Episoder
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Preorder THE MODERN GUIDE TO QUERYING LITERARY AGENTS here: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Modern-Guide-to-Querying-Literary-Agents/Alyssa-Matesic/9781637749005
Alyssa Matesic is an independent developmental book editor and publishing consultant specializing in adult fiction. After holding editorial roles at Henry Holt & Company (an imprint of Macmillan), The Book Group literary agency, and Ballantine Books (an imprint of Penguin Random House), she founded her own editorial services company, which helps hundreds of authors per year strengthen their manuscripts for publication. She shares writing and publishing insights to help aspiring authors on her popular YouTube channel (@AlyssaMatesic) and newsletter (Chapter Break).
Patrick McDonald is the creator of QueryTracker and QueryManager, which are the industry-leading online querying tools. He has been bringing agents and authors together since 2007. This gives him a unique perspective since he has worked extensively with both groups and understands the needs and expectations on each side of the query trenches. Patrick started as an aspiring fiction writer when he found the query process lacking proper tools. At the time, he was working as a software engineer and decided to take his two passions, programming and writing, and combine them to create QueryTracker. When it became an instant success, no one was surprised more than Patrick. He lives in Billings, Montana surrounded by his three adult children and five spoiled grandkids.
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Eve Chase writes bestselling, page-turning mysteries. Her novels include The Midnight Hour, a Richard and Judy Book Club pick and Amazon no.1; The Glass House, a Richard and Judy Book Club pick and Sunday Times bestseller; The Birdcage, The Vanishing of Audrey Wilde and Black Rabbit Hall. A winner of the Saint-Maur en Poche prize in Paris for Best Foreign Fiction and longlisted for the HWA Gold Crown Award, her work has been translated into twenty languages. She lives in Oxford.
Lisa Peers is the Lambda Literary Award-nominated author of Love at 350° and has a passion for smart, funny love stories with well-deserved happy endings. She has acted professionally in San Francisco, produced TV and radio programs in Detroit, and is currently a creative director for an international marketing agency. A Harvard graduate with an MFA in acting from the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, Lisa lives with her partner, Dani, in metro Detroit, not far from their three grown children, along with their beloved cats and way too much yarn.
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Alexandria Brown is CEO & Publisher at Rising Action Publishing.
Alex has over ten years of experience in marketing and creative writing. Alex has a Bachelor’s in Communications with a major in Public Relations, a Master of Fine Arts - Creative Writing from the University of Gloucestershire, and is a Creative Writing Ph.D. Candidate currently at the University of Gloucestershire. She has two traditionally published nonfiction books.
Alex’s primary role is in overseeing acquisitions and marketing, as well as working with sub-agents on subsidiary rights.
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Anna McCallie was born in Boston and moved to the small town of Stilwell, Kansas, as a child. She has a B.A. in Arabic from Harvard University and an M.A. in international environmental policy from the Fletcher School, yet has never managed to have a job related to either of those subjects. She lives in London, and when she’s not writing, she can be found solving crossword puzzles, badgering her friends to go to pub quizzes, and watching a tremendous amount of football. Abby Offsides is her first novel.
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Andrea Bartz is a journalist and the New York Times bestselling author of the Reese’s Book Club pick We Were Never Here, The Spare Room, The Lost Night, The Herd, and The Last Ferry Out. Her thrillers have been optioned by Netflix, Hulu, and other production companies, and more than half a million copies of her books have been sold worldwide. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Marie Claire, Vogue, and many other outlets, and she's held editorial positions at Glamour, Psychology Today, and Self, among other publications. She was also a lead plaintiff in the landmark class-action lawsuit Bartz v. Anthropic, which was the first major win for creatives against an AI company as well as the largest copyright recovery in history. She lives with her girlfriend and pets in Brooklyn and the Hudson Valley.
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Tali grew up devouring books by flashlight long past her bedtime. After several years practicing corporate law, she joined Storm Literary Agency as an Associate Literary Agent. With her legal knowledge and skills in client advocacy and contract negotiation, she looks forward to building a diverse client list. She is an editorial agent who loves to sink her teeth into a great manuscript and work with the writer to make their story shine.
Tali is a champion for underrepresented voices, gives back by offering mentorship to up-and-coming writers, runs workshops on legal issues writers should consider, and hosts a literary podcast called The Prose Pros. She lives with her husband, two children, and a very spoiled (and handicapable) cockapoo with wheels.
Query Tali: https://QueryTracker.net/query/talishammasStorm Literary Agency: https://www.stormliteraryagency.com/tali-shammas.html
MSWL: https://manuscriptwishlist.com/mswl-post/tali-shammas/
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Danya Kukafka is the author of the bestselling novels Notes on an Execution and Girl in Snow. She works as a literary agent, and is actively building her client list at Trellis Literary Management.
Danya began her career as a student at New York University’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study, where she created a major titled “The Art of the Novel.” After internships at various literary agencies, she followed that passion to Riverhead Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House, where she was privileged to work as an assistant editor for writers like Meg Wolitzer, Paula Hawkins, Lauren Groff, Brit Bennett, Emma Straub, Gabriel Tallent, Helen Oyeyemi, Maile Meloy, Sigrid Nunez, and many more.
Danya’s most recent novel, Notes on an Execution, won the 2023 Edgar Award for Best Novel and was chosen as the New York Times Best Overall Crime Novel of the Year. Her debut, Girl in Snow, was released in 2017—it was alsoa national bestseller, an IndieNext Pick, a B&N Discover pick, and received favorable reviews from The New York Times (Editor’s Choice) and The Wall Street Journal, among others. Her fiction has been translated into over a dozen languages worldwide, and Notes on an Execution is currently in development as a feature film.
Danya is interested in representing literary fiction with particularly propulsive storylines. She is seeking literary suspense, sophisticated thrillers, book club fiction, speculative fiction, and experimental fiction. She also loves true crime that feels attuned to today's cultural conversations, and upmarket fiction you can read in one gulp. Her dream authors include: Megan Abbott, Angie Kim, Oyinkan Braithwaite, Rene Denfeld, Julia Phillips, Celeste Ng, Akwaeke Emezi, Susan Choi, Alex Marzano-Lesnevish, Jia Tolentino, Karen Thompson Walker, and Gabrielle Zevin.
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Eli Raphael grew up in Miami, Florida, and now lives in rural Washington State. NIGHT OBJECTS is her first novel.
This suspenseful novel transports readers to the windswept coast of Washington State and a boarding school steeped in privilege and deadly secrets—a remarkable story of grief, power, and the dangerous price of belonging.
“Eli Raphael announces herself in Night Objects as a writer to watch. Her prose is vivid and immersive; her storytelling is top-notch. Part mystery, part coming-of-age tale, Night Objects will keep readers guessing all the way through, but it’s the book’s emotional center—a daughter in deep mourning for her late mother—that elevates this novel into something truly memorable.”
―Liz Moore, New York Times bestselling author of The God of the Woods
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In this episode, co-hosts Lauren Khan and Tali Shammas sit down for part 1 of their mid-year review. This episode focuses on Lauren's querying journey, which led her to sign with her dream agent. Covering topics ranging from craft to querying, we tackle the nitty-gritty of writing and marketing a standout manuscript. Join us next week for part 2 and Tali's path to becoming a literary agent!
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Alex Finlay is a bestselling novelist who has been hailed as “one of the genre’s most exciting voices” (E! News) having “earned a reputation for producing suspenseful, fast-paced thrillers” (Associated Press).
His novels include the 2021 breakout, Every Last Fear, the 2022 Goodreads Choice nominee for Best Mystery & Thriller, The Night Shift, the 2023 LibraryReads Hall of Fame recipient, What Have We Done, the 2024 national bestseller, If Something Happens to Me, and the 2025 the instant national bestseller, Parents Weekend. His work has been an Indie Next pick, a five-time LibraryReads selection, an Amazon Editor’s Best Thriller, a Barnes & Noble best mystery, as well as a Cosmopolitan, CNN, Newsweek, E!, BuzzFeed, Business Week, Goodreads, Parade, PopSugar, and Reader’s Digest best or most anticipated thrillers of the year.
Hollywood has scooped up rights to his work for adaptation to the screen, including his May 2025 release, Parents Weekend.
Finlay’s novels have been translated into twenty-seven languages and are sold in countries around the world, including Denmark, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Poland, Sweden, Thailand, Turkey, and the United Kingdom, to name a few.
He's a director of the thriller/mystery section of the Leopardi Writing Conference in Italy, and a board member of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation.
Finlay, who writes under a pen name, is a magna cum laude graduate of Notre Dame Law School and a prominent Washington, D.C. lawyer who has represented clients in more than 40 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. He lives in Washington, D.C.
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Emily Everett is an editor and writer from western Massachusetts. Her debut novel All That Life Can Afford is the Reese’s Book Club pick for April 2025, out now from Putnam Books. She is managing editor at The Common literary magazine, and a Massachusetts Cultural Council Fellow in Fiction.
Emily studied English and music at Smith College, and studied abroad for a year at University College London. After graduating, she returned to London to do an MA in literature at Queen Mary University of London. She lived and worked in the UK from 2009 to 2013.
Her work has appeared in The New York Times Modern Love column, the Kenyon Review, Electric Literature, Tin House, and Mississippi Review. Her short story “Solitária” was selected as a runner-up for the Kenyon Review’s 2019 Short Fiction Contest. Her work has been selected for Best Small Fictions 2020, and supported by the Vermont Studio Center.
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Sunyi Dean (sun-yee deen) is a multi-award-losing author of speculative fiction. She was born in Texas, raised in Hong Kong, and now resides in Yorkshire. Her debut novel, THE BOOK EATERS, was an instant #2 Sunday Times Bestseller.
In her spare time, she likes buying whisky, collecting dumbbells, and dying in jiu-jitsu. She also founded the Hugo-nominated Publishing Rodeo Podcast with fellow Tor author, Scott Drakeford.
Her highly-anticipated sophomore novel, THE GIRL WITH A THOUSAND FACES, will hit stores in May 2026.
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Isabelle Engel was raised in New England and now lives and works in Washington, D.C. She has a MA in English from George Washington University and a BA in English, Theatre, and Creative Writing from UMass Amherst. When she's not writing, she can be found reading, watching reality TV, going on hikes, petting other people's dogs, and listening to true crime podcasts.
Kelly Stone is an associate editor at St. Martin’s Publishing Group, where she's worked since 2021. She graduated from Cornell University with a Bachelor’s of Science in Communication, where she researched the ways we interact with social media in the digital age and how to educate young adults to become more media literate. She is the Mentorship Chair of the Young Publishers Association, where she created a program to connect people across different levels of the publishing industry.
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Joss Richard is an instant, international bestselling romance author based in Los Angeles. Her debut novel It’s Different This Time is out now.
With over 12+ years of experience, she has been formally recognized with a Daytime Emmy Award and has produced for on-air broadcast, digital, and social media at some of the most notable shows and networks (Hello Sunshine and Reese’s Book Club , The Walt Disney Company, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Netflix, Red Table Talk, Paramount, CBS, The Grammy Awards, The Critics Choice Awards, The Academy Awards) and has interviewed some of Hollywood’s biggest A-List celebrities (Jennifer Aniston, Christopher Plummer, Sandra Bullock, and more). She has worked on the social marketing strategy for several films and TV series, including The Morning Show, Daisy Jones and The Six, The Last Thing He Told Me, Tiny Beautiful Things, and more.
Her debut novel, IT’S DIFFERENT THIS TIME is an instant USA TODAY, Toronto Star, and Globe & Mail Bestseller. It was named on of Apple Books Best Debuts of 2025 and is shortlisted for Canada Reads.
She is originally from Toronto, ON and currently resides in Los Angeles with her husband and rescue Pittie, Annie.
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A.J. Van Belle is a Rhysling finalist and Best of the Net nominated author, scientist, and literary agent. Their work appears in the latest volume of Year’s Best Canadian Fantasy and Science Fiction. With a PhD in biology, they have a blast drawing on their science background to inform the world building in their fiction. As Alexandra Vivelo, A.J. has three nonfiction books coming in 2027 and 2028: From Mushrooms to the Moon on how fungi influence technology and A Dozen Dystopias and How to Dodge Them on the science behind fictional dystopias, both from Bloomsbury; and Hot Cities, from Orca Books. They can be found across social platforms @ajvanbelle and at www.ajvanbelle.com.
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In this episode, we sit down with New York Times, USA Today, and #1 Indie bestselling author of BETH IS DEAD, Katie Bernet. We break down what it takes to write a killer retelling and come up with a high-concept hook, plus we get real about the long and (sometimes) uncertain path to getting published.
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In this episode, literary agent Jenna Satterthwaite joins us to discuss her journey from grief to becoming a successful author and literary agent. She discusses the challenges she faced, including numerous rejections, and how her experience shaped her approach to agenting. We cover the importance of internships, mentorship, and balancing multiple roles in the publishing industry. Jenna shares her process for selecting manuscripts and her strategies for ensuring her clients' success.Jenna reached agenting sideways, as many do. She didn’t know agenting existed until she wrote her first novel back in 2014 and learned she had to do this thing called “querying.” Fast forward many years during which she wrote many novels and became agented herself, and she had an aha moment. Agenting was the nexus where her two decades of business experience in sales, pitching, project management and contract negotiation met her decade of bookish experience. After completing internships with Liza Dawson Associates and Rees Literary, Jenna joined Storm as an agent in 2024.
She’s looking to represent authors over the course of their careers who are passionate about their work and willing to arm themselves with the tenacity that it takes to succeed in the world of publishing. She is an editorial agent who wants to help make your manuscript the best and most sellable version of itself, and then pitch the heck out of it to the right editors. Jenna is here to help you navigate this career that can unfold in so many different ways, advocate for you, and seek your best interests. She’s not afraid of multi-genre writers, (she’s one herself!) and she is ready to try and break your name into as many genres and age groups as you want to write. YOU are your brand!
Omnivorous in her taste, Jenna is seeking to represent adult, Young Adult and Middle Grade commercial fiction in most genres, graphic novels from middle grade to young adult, adult non-fiction, and very select picture books. (See submission guidelines for more details.) Jenna is also fully bilingual English/Spanish, so dual language projects are most welcome!
Jenna lives in Chicago with her family, and when she's not agenting, reading or writing, you can find her trying a Milk Street recipe, making music in living rooms with friends, or plotting when she can get sushi next. -
Layne Fargo has a background in theater, women’s studies, and library science, so it’s only fitting that she now writes deliciously dramatic, unapologetically feminist stories for a living.
She’s the bestselling author of the novels The Favorites, They Never Learn, and Temper, as well as co-author on the Widows Series, and her work has been translated into more than twenty languages. Layne lives in Chicago with her partner, their pets, and an ever-expanding collection of books she’s definitely going to read before she dies.
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Cathie Hedrick-Armstrong is a life-long lover of books. Cathie’s journey in the publishing industry was born in 2014 after her oldest child left for college. With newfound time on her hands, she set about writing The Edge of Nowhere, a work of adult historical fiction inspired by her grandmother’s life as a widow raising fourteen children during the one-two punch of the 1930s Dust Bowl and The Great Depression. Three years later, she followed up with her sophomore novel, Roam, a young adult title inspired by the homeless community that resides in the town where she currently lives. The release of this second book coincided with Cathie’s first job as a literary agent where she spent eight years learning the industry before joining the team at Marsal Lyon.
Kelly Beck is a former TV news producer turned romance and women’s fiction author specializing in writing “unhinged shenanigans” and funny escapades sprinkled with real-life grit. Her former career experience includes writing the number-one ranked CBS morning show, and many TN Associated Press awards. Since “retiring” to become a stay-at-home mom, she’s written three books and signed with her literary agent, Cathie Hedrick-Armstrong at Marsal Lyon Literary agency. When not writing or reading, she enjoys spending time with her husband and two children in Memphis, Tennessee, and rotting her brain with silly TV shows like Ancient Aliens and Expedition Unknown.
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In this episode of The Prose Pros, Alli Hoff Kosik discusses her upcoming book, TOO BLESSED TO STRESS. She shares her non-linear path to publishing, the impact of her sales experience, and how podcasting shaped her marketing approach. Alli describes her writing process and querying journey while reflecting on the evolution of her manuscript.
Alli Hoff Kosik is a writer based in Philadelphia. The former host of The SSR Podcast, her work has been published in Marie Claire, Real Simple, Business Insider, and Cosmopolitan. TOO BLESSED TO STRESS is her first book. Follow Alli @allihoffkosik on Instagram.
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