Podcast: From The Desk Of A Literary Agent
On the podcast today, we interview literary agent Rachelle Gardner all about query letters, book proposals, and what it looks like to work with a literary agent.
Rachelle Gardner has been a literary agent since 2007 and is the founder of Gardner Literary. She has negotiated 300+ contracts with more than 20 publishers. Rachelle has helped more than 200 authors to bring their books to publication and build their careers, including Exhale member Brittany Bergman who we interviewed back in January about her journey to becoming an author. Rachelle has worked in publishing since 1995: she worked in-house at two publishing companies, and has edited books published by Harper Collins, Simon & Schuster, Penguin Random House, and many more. Nowadays she feels lucky to work at the foot of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. When she's not working, you can usually find her out hiking the local trails, riding her bike, haunting bookstores, or having coffee at Starbucks. You can find Rachelle and her incredibly helpful blog for authors at rachellegardner.com.
Resources we shared with you:
For more on Rachelle’s Query guidelines, head to her site here.
In addition to working as an agent, Rachelle offers coaching for unagented authors, and twice a year she runs an 8-week course called Author School.
Rachelle recommended Mixtusmedia.com for having incredible info about growing a platform and marketing books. You can follow their blog, or check out their Instagram for tips, too.
A quote from this episode:
“I want you to look at the bigger picture of what you are trying to do. You have a topic about which you are passionate and you want to share it with others and you want to talk about with others… That’s all building a platform is: it’s talking about your favorite topic, and in doing that, you are growing an audience for your book.” -- Rachelle Gardner
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