Eric Smith's Blog

It's not every day that one of your favorite authors in Young Adult books sends a pitch your way, but, there I was, just a few months ago, with an email from Rebecca Podos in my inbox.

I inhaled those pages that very evening.

If for some reason you're unaware of Rebecca's gorgeous, lyrical, beautiful books, I highly recommend checking out The Mystery of Hollow Places or her LAMBDA award-winning Like Water. Or consider preordering The Wise & the Wicked, which comes out later this year.

And I'...

Hey there writers!

I'm opening up to queries again on MARCH 1ST! I've been closed for a bit while juggling my own writing, a major move back to the East Coast, a toddler, and you know, life. And I'm just so excited to read new work again!

New here? Have a look at my sales and list. That'll also give you an idea what kind of books I work on.

Here's what I'm looking for in 2019.

-#-

Genre Blending Literary & Commercial Fiction: If you love novels like Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, T...

When Mike Chen's query hit my inbox, I was all kinds of excited. From his comp titles to the exciting plotline to his love of corgis, this was one awesome pitch letter.

But, it took me a while to get to it.

I think there's a bonus lesson in this pitch, as Mike followed up a handful of times about the manuscript, sending polite nudges that eventually got me on board to read the book faster. Remember, when you're pitching agents, that following up is an entirely normal thing to do.

I often hea...

My friend Katherine Locke worked on a client's manuscript a while back, and the result? A published book that scored two starred reviews, and has a companion novel due out in 2020. Be sure to check out Kati Gardner's Brave Enough, please.

And the iconic fantasy author Kat Howard? She worked on Mike Chen's upcoming, starred debut novel Here & Now & Then, and her guidance helped get the book where it needed to be.

But wait. Why have someone else looking over the manuscripts by the authors I've...

This was a good year for books. On the books? For the books?

I was lucky enough to see several of my authors' books hit bookshelves everywhere, many of which you should purchase for your friends and family this holiday season, such as:

Oh, a...

I was so excited when Tiana Smith's initial query hit my inbox. Her debut, Match Me If You Can, is 2019 rom-com I am SO excited about. She writes warm-hug contemporary that reminds me of my favorite YA authors, like Lauren Morrill, Stephanie Perkins, and Lauren Gibaldi, and I was just beyond hyped to get to work on her future books.

Like this one.

Her next book, which will be out with Swoon in 2020, is definitely a book-of-my-heart type of project. As a former forensics (speech and debate) n...

In my agent life, I'm lucky enough to get asked to go writing conferences all over the place. And while these are wonderful and fun days full of networking, I'm aware of the fact that a lot of them aren't really accessible.

Conferences about writing and publishing can be expensive. And back as a young professional / graduate student in my 20's, there was no way I would have been able to afford to go to these. So I like to give back when I can.

Are you a writer eager to learn about the indust...

Kati Gardner was one of the earliest authors I signed when I started agenting.

I was so thrilled when we found a home for her debut, Brave Enough, with the team at Flux. I'd been so happy with how things went for my own books with them, and couldn't wait to see how things went for her. And goodness, did they go well.

A starred review from Kirkus and Foreword? Blurbs from YA icons like Beth Revis and Sangu Mandanna? From the acclaim to placement in Barnes & Noble, I'm just so proud of Kati an...

Hey, so.

Friends of mine certainly recognize the name of the publisher there in this announcement blip. Once upon a time, I worked at Quirk. It's where I got my start in publishing, and it's where my writing career started with The Geek's Guide to Dating.

And now, I'm excited to say one of my authors will be published with them.

Robin Stevenson's KID ACTIVISTS will be the latest book in their non-fiction, middle grade series that illustrates the childhood lives of celebrated figures. They've...

When Jill Baguchinsky's query hit my inbox, I knew I had to read this book. It was a drop-everything-and-read-it-in-a-day sort of description, and that was exactly what I did. I offered to represent her the very next day.

And with her book almost here, publishing with Turner next week, I wanted to share the query letter that hooked me so quickly.

The hook part here is important, because that's what got me. We'll dig into that in a minute.

I've done this before with the query letters for Sami...