closed to queries or open. Um, some of them, for example, like um Erin Casey Weston uh specifies that she's open the first through the seventh of every month. And then the other ones just randomly open and close to submissions. So you'll you'll you can follow them and like kind of keep tabs on when they'll be open. Um, but she wraps picture book all the way through adult. Um, she takes graphic novels and picture books, but only author-illustrator combos. So you can't, if you're that doesn't mean find an illustrator to pitch with. That means you have to be an author and an illustrator in order to pitch something. Um, she's specifically interested in horror, fantasy, diversity, and women's fiction. And um she she likes both romance and fantasy, but she's not specifically interested in romanticy. I got the feeling she likes not so much like high DD style fantasy, but maybe something a little more grounded. Um, but I didn't get to talk to her about it specifically. So that's not, it's not a hard fact on that one. Um, but she seemed like a really nice lady. She seemed very friendly. She uh went a little over on her time giving feedback. She seemed like she was, you know, eager to discuss uh projects with people. And uh yeah, you can keep an eye out for her and see when she opens to queries. And I think that's everything. Uh, thanks so much for listening. And we will catch you in the next one. Bye. Bye.