Sometimes you have to find the right combination of factors that work best for you. That’s what Amy Harding did in her journey to getting an agent. She pursued her craft, took breaks when she needed to, and sought mentorship when she’d gone as far as she could on her own. It’s a great story and we can’t wait to see Amy’s first book on those bookshelves!

How long had you been writing before seeking an agent, and what made you decide it was time to look for one?

I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t writing something, let alone reading everything. I’ve always loved both. I got a B.A. in English, with the goal of writing and teaching literature in some capacity, but it wasn’t until about 10 years ago, after years of teaching and child-raising, that the idea struck me to combine my love of poetry and picture books into writing my own picture books. After dabbling for a few years, joining SCBWI, and going to a couple of conferences, I realized that I needed to dive a little deeper and learn a LOT more, so I enrolled in a “Writing for Children” professional certification program at the University of Washington and then joined 12 x 12. I was making good progress in craft and learning about the industry, but life brought some unexpected challenges, blessings, and surprises (including baby #7) that side-lined my writing goals for a couple of years. In 2019 I was ready to focus on writing again. I had 2-3 polished manuscripts, and some great critique partners on hand, so I began submitting to agents through my 12 x 12 Gold membership. But for me querying felt like I was throwing darts at a dartboard, with a blindfold on, while I ran through a crazy obstacle course called “life.” And I only had 2-3 darts. During my dart-throwing, I signed up for a Highlights retreat that summer with my best writing buddy and was lucky enough to be paired with faculty author (and fellow 12 x 12 member), Bethany Hegedus. After critiquing my manuscript, Bethany encouraged me to look into doing a mentorship with her. I immediately knew it was just the one-on-one coaching I needed.

What kind of research did you do before submitting?

Each time I submitted to an agent, I would spend several hours researching their websites, interviews, MSWL posts, social media posts, clients lists, and any other information I could find about them. But honestly, as someone who does not spend a lot of time on social media interacting with people (or “watching” agents interact on Twitter), I didn’t always feel like I could get a clear sense of who they were or whether they would be interested in my work (thus the dart-throwing analogy) unless I had met and interacted with them personally at a conference or watched them interact during webinars or extensive interviews. I definitely personally prefer in-person interactions research, so getting an in-depth feel for my now agent through a Writing Barn webinar was really helpful.

The dreaded questions: How many queries?  How many rejections?

My limited queries were scattered over a period of years of random conference submission opportunities and were not significant to count until I began submitting through my 12 x 12 Gold submission opportunities in 2019. From those I had one request for more work, but was ultimately not offered representation. Then I had a couple of passes on referral queries while working with Bethany before getting my offer. I am probably not the norm, as I did not query extensively, so I did not get a tremendous number of rejections.

Was it difficult to find an agent who wanted to represent an author focusing on picture books?

Yes. As soon as I had found an agent who I thought might be a good fit for me and my work, I would discover they were either closed to all queries or closed to picture book only authors. Some agents I researched who were open would be closed by the time I prepared a query for them.

Who is your new agent? Tell us about getting the news.

I have been thrilled to be working with Kelly Dkysterhouse of Raven Quill Literary Agency since May 2020. I had the unique opportunity of being referred through my mentorship with Bethany, to several agents of my choosing, and having the agents get to choose which of my stories they would be interested in reading, based on my list of pitches. I was pleased to hear that Kelly was interested in reading all five of my polished stories and even more excited that she “fell in love with my picture book voice” and loved them all. She emailed me to set up the call. By the end of the call, she said she would love to work with me and I knew she would be a great fit for me. After another two weeks of tying up some other submission loose ends, I accepted her offer.

How did you know your agent was “the one”?

I had the benefit of hearing Kelly talk about her passion for kidlit, her submission strategy, her prior experience, and even her strengths and weaknesses in an “Ask an Agent” webinar sponsored by Bethany Hegedus and The Writing Barn. I was immediately drawn to her, as well as the Raven Quill Agency in general. As a new agency without a sales history, I really had to go with my gut, but after my call with Kelly, I was convinced that she was exactly what I wanted in an agent and her enthusiasm for my stories was icing on the cake. I did my due diligence and spoke with 2 of her clients and asked lots of questions, which served to confirm that I had found the perfect fit. I still believe it is the perfect fit for me.

If 12 x 12 helped you in any way during your agent search/development of craft, can you tell us how? (P.S. It is TOTALLY okay if the answer is no. I am not trying to “lead” you 🙂 )

I feel like 12 x 12 has kept me “in the game” of the kidlit world, even when I had to take a bit of a writing break (and mini breaks). The continual, consistent stream of webinars kept my mind on writing and then the Gold submission opportunities, though they didn’t lead to an agent, forced me into the groove of submitting queries. As someone with a preference for introversion and one-on-one interactions, I generally don’t engage extensively or even spend a lot of time on social media, but I feel like being part of SCBWI and 12 x 12 has provided the vital virtual home-base group support resources, webinars, and conference opportunities that have keep me “in the game” of kidlit and moving towards my writing goals.

Has your writing process changed at all since signing with an agent?

Doing a mentorship with Bethany provided me with the one-on-one partnership I needed to progress and move forward, so being able to transition right into an agent relationship has sustained that partnership arrangement that works well for me. Having an industry professional who is familiar with my whole body of work and able to give feedback on which story is ready, which needs a little more work, and also willing to give feedback on new ideas is invaluable. So far in our agent-author communication, our thinking has been incredibly in sync. I know Kelly has my best interests at the fore-front of her focus, so that is a great benefit. Raven Quill also does an incredible job facilitating relationships amongst their “nest” of clients, so that is and will be a bonus support to my writing process. So now I have been able to shift my focus from researching agents and working on querying skills to learning the publishing process, getting to know editor’s preferences, and learning how to revise and resubmit as requested. Each stage brings more to learn!

What advice would you give to picture book writers looking for agents today?

I have had so many moments of wondering, “Why am I still doing this?” or of thinking “I’m never going to get anywhere with this!” But if you keep doing the work, find the support you need, and stay flexible and humble enough to keep learning, you WILL get somewhere and the getting there can be so much FUN!

Do you think your platform (blog, social media) helped you find your agent?

No, but I know that my agent checked my social media platforms before making an offer, so my limited social media presence (or lack of frequent activity) did not prevent my agent from representing me. But she also didn’t find any content there to prevent her from representing me. It can go both ways.

Tell us something that is on your “bucket list.” Something you’ve dreamed of doing all your life but have yet to accomplish (besides publishing a book, which is inevitable at this point 🙂 )

Even after our 20+ years of a nomadic life of moving and traveling, I still have a lot of traveling I would love to experience, like traveling the coast of Italy and eating gelato every day, backpacking in India and South America, driving (fast) on the Autobahn in Germany, etc. I like to take emerging opportunities as they come, so I am open to fill-in-the-blank bucket list items.

What’s up next/what are you working on now?

I still have so many books I want to write, many of which are still in the terrible idea stage, so I have so much work left to do!  I have had several books out on submission and one that has gotten several revision requests and has gone to the editorial board, but has yet to be picked up. I like to keep writing projects in every stage of development at all times, so I have picture books in the revision and resting stages and I have done some beginning work on a middle grade as well. I write occasional blogs posts for my website and I might even do a little writing for adults in the future (probably about kids).