Agent Appreciation Day

It's Hug Your Agent Day also known as Agent Appreciation Day - Yay for Agents and all the wonderful things you do!

My fantastic agent is slightly shoe-obsessed superagent Kate Schafer Testerman and her alter ego Daphne Unfeasible of ktliterary.

When I started my agent search last year I sent out a few queries to people I'd heard of or read about and promptly received a few rejections as well as some positive interest but no offers of representation. Then I went to the SCBWI Western Washington Conference and heard Kate speak on a first pages panel with Arthur Levine. She was witty, clearly knowledgeable, honest about what she liked and didn't and gracious in her comments. It was clear to me that she knew what she was doing and business-like in her approach. I remember sitting in the back of the room thinking 'she would be the perfect agent for me.'

Of course, being the basically gutless person I am, I didn't have the nerve to introduce myself and so we never actually 'met.' But about a month after the conference I did query Kate and received a request for a partial, then a full, then a revision and in the meantime I had written another YA novel, so when I completed my revision she said she'd read both. In the end, she took both books and sold my debut, THE FAERIE RING, to Susan Chang of Tor Books last August.



In the year that we've worked together, Kate has always responded promptly (usually within 24 hours - which I love!) to any questions I've had. If I've deluged her with too many questions we talk on the phone, which is occasionally a nice way to communicate! She's been a fantastic agent for me and I'm grateful to have the chance to work with her. If you want to query Kate you can read her submission guidelines here. She's also on Facebook, Twitter and blogs daily at Daphne Unfeasible.

For a list to other super agents there are multiple links here at Lisa-Laura.blogspot.com and thank you to Kody Keplinger for thinking up the idea!

So here's to all of our agents who work so hard for us - we love you!!

Who's your favorite agent and why?