Literary Agent Interview: Bethany Hendrix Interview and Query Critique Giveaway

Today I’m thrilled to have agent Bethany Hendrix (previously Fulk) here. She is a junior literary agent at Holloway Literary.

Status: Update on 9/19/2024 Bethany is currently an agent at Spencerhill Associates Literary Agency and is open to submissions. Please check the agency website to learn how to query her.

Hi­ Bethany! Thanks so much for joining us.

About Bethany:

1. Tell us how you became an agent, how long you’ve been one, and what you’ve been doing as an agent.

I’ve always loved reading and writing, and eventually editing, so I started pursuing internships in publishing once I graduated college. After years of interning with agencies and a publishing house, I found a spot with Holloway Literary that offered a mentorship to grow from an intern to an agent! As of August 2021, I officially started working as an agent and have been loving every minute of it. I’ve read so many amazing books and have signed some fantastic clients, most of which are now on sub with editors!

 About the Agency:

 2. Share a bit about your agency and what it offers to its authors.

 Holloway Literary offers boutique literary agency representation for authors, and literary management for screenwriters, directors, and producers. Our priority is to make writers’ dreams come true! We have a fantastic roster of best-selling authors from across genres.

 For me, communication with my authors is very important. We have a great rapport, and I love to chat about what they’re working on or help brainstorm ideas! We set our goals and collaborate with each other on how we want to move forward together.

 What She’s Looking For:

 3. What age groups do you represent—picture books, MG, and/or YA? What genres do you represent and what are you looking for in submissions for these genres?

I am open to Middle Grade and Young Adult submissions. I look for a lot of similar things in both age groups—fantasy, historical fantasy/alternate history, paranormal, and retellings of myths/legends/fairytales.

For MG, I’m also open to mysteries and friendship stories. Think Rick Riordian-esq books, Amari and the Nightbrothers, and The Sisters Grimm series.

For YA, I’m also open to gothic/horror and rom coms as well! Think Sabaa Tahir, Sarah Dessen, Adrienne Young, Never Have I Ever, and To All the Boys series.

4.  Is there anything you would be especially excited to seeing in the genres you are interested in?

I’d love to see some adventure stories in MG! Give me some quests and heists. For YA, I want a book that gives me all those high school feelings of first loves, embarrassing moments, and crazy shenanigans! I’m also always looking for books from underrepresented voices, diving into myths/worlds/places we don’t usually see a lot of!

What She Isn’t Looking For:

5. What types of submissions are you not interested in?

I don’t accept Nonfiction, Picture Books, or Adult submissions. I’m not the best fit for gore or anything super scary, political stories, or stories featuring suicide, rape, or abuse.

Agent Philosophy:

6. What is your philosophy as an agent both in terms of the authors you want to work with and the books you want to represent?

I have to click, not only with the book itself, but with the author as well. There’s something magical that happens when you read a book and fall in love with it, have an editorial vision for it, and share it with an author who feels the same way you do! I love working with authors who want to collaborate and bounce ideas off each other when needed, but also love being able just to offer support and communication.

As an agent, it’s important to me to help put stories into the world that people can relate to and fall in love with. The more people that are able to see themselves in the story and in the characters, the better!

Editorial Agent:

7. Are you an editorial agent? If so, what is your process like when you’re working with your authors before submitting to editors?

I am an editorial agent and it’s one of my favorite things about the job! I start with an edit letter detailing more of the developmental/big picture items that need worked on, and give suggestions on how to build on the foundation they’ve already created. From there, we move on to in-line comments and more of the dialogue/transitions/passiveness/etc until it’s time to comb through for repetitive words and that fun stuff. Throughout the process, I make sure my authors know that everything is just a suggestion and how they fix it is something we can talk about—I’m happy to hear from them and work together on making their book the best it can be.

Query Methods and Submission Guidelines: (Always verify before submitting)

8. How should authors query you and what do you want to see with the query letter?

Email your query to submissions@hollowayliterary.com. On Holloway Literary’s website, you’ll be able to find all the submission guidelines, but as an overview:

-Make sure my name is in the subject line (along with the title of the book and its genre) so it gets put in my folder.

-Include the word count within your pitch, and a short bio of yourself at the end.

-Following the query, paste the first 15 pages into the body of the manuscript.

9.  Do you have any specific dislikes in query letters or the first pages submitted to you?

As long as it has all the information I need about the story and you, the writer, I’m usually pretty easy-going on queries. Just don’t be rude! Be yourself and tell me about your story—that’s all I can ask.

Response Time:

10. What’s your response time to queries and requests for more pages of a manuscript?

For queries, I try and keep my response time within 2-3 weeks. If I request more, the time varies, but I hope to get better with my response times this year. Everything gets a response, though, so always feel free to check in if it’s past the time given when you submitted your pages.

Self-Published and Small Press Authors:

11.  Are you open to representing authors who have self-published or been published by smaller presses? What advice do you have for them if they want to try to find an agent to represent them?

Of course—some of my authors now have self-published or published through smaller presses. As long as what they’re pitching me hasn’t been published previously, then it’s okay!

12. With all the changes in publishing—self-publishing, hybrid authors, more small publishers—do you see the role of agents changing at all? Why?

I think an agent’s role will stay the same, even as publishing changes and shifts. Overall, we’re there to support, advocate, assist, etc. and I don’t see that going away, just adapting to fit with the new norm.

Clients:

13. Who are some of the authors you represent?

I am so happy to represent some great writers: Valerie Norton, Tiffani Burkett, Amy Eversley, Hallie Christensen, Alex Kennington, and Shelby Kisgen!

Interviews and Guest Posts:

14. Please share the links to any interviews, guest posts, and podcasts you think would be helpful to writers interested in querying you.

Writing and Illustrating Interview-Part 1

Writing and Illustrating Interview-Part 2

Links and Contact Info:

15. Please share how writers should contact you to submit a query and your links on the Web.

To query me, please follow the guidelines on the submission page:

https://hollowayliterary.com/submissions/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/bethanyfulk

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hollowayliterary/

Website: https://www.bethany-writes.com/

MSWL: https://www.manuscriptwishlist.com/mswl-post/bethany-fulk/

Additional Advice:

16. Is there any other advice you’d like to share with aspiring authors that we haven’t covered?

Writing and querying can feel like such a lonely, daunting journey full of rejections, but publishing is all about timing, luck, and perseverance. Find your writing community and lean on them through the rough drafts, the revisions, and yes and no’s of querying. Each book you write is going to be better than the last, so the more you learn about and practice your craft, the better your book is going to be because of it. And while it may sound a little cliché: don’t give up. Keep coming back better and stronger than before!

Thanks for sharing all your advice, Bethany.

­Bethany is generously offering a query critique to one lucky winner. To enter, all you need to do is be a follower (via the follower gadget, email, or bloglovin’ on the right sidebar) and leave a comment through March 4th. If your e-mail is not on your Google Profile, you must leave it in the comments to enter the contest. If you do not want to enter the contest, that's okay. Just let me know in the comments.

If you mention this contest on Twitter, Facebook, or your blog, mention this in the comments and I'll give you an extra entry. This is an international giveaway.

Have any experience with this agent? See something that needs updating? Please leave a comment or e-mail me at natalieiaguirre7@gmail.com

Note: These agent profiles and interviews presently focus on agents who accept children's fiction. Please take the time to verify anything you might use here before querying an agent. The information found here is subject to change.