Literary Agent Interview: Leslie Zampetti Interview and Query Critique Giveaway

Today I’m thrilled to have agent Leslie Zampetti here. She is the founder of Open Book Literary. 

Status: Leslie is currently closed to queries but will reopen in late December 2024.

Hi Leslie! Thanks so much for joining us.

About Leslie:

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

I became an agent after having been a librarian for 20+ years. I’d been writing middle grade as well, and agenting sounded like a great career path. I was a reader for Jenny Bent at The Bent Agency and then assistant to Jennie Dunham at Dunham Literary prior to starting to represent my own clients in 2018. After time with Dunham Literary and Odom Media Management, I launched Open Book Literary in the fall of 2023.

I’ve been slowly building my client list, working with many debut authors. My focus is on amplifying underrepresented voices and championing our intersections of identity, with a special emphasis on disability, poverty, Judaism and other non-Christian religions, neurodivergence, and women.

In my membership and volunteer work with the Association of American Literary Agents, I have been working towards equity in publishing, making the business of representation more transparent to people seeking to become agents and writers seeking agents, and helping foster community among agents.

About the Agency:

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

Open Book Literary is a solo practice. I partner with a contracts consultant, Jennifer Uram, and a subrights agency, the Rights People, so my clients benefit similarly to being represented by a large agency with staff. I provide editorial advice to my clients, career management and strategies, and a collegial atmosphere in which I support my clients and they support each other, as well. We celebrate everyone’s successes together!

I also encourage my clients to explore writing in other genres and/or categories, to play in the service of their art, and to balance writing with other aspects of their lives. As a “career agent,” I’m focused on building long-term success over quick sales. Not that I don’t love a short submission with an efficient negotiation leading to a good contract!

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 represent picture books through YA, primarily contemporary fiction, mysteries, and historical fiction. Manuscripts that sit in the sweet spot of the Venn diagram between immediate kid appeal and appeal to parents, educators, and librarians. I love verse novels and picture book texts that use lyricism, verse, and wordplay.

At the moment, I’m seeking more young YA and stories that are rich in character and setting, but

that make good use of white space and appeal to less confident readers while still interesting to bookish kids like I was.

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

The longer I’m an agent, the more I love surprises. Because execution is so subjective, I find it’s better to be less prescriptive. Nothing is more disappointing to me - and the writer - than to get a query for a story that checks the boxes for my MSWL but that ends up not being a fit.

On the other hand, it was delightful to get a submission that was a YA mystery with a vampire twist I’d never have asked for - but loved.

What She Isn’t Looking For:

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

I am not a fit for political thrillers, Holocaust fiction, high fantasy, inspirational or Christian fiction, stories that use violence against women as the primary or opening narrative hook, or hard sci-fi. I’m also not a fan of historical settings for nostalgia’s sake, particularly for children’s books. I like historical fiction where the history is directly tied to the story - such as ONE CRAZY SUMMER, PLANET EARTH IS BLUE, or TORCH.

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?

See questions #1 & 2. ;-)

As an agent, I seek out books that entertain while holding room for deeper meaning and engagement. Everyone deserves joy and to see their joy represented on the page, to have fun while reading, and to explore the wonderful variety of life.

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?

Yes, I am. While I do give edit letters and inline comments, I love discussing clients’ work with them on calls or online chats. Often, ideas or solutions appear in the discussion that might not have occurred to either of us individually.

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?

I use QueryManager, and my link is https://QueryManager.com/Lzampetti. I ask for a short author bio and the first five pages of the manuscript (or complete picture book text or dummy) along with the query letter.

My practice is to open to queries the first full week of the month and then close for the rest of the month. It’s been helping me respond more efficiently.

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

I’m not a fan of query letters in the voice of a character, though it’s not an automatic pass. People who are deliberately rude are definitely an automatic pass.

Response Time:

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

I respond to all queries within four weeks, ideally sooner. For requests, it’s usually 4-6 months - I request a lot, I don’t use a reader, and there’s only so many hours in the day.

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?

I am open to them, but not in terms of taking an already self-published book to trade publishers. I’m really looking for authors who either wish to hybrid publish - keeping some work for self-publishing and some for the trade - or to move from self-publishing to trade publishing.

Self publishing is its own market and requires strong business skills as well as creative ones. I don’t advise using it as a “trial balloon” to see how a book will do, because finding the sweet spot between enough sales to attract a larger house and not having sold out the audience is tough.

Traditional publishing is very collaborative; for authors who want complete control over their work, self publishing enables that control.

Clients:

12. Who are some of the authors you represent?

All of my clients are listed on my website, https://www.openbooklit.com/home.

My currently published clients for kidlit are Kate Allen Fox, Lisa Schmid, Wendy Cross, and Andrea Shapiro. (With more coming soon!)

Interviews and Guest Posts:

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

A few recent ones are:

https://www.scbwi.org/scbwi-exclusive-with-leslie-zampetti-agent-open-book-literary

https://fromthemixedupfiles.com/meet-literary-agent-leslie-zampetti/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJkPRweF2X0

Links and Contact Info:

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

Please see above. My website links to my MSWL, my AALA agent profile, and social media accounts.

Additional Advice:

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

N/A

Thanks for sharing all your advice, Leslie.

Giveaway Details

Leslie 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 October 19th. If your email 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 follow me on Twitter or 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 email 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.

Upcoming Interviews, Guest Posts, and Blog Hops

Monday, October 14th I have an interview with debut author Adrian So and a giveaway of his MG chapter book The Groundworld Heroes. He’s only 14 years old and a debut author so please stop by and leave him a comment to support him in accomplishing such a big goal at such a young age.

Wednesday, October 16th I have an agent spotlight interview with Samantha Wekstein and a query critique giveaway

Friday, October 18th I’m participating in the Silly Pumpkin Giveaway Hop

Monday, October 28th I have a guest post by author Abbi Lee and a giveaway of her MG Ghost Town Treasure Hunt

Friday, November 1st I’m participating in the Thanks a Latte Giveaway Hop

Wednesday, November 6th I have an interview with author Jan Gangsei and a giveaway of her YA Dead Below Deck and my IWSG post

Saturday, November 9th I’m participating in the Super Stocking Stuffer Giveaway Hop

I hope to see you on Monday!