Kate McKean is a writer and a literary agent at Howard Morhaim Literary Agency as well as an adjunct professor at New York University in the school of professional studies.

Her Substack titled Agents and Books is immensely popular among writers and aspiring authors.  She writes with humor and unflinching honesty about literary agents, publishing and writing.

You can find her at katemckean.Substack.com or at her website: katemckean.com

In this podcast you will learn what literary agents are looking for, how they work, and “must-haves’ in your query to agents. Plus:

* The FIVE elements to include in your query to literary agents

* What are “smagents” and why do authors need to know what they are?

* Why there is no perfect query.

* What makes Kate McKean cranky.

* Why its ok to tell the ending of your story idea in your query.

* Why theft of your story idea is not an issue.

* The “give up point” number of pitches to agents

In the podcast we mention:

Publishers marketplace

Kate’s post: A list of things that make me automatically reject your work

Poets & Writers

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit claudinewolk.substack.com/subscribe