January 7, 2019 Interview with Agent Jennifer Laughran of Andrea Brown Literary Agency

I’m excited to welcome to the blog this week, agent extraordinaire, Jennifer Laughran of the Andrea Brown Literary Agency.

 About Jennifer: 

Jennifer is a Senior Agent at the Andrea Brown Literary Agency, where she has been repping authors since 2008. She represents select author-illustrators of picture books and graphic novels, and authors of middle grade and YA fiction. Her favorite stories have a classic feel, inspire genuine emotional reaction (laughter or tears—but preferably both!), and reflect the gorgeous diversity of our world. She also hosts a podcast where she interviews children’s book professionals and creators about all things Kid Lit.

Connect with Jennifer: 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/literaticat

My website: www.jenniferlaughran.com

Agency website: www.andreabrownlit.com

Podcast on Apple: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/literaticast/id1261036909?mt=2

What’s a day in the life of literary agent Jennifer Laughran like?

What I love most about my job is that every day is totally different! I live in the Hudson Valley, about two hours north of NYC, and though I work from home for the most part, I also go into the city for meetings and travel a lot for conferences and such. But let’s say this is a typical weekday at my desk… I wake up around 8, make breakfast and coffee, let the dog out and all that stuff. THEN… I open my email. I have a “to-do” list running at all times, so I’ll often have several tasks that need to be done (maybe, contracts to negotiate or spreadsheets to update or important questions to respond to) — however, invariably, more problems and interesting stuff comes my way all morning, so I’ll kind of triage and get rid of some items, and add yet more to the to-do-list. I’m also communicating all the time with my colleagues via Slack and email. At some point I will remember to stand up and have lunch. And then it begins again. I have never (NEVER) completed everything on the to-do list at the end of the day — so whatever isn’t finished rolls over. I usually get up from my desk around 6, but my hard deadline is 7 — at which point I *try* to shut off from email and such entirely.  (I also *try* to not look at email on weekends. LOL.) At night, and on weekends, I try to get some reading done. There is virtually zero time during a normal weekday for reading. (During the summer, I do “Summer Fridays” — because many publishers also do this, so fewer people are at the office. “Summer Friday” means working until noon, and then reading all afternoon. But that isn’t really feasible during the rest of the year.)

You’re a well-respected agent with some very admirable accomplishments, is there anything you haven’t yet accomplished that you hope to in the near or distant future? 

Well. Obviously I’d love one of my books to win a Caldecott or Newbery award. Or heck, why not both! That hasn’t happened… YET. But it’s also not something I can really control so…. no jinx!

What’s an area of agenting that you could consider yourself to be especially strong in?

An important trait of an agent, to me, is clear communication. Both to clients, and to editors. I think and hope that I am a good communicator! (I mean I also think that I am pretty darn good at selling books, but hey.)

What inspired you to launch your podcast, Literaticast? 

I’ve had a blog or something since well before I was ever an agent — back in the day it was a LiveJournal, which shows my age! And I have always liked answering publishing questions and talking about books. I don’t really have an active blog anymore, but I do still answer questions on my own dedicated Ask an Agent tumblr. And… I love listening to podcasts. And I have a lot of publishing friends, obviously, and we love to jibber-jabber. So it was kind of a natural evolution. 🙂

What’s on your #MSWL?

Ugh I kinda hate this question because I never just have something useful to say. Basically — what I want is something I haven’t seen before. And therefore, I can’t really describe it! But I am definitely drawn to “outsider” narratives, POVs we haven’t seen before, books that take risks, provoke an emotional reaction, great voice and humor.

Examples of recent or forthcoming books of mine that fit this criteria:

¡VAMOS! Let’s Go to the Market by Raúl the Third —

We’ve seen concept picture books. We’ve seen books of words. We’ve seen books of foreign words and phrases. But we’ve never seen a book like this, jam-packed with all the sights and sounds of a border town mercado. VAMOS is aptly compared to Richard Scarry — hopefully Raúl’s lively, funny new series will become just as much a classic as Busytown. Coming April 2, 2019, from HMH.

GEORGE by Alex Gino —

This book perfectly exemplifies what I love in a middle grade. The main character, Melissa, has a pitch-perfect young person’s voice, and the book captures an important milestone moment in their lives, and does it with humor and heart. Melissa knows she is a girl, but the world sees her as a boy. She wants more than anything to be Charlotte in her school production of Charlotte’s web… but her teacher won’t let a boy audition for the part. So she has to figure out a way to step into the spotlight and come into her own. Now available from Scholastic.

YOU ARE THE EVERYTHING by Karen Rivers.

This book takes big narrative risks and is told in a unique way. It’s also voicey and funny and utterly heartbreaking. I compare it to IF I STAY meets WE WERE LIARS — I think it’s extraordinary! Available now from Algonquin Young Readers.

Anything that’s definitely not a fit for you?  

I’m not the best person for heavy-duty Sci-Fi or high fantasy. (Books with fantastical elements but grounded in the real world are fine.) I also am a scaredy-cat and extreme horror or gore freaks me out. And books filled with unrelenting bleakness are not for me, either. Like, I gotta have some kind of hope to latch on to.

When a book goes to auction, what are some of the factors (aside from money) that factor into your decision process? 

Firstly, it’s never MY decision – it’s my author’s decision. I help them by providing as much info as I possibly can… but ultimately it is their choice. Factors other than money that might come into play include other contractual terms, marketing promises, or the general “feel” of each offer. If the author has spoken to each editor, they might decide to go with the editor whose vision most closely aligns with their own, or whom they feel the most comfortable with, rather than the one offering more money.

In your opinion, what makes for a successful author-agent relationship?  

I mentioned communication – that certainly goes both ways. Sometimes authors “don’t want to bother me” — but actually, I want to know when my clients have a problem or issue or question! I can’t fix it unless I know about it. 🙂

Tips for authors who may feel nervous about that first phone call?

Listen, we are in the age of the emoticon. Pretty much nobody LOVES talking on the phone at this point. But sometimes, it’s just crucial to be able to hear each other’s voices. It’s faster and more personal than email…. and it is just a must. So if you’re nervous, maybe it will make you feel better to know that the agent is ALSO probably nervous. We both want to make a good impression! We’d both probably rather be texting! Sorry! Take a deep breath. The agent is just a nerdy bookworm, not a cruel jerk. Not only are they nice… if you have gotten to this stage, it probably means that THEY LOVE YOUR BOOK! That’s a good thing! So… they will have questions — but these are questions that you absolutely know the answers to. You probably have questions — write them down first! — these are questions that the AGENT absolutely knows the answers to. (I have literally only been surprised by a question once* and I did come up with an answer, anyway). Between the two of you, this conversation can’t really go off the rails. Give yourself at least an hour — even if the talk isn’t quite that long, you’ll probably be buzzing a bit after. It will be great!

* The surprising question was “what happens if you die” — which I am not sure exactly what I replied because I was a little taken aback thinking about my own mortality all of a sudden, but I think it made sense!

Are there any upcoming conferences or twitter events you’ll be participating in?

SCBWI-NY, SCBWI New Orleans, SCBWI New England. I keep a schedule on the sidebar of my website. As for twitter events – I like #DVPit, it’s awesome, but I am not often around for these events for some reason — if I happen to catch a twitter contest on the fly, I will peek at it and request a bit, but I don’t like to promise that I will, because 9 times out of 10, I’m just not able to be on twitter at the right time and I miss it. I think twitter contests are fine, but I put more weight on queries — they are more thoughtful and deliberate. If you query me, that means you’ve done a bit of research and chosen me, hopefully! Whereas if you just tweet and anyone can “like” it, maybe you don’t think we’d be a good fit at all!   This is why I suggest that people who feel like their work might be a fit for me should just query me – It’s highly unlikely that I will stumble across your tweet by happenstance.

WILDCARD QUESTIONS:

What are three personality traits you would use to describe yourself?

Opinionated, Funny, Bossy

If you could have any career (outside of publishing), what would it be and why?

I would like to have a shop that sells pretty things like paper, stationery, buttons and bows and special gifts. Or, I’d be a florist. (I am rather clueless about flowers in this life, but we are talking about a different life.)

Would you rather be able to speak any language fluently, or be able to talk to animals?  

FOR SURE, 100%, speak any language fluently (and also understand every language fluently). This is the thing I want most in the world. It’s all about communication with me! While I do love animals, I can already talk to them, in English. And I don’t think that most of them would have immense amounts of things to say back to me. At least my dog wouldn’t – I’m pretty sure she is thinking about bacon or squirrels 90% of the time she’s awake.

Thanks for your time, Jennifer!