Literary Agents of Change

DYK?: Publishing usually starts to wind down right about this time of year, and wish to circle back to new things come January!

#publishing #circleback #2026 #holiday #slowseason #slowingdown #editors #agents

Every reader deserves to see themselves reflected in the pages of a book. Join us this Giving Tuesday in our work to recruit and keep underrepresented literary agents in publishing. Read more and help us change the industry for good at the link in our bio ❤️

#givingtuesday #literaryagentsofchange

A Day in the Life of an Agent: Part Two is here!

Here's an example of how one agent who freelances structures just one weekday. Every day changes in this scenario! Peek our insta for a fuller picture.

#amagenting #amquerying #literaryagentsofchange

✨“Everyone sent me a check in email, and I had consistent office hours. I also had specific help (like application and resume help) and advice (email people for information and look at books you like; look at the editor/literary agent and email them). It was a wonderful working environment.”

✨ “This program does a great job of introducing the publishing field and just how broad it actually is. [It] provides building blocks for more if you intend to continue down that path, and skills that are transferable to other fields if you decide not to pursue it.”

✨ “I feel I've grown more confident in the strides I'm making to break into the industry! It was reaffirming to listen to the feedback from my colleagues and mentors as I shared my potential prospects.”

✨ “[Fellowship is] a great stepping stone to acquire publishing skills, network, and explore.”

✨ “I found myself excited for every project I did, and I realized that I was also very good at what I was doing."

Congratulations to the Fellowship class of 2025, who finished up their program this summer. We were so honored to be able to invite these incredibly qualified individuals into publishing - their full testimonials are in the thread below!

#publishing #amwriting #amagenting #literaryagentsofchange

✨“Honestly, the only thing I wish was different is that the program lasted longer—it was so beneficial that I didn’t want it to end.”

🥹 who's chopping onions?

✨ “Not only did I receive great advice during these meetings, the conversations truly drove forth wonderful growth, personal, and business considerations on my end that have shifted and strengthened the practices I am doing now to further future growth and stabilization.”

✨ “...Learning from my mentor that there are ways to be open about disability and chronic illness and still be professionally successful instead of hiding my condition from colleagues and clients was a major breakthrough in an area I didn't expect to address when I applied to this program.”

✨ “I'm walking away from this mentorship program with more confidence and knowledge, and I'm excited to build off of this solid foundation.”

✨ “Being part of this program gave me increased confidence in negotiating deals & communicating with clients and publishing partners about tricky situations.”

Congratulations to the mentorship class of 2025, who recently wrapped up their program year!

We're so proud to have worked with these incredible individuals 🌠 Peek below for some testimonies:

#mentorship #literaryagentsofchange #publishing #amagenting #amwriting #literarycommunity

Writers, though it may feel like the agent is interviewing you, the call is actually a chance for YOU to interivew the agent! Ask all your questions---fire away and don't be afraid!

#publishing #writers #agents #writingcommunity

Join us for our third "In Conversation" discussion in partnership with AALA's DEI Committee: How to Address the Challenges Facing our Industry, which will be moderated by Maggie Tokuda-Hall, bestselling author and co-founder of Authors Against Book Bans!

There are still many more accommodations that are owed to people living with disabilities who are working in publishing. But we're making a start!

That accessibility is why our #mentorship program is entirely remote. We'll continue to work to help raise standards for remote internships and assistantships, which pose both challenges and opportunities.

At LAOC, one of our missions is to increase accessibility to publishing and particularly to agenting - and as remote work has risen at publishing houses, it may have risen even more at literary agencies, whose models lend themselves well to remote work.

The survey notes two important factors: 1 - that the COVID pandemic happened between these years and 2 - that the rise in remote or hybrid work may have allowed greater access to people who needed a more flexible work environment.

This Disability Awareness Month, note that from 2019 to 2023, the percentage of literary agents who identified as disabled or as having a disability increased from 9% to 22.4%.

Two Did You Know posts in the same week?! Yes. You can never know too much 😉

The Diversity Baseline Survey by @leeandlow is the most extensive demographic survey currently in existence for publishing. (thread)

#disabilityawarenessmonth #literaryagentsofchange #amwriting #publishing #amagenting

*Agents' inclusion on this list should not be taken as an endorsement by Latinx in Publishing or LAOC.

#latinxpublishing #literaryagentsofchange #latine #latinx #latinxwriters #amwriting #amagenting

The same resource also contains a list of non-Latinx BIPOC agents and white agents interested in Latinx stories.

Agents, take note - visit this page to add your name to the list!

Authors - use this great resource to find new names to query!

Latinx Heritage Month drew to a close this week, so we're reminding you that Latinx agents work hard all year, every year! Our colleagues @latinxpublishing have a resource that lists great Latinx agents - & do we spy some grads of our very own Mentorship Program? 👀 📣 latinxinpublishing.com/agents 📣

Ever wondered how an agent structures their day? Well, welcome to our new series: A Day in the Life of an Agent!

We're kicking off this series with an agent who also has a full-time job!

#agenting #publishing #writing #writingcommunity #sidehustle #dayinthelife #dayinthelifeofanagent

We're so excited to have #DVPit back this year, and to see all these amazing pitches roll in! Keep them coming!

We hope for plenty of successful matches for both agents and writers out there! ❤️

#dvpit #marginalizedcommunities #pitchevent #pitching #writingcommunity #writers #agents

Notable events in September included the People of Publishing Conference and Latinx Storytellers Conference!

- Shorter, hookier middle grade is in; but titles that would normally have hit the school & library market hard are floundering. Read more about this in the @publisherswkly article "Middle Grade Is Down but Never Out."

- Bluestockings Cooperative, an indie feminist bookstore, has closed.

- As authors see their books have been pirated by Anthropic and try to file a claim, they're finding that some publishers never registered their copyright. Check with your agents.

- B&N is acquiring Books, Inc., the oldest indie bookstore in the Western U.S.

🍂 It's October - here are some of the past month's happenings! (extremely noncomprehensive - we are still volunteers :)

#recap #September #amagenting #publishing #writing #amwriting #literarycommunity