On this episode, author Tonya Duncan Ellis talks with us about her winning social media strategies, speaking at conferences and schools, and about writing books kids really want to read.

Tonya's Bio:

TONYA DUNCAN ELLIS is author of They Built Me for Freedom: The Story of Juneteenth and Houston’s Emancipation Park (HarperCollins, 2024) and Cookout Chemistry (Charlesbridge, 2027). She successfully self-published the 13-book Sophie Washington chapter series, which has sold over 175,000 copies. She is represented by Adria Goetz of kt Literary and lives in Houston, Texas. 

Follow Tonya on Instagram!

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Here at the beginning of 2025 there are a lot of things affecting the publishing industry. In this episode we have a conversation about generative AI and how it is changing the way publishers, authors, and agents have to think about "work". We discuss using books to train AI models (boo), we talk about the ways AI is making the industry more accessible for some people, and we talk about the ways we are advocating for our clients in light of this new technology. 

Adria Goetz is a Senior Agent at KT Literary and our Illustration Coordinator. She represents picture books, YA, MG, and womens fiction with a genre twist.

If you want to follow her on social media, you can find her on Instagram and on her website.

Here's her official bio:

"Adria Goetz is based out of the beautifully gloomy Pacific Northwest. Adria got her start in publishing as an intern at Martin Literary Management in 2013. She represents picture books, middle grade, graphic novels, and adult fiction. She graduated from the University of Washington with a Bachelor’s degree in English with a Creative Writing emphasis, as well as the Columbia Publishing Course. In 2019, she was selected as a Publishers Weekly Star Watch Honoree. Adria has eclectic taste but particularly enjoys projects that are tinged with magic, have so much heart you can practically hear their heartbeat, and have a compelling, commercial hook. In her spare time she can be found rewatching Gilmore Girls for the millionth time, listening to Taylor Swift, and dreaming about the mossy stone cottage in the woods she would like to live in one day. You can read Adria’s full manuscript wishlist at adriagoetz.com."

This week’s guest. Doan Phuong Nguyen is a middle grade author, photographer, daydreamer, and creative girlie girl. She was born in Vietnam and immigrated to the United States when she was in elementary school. She received her MFA in Creative Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts. 

Purchase a copy of Mèo and Bé.

Follow Doan Phuong on Instagram. Or find more information on her website, doanphuong.com 

Find us at ktliterary.com and on Twitter and Instagram.

Listen to the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitchr, IHeartRadio and more.

Rachel Werner joins us today to talk about the art (and grind) of becoming a full time writer. She gives us freelance tips, marketing ideas, and talks about the importance of an email newsletter! She’s an author, content creator and media consultant from Madison Wisconsin. She’s the founder of The Little Book Project WI as well as a teaching artist for Hugo House, The Loft Literary Center and Lighthouse Writer' Workshop. She’s written a cook book, and a science book for kids. Her next kidlit book with Capstone (“Moving and Grooving to Fillmore’s Beat”) will be released in Fall 2023. It seems there’s nothing she can’t do. 

Preorder MOVING AND GROOVING TO FILLMORE'S BEAT

Follow Rachel on Instagram @therealscript, Twitter @therealscripts and for more socials, check out her website! 

In this episode, Parrish Turner joins Chelsea and Renee to talk about the HarperCollins union, the 2022 strike, and the passion for the job that keeps him going.  We talk about the state of publishing, the things we love about the job, and how people can get involved in the fight for living wages at HarperCollins and other publishers.

Follow the Union on social media: https://www.instagram.com/hcpunion/

Parrish talked about: Lou by Breanna Carzoo

**I don't know if WASH THE CAT is out yet, so there's no link. But I'm personally going to check back in a few months because I know my kid would love it!**

Or just to support them generally by buying books you were already going to buy anyways: bookshop.org/shop/hcpunion

SUPPORT KT LITERARY HARPERCOLLINS AUTHORS:

NINE LIARS by Maureen Johnson

HAYLEY ALDRIDGE IS STILL HERE by Elissa R. Sloan

Katy James joins us today to talk about her book TOO MUCH MAN. It's a fun, flirty debut about a grumpy former hockey player and a bisexual coffee-shop owner refuse to commit—to themselves or each other. We talk about identity, hockey, and Katy's day job as an archivist and rare book librarian. 

Buy TOO MUCH MAN.

Preorder the next book TOO HOT TO TOUCH.

Visit Katy's website or follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

You can find us at ktliterary.com and on Twitter and Instagram.

THE MANY HALF-LIVED LIVES OF SAM SYLVESTER is about an autistic trans kid navigating their new school while finding friends—and love, along the way. It’s written by Maya MacGregor, and though they are no stranger to publishing, it’s their debut YA novel!

Maya and Allegra talk about the joys of bringing Sam to life on the page and in the audiobook, the exciting time we’re in for queer stories, and what this book means to their past selves.  

Maya's Instagram, Maya's website

Allegra's Instagram, Allegra's website

Buy THE MANY HALF-LIVED LIVES OF SAM SYLVESTER! 

Hardcover

Audiobook

Meet our new agent, Kari Sutherland! We are so excited to have her on the team!

Find Kari on Twitter.

Here is her Query Manager form if you're ready to submit! 

And here is her MSWL.

Patty is an educator, an accomplished horse woman, and a fantasy super fan. She joined me to talk about her new novel FORGING A NIGHTMARE, her love of messing with established mythology, and how she brought her characters to life. We also talk about the racist and bigoted book banning that’s gone on in her district in Pennsylvania. If you’re in the book world, you’ve heard about this. This story has been featured in CNN, the New York Times, and the Washington Post, and many other news outlets. Patty and I discuss the book ban and and the amazing group of students and teachers who stood up and said, “no”! 

Panther Anti-Racist Union Media: https://linktr.ee/YourConscience

Instagram: @cy.paru

Buy FORGING A NIGHTMARE here!

Follow Patty on Twitter and Instagram.