Agent Spotlight Series: Amelia Appel

Amelia: I pursued a pretty linear path to becoming an agent.  After majoring in English Literature in college, I completed my first post-college internship at HG Literary, then interned at Writers House before landing my first job there.  I then worked for McIntosh & Otis, where I started taking on my own clients, and now I’m happily building my list with Triada.  Had I not been an agent, I would have pursued a career that either involved sports or the outdoors, or a combination of the two.  A quiz I took in high school said I was best suited for a Park Ranger position, so it’s fun to imagine I’d be wandering the woods for a living if I weren’t getting lost in books!

Amelia: I have roughly a dozen clients; a bit more than that when counting clients I share with other Triada agents.  My author list has grown over time (I’ve only ever parted ways with one client) and it’s expanded genre-wise; when I started out, most of my clients wrote non-fiction, but several of my latest clients write adult and YA fiction.

Amelia: Assuming the writer accepts the offer (though it’s standard for them to take two weeks to consider, while other interested agents potentially offer), I draw up a standard agency agreement for them, and my boss and I welcome them to the team.  Then I get to work on the project I signed them for!  I’m a very editorial agent, so I usually go through rounds of revisions of their project before building a submission list and pitching it to editors.

Amelia: This is a difficult question because all agents have the same end goal (sell their clients’ books!), and only an agent’s team/clients can really speak to their methods/abilities, but I hope my team/clients would agree that I put my heart and soul into every project I take on. I don’t cut corners, I am very detailed in my revision notes, I take great pride in my pitch letters, and I research the heck out of my submission lists.  I don’t care to be lazy about any part of the process, and I have an amazing team that brings so much experience, knowledge, and support to the table.  I like to think all this gives me an edge!

Amelia: EXTREMELY.  When I take on a project, I want to make sure it’s in the best possible shape before an editor sees it.  Selling books is hard – I don’t want to give an editor any excuse not to want to take on the project.  All of my projects have required some revision, and some projects I approach potential clients about writing, so I have a pretty big hand in building the proposal.  If you want an agent who’ll submit your projects as-is (and there are agents who are happy to do so!), I’m not the right agent for you.

Amelia: I read a query last spring that completely hooked me; the premise, the voice, the characters, all of it.  I requested the full manuscript within a couple of hours of receiving the query, then devoured the manuscript within a few days and offered representation.  The author received an offer from another agent as well but ultimately picked me!  After a couple of revisions, we went on submission a little over a month later and had an offer in hand about a week after that.  I’m so enormously proud of my client, Alexene Farol Follmuth, and so excited for her YA debut, MY MECHANICAL ROMANCE, to publish with Holiday House next year.

Amelia: I think there’s this idea that agents are talentless, parasitic gatekeepers who enjoy crushing writers’ dreams, and I think every agent has received at least one email from a rejected querier saying as much.  But the truth is this: We work for our clients.  We work very hard to be good at what we do.  And we hate sending rejections, but we send them 1) hoping you’ll find the perfect match for your project, and 2) knowing it’s helpful for you to know when it isn’t us.

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