Agent Interview: CoCo Freeman

Thoughtful, engaging work

Laurie Fox.

John Galsworthy, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, William Thackeray, Josephine Tey, Agatha Christie, P.D. James, George Eliot, Somerset Maugham, Nick Hornby, Philip Pullman, Hilary Mantel, Adrian McKinty, Brian Freeman, Kate Atkinson, Robert Harris, Erik Larsen, Norton Juster, Kate Alice Marshall, Chris Crutcher, Joan Bauer, E.L. Konigsburg, Babette Cole, William Steig.

I think every agent brings their own personal aesthetic and experience. I bring CoCo.

Proofread your query and sample, follow the agency's submission guidelines, keep your query as concise and direct as possible.

The ideal query letter exhibits that the author fulsomely understands their own work and can present it cogently and vividly and succinctly.

Besides the obvious-- that it should be riveting, it should be copyedited and polished.

Forgetting to include the most important information: the queryants' name, the title of their manuscript, their genre, their word count. Not writing a clear pitch or synopsis. Please do not hard sell your work or denigrate the work of other writers.

I want to know only pertinent biographical information: Tell me whether you’ve been previously published, if you have self-published, if you have contributed to literary journals, if you are an active member of any organizations such as SCBWI, Mystery Writers of America, Horror Writers Association, etc., if you have won any writing awards or mentorships, what your educational and professional background outside of writing is, what you have degrees in. Information that helps an agent understand the “what” of who are you alongside your pitch and sample, which gives insight into the “who” of who you are.

That entirely depends on the submission or manuscript.

I will reach out and set up a phone call. We will speak about the work and get to know each other, and then discuss representation.

Juggling many things at once. Reading and developing work for my clients and responding to pitches and queries are constants. Submitting to editors. Contract negotiations. Reading and continuing to learn about publishing. It never ends, but I love it.