My Agenting New Year's Goals

Welcome 2025!

Hi all,

Hope you’re all having a wonderful festive season!

It’s been a touch longer than usual since my last letter - but MY OH MY the time has flown. I accepted two jobs in October - my new agenting role at DMLA and a bookseller job at my lovely local independent bookstore, Kepler’s.

Although I started bookselling in October, things really ramped up in the second half of November and by December I was working full-time in store. It’s my first ever retail job and it was truly an exhausting and exhilarating experience. Through it all, I’m pleased to report that the love of books was alive and well! I’m glad to be continuing with bookselling on a more part-time basis in 2025 - I feel it adds a lot to my publishing experience and is rounding out my knowledge of what happens at every stage of a book’s life.

But on 3rd January I’m back at my agenting desk. In all honestly, writing this post about what comes next is a little nerve-wracking. I remember sitting down last year to write a very similar newsletter. I had high aims (I think I was hoping to sign 20 authors in 2024!) and felt extremely positive and ambitious. But, frankly, things didn’t work out. After a good start with two sales in February and March, I didn’t sell anything for several months and was finally let go from that job in July. Suffice it to say, I wasn’t remotely close to reaching my goals!

But despite 2024 having been one of the most challenging years of my life, I’m VERY excited by what’s to come in 2025. I had the extraordinary good luck of some positive agenting news just before Christmas (second year in a row! Who says publishing shuts down in December?!) and am entering January with good vibes - though a hell of a lot on my desk. So what am I hoping for in 2025?

1. Build the foundations of a sustainable income through agenting. I’m working in a commission-only role and I would LOVE to be able to support myself in this way, eventually. It won’t happen in a single year (publishing just isn’t structured that way!) but selling a few multi-book contracts would get me closer.

2. Sign approximately 5 new authors, whose work I feel passionately about. This isn’t as much as I’d like (there is so much talent out there!), but 5 feels genuinely plausible and sustainable on my new part-time schedule.

   1. Build the middle-grade and YA segment of my list by signing 2 MG and 1 YA authors. I have a LOT of middle-grade maybes left to go through from October and I’m determined to find one or two fantastic writers I can work with to keep my MG experience alive! YA’s an area I’d love to continue to build too.

   2. I’d love to sign a further 2 authors writing for adults - this is likely to be fiction but could also be non-fiction. (Disclaimer: if I see something I love, I am not going to hold myself to any of these numbers… but it gives me something realistic to shoot for!)

3. Build on the diversity of my list - I would love represent a broad and international range of voices! I honestly think my list will be stronger for it.

4. Receive an offer from my final big 5. This is a little one, in the grand scheme of things, but I’ve received offers from the other four… so, I’m looking at you, Macmillan!

I think that’s enough for now… I’d better get to work…!

A few practical updates, since there’s a lot going on in 2025:

You can listen to my return visit to the Write & Wrong podcast here! (Plus, wherever you usually listen to your podcasts.) I thoroughly enjoyed chatting to Jamie about my experience in transitioning from editorial to agenting, the UK to the US. (My previous episode is no. 64 if you’re interested in my editorial background!)

I’m appearing in person at a few conferences with Writing Day Workshops this year - Las Vegas, Oklahoma City, San Francisco and Sacramento.

I’ll also be at the San Francisco Writer’s conference.

If you happen to be local to any of these locations, I’d love to meet you!

Lastly, I’m planning to reopen to queries in some capacity in the third week of January - keep an eye on my socials for news.

That’s it for now - but I’ll be back! In the meantime, happy new year!

Kesia