March 2016 Pass or Pages Agent Panel

March 2016 Pass or Pages: YA Contemporary

This contest features feedback on queries and first pages from a panel of agents. Today we're excited to be announcing the participating agents for March 2016:

Whitley Abell
Inklings Literary Agency

Whitley Abell joined Inklings Literary Agency in 2013. Before joining Inklings, she completed successful internships with Carol Mann Agency and P.S. Literary Agency. She is based in St. Louis, MO, where she daylights writing proposals of the entirely unromantic variety. She graduated in 2011 with a BA in English and Creative Writing, and again in 2012 with a MAT in Secondary English Education, which basically means she can tell you anything there is to know about feminist literary theory and the Common Core Standards.

Whitley likes characters who are relatable yet flawed, hooks that offer new points of view and exciting adventures, and vibrant settings that become active characters in their own right. She has a soft spot for the goofy guys, awkward ducks, April Ludgates, and devout fan girls of the world. Manic pixie dream girls will be turned away at the door.

For more details on Whitley's #MSWL, visit her blog here. You can also read more about the other genres she represents on the Inklings Literary Agency webpage.

Peter Knapp
New Leaf Literary & Media

Peter Knapp is an agent at New Leaf Literary & Media, where he represents fiction for all ages. Previously, he was an agent at The Park Literary Group. He began his career as a story editor at Floren Shieh Productions, consulting on book-to-film adaptations for Los Angeles-based movie and TV entities. His clients include Melanie Conklin (COUNTING THYME, Putnam/Penguin), Soman Chainani (author of the New York Times bestselling THE SCHOOL FOR GOOD AND EVIL series), Lucy Keating (DREAMOLOGY, HarperTeen), Brenda Drake (THIEF OF LIES, Entangled Teen), Anna Michels (26 KISSES, Simon Pulse) and Will Walton (ANYTHING COULD HAPPEN, Scholastic). He graduated from NYU summa cum laude and lives in Brooklyn.

To learn more about Peter's favorite books, clients and wish list, or to ask questions, visit him at petejknapp.com or follow him on Twitter.

Carrie Pestritto
Prospect Agency

Carrie Pestritto joined Prospect Agency in 2011 after working as an assistant at Writers House. With a B.A. in English from Amherst College, she has experienced all sides of the publishing industry, having worked as a ghostwriter, freelance writer, and as an intern in the editorial acquisitions department of the Greenwood Publishing Group. As an agent, she loves the thrill of finding new authors with strong, unique voices and working closely with her clients to develop their ideas and manuscripts.

For Carrie, extraordinary fiction and non-fiction share the ability to transport readers to new and exciting places. As a history and mythology buff, she is intrigued by books that introduce her to another culture or time period. She is looking for description and detail that will make her feel like she is inside the story and interest her in a subject she never thought she would want to read about—or, conversely, introduce her to startling facts about something or someone she believed she already knew everything about.

To learn more about Carrie and what she represents, please check out her details on the Prospect Agency's website.


Details for the March 2016 Pass or Pages:

Starts: Monday, March 14, 2016, at 6 a.m. Eastern
Ends: Wednesday, March 16, 2016 at 6 p.m. Eastern
Category/Genre: YA Contemporary
How To Enter: Fill out the entry form on the contest post when it goes live
What Is Required: Your query (no bio or personalization for agents), your first 250 words, a complete and polished MS

You can also read more about the rules from the announcement post in February.

The winning entries with agent commentary will be posted on Operation Awesome the week of March 28th, one entry each day. If you aren't comfortable with having your entry (which will be anonymous) shared on the blog, please don't enter Pass or Pages!

If you have any questions, please ask in the comments or feel free to tweet @OpAwesome6. Also, feel free to chat about the contest with fellow participants on the hashtag #PassOrPages.