A little about her (from the agency's website):
Taylor is drawn to novels with a compelling voice and grounded, relatable characters that pull her into their world from the start. Her favorite books have strong emotional elements that stay with her long after she finishes reading.
Her current interests include young adult fiction, historical fiction, and historical romance. She's actively seeking middle grade and young adult novels of all genres, historical fiction, women's fiction, and romance—contemporary, historical, and new adult. She does not represent screenplays. She is a graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara, and received a master’s degree from Emerson College’s Publishing and Writing program. Prior to joining Waxman Leavell in 2013, she worked at the Gersh Agency.
And without further ado, Taylor has chosen four winners who each get to send her their FULL manuscripts.
Congrats to:
J. Redman - Sea Hawk & the Lone Isle
J.C. Davis - Cheesus Was Here
Peggy Rothschild - Punishment Summer
T.L. Sumner - Culloden Immortals
Please email us at operationawesome6 (at) gmail (dot) com with the subject October MA Winner for further instructions.
Taylor was kind enough to answer a few questions for us so we can get to know her a little better.
OA: Any tips for writers struggling with their pitches?
TH: Run it by someone who isn't familiar with your book. Agents don't know anything about your story prior to reading the pitch, so that getting feedback from a similarly fresh set of eyes can be invaluable. Beyond that, I'd just say to focus on what makes makes your book unique, and be as specific as possible about the conflict/stakes.
OA: When considering a romance manuscript, do you have any favorite tropes? Any you aren’t crazy about?
TH: Friends to lovers and forced proximity are probably two of my favorites, but all tropes are welcome.
OA: Have you read any books lately you’ve fallen in love with?
TH: I'LL GIVE YOU THE SUN by Jandy Nelson was beautiful. Highly recommend it!
OA: You are looking for historicals and historical romances – do you have a favorite time period? Least favorite?
TH: I am indeed, and I enjoy reading novels set in all different time periods—for me, the fun of historical fiction is that sense of discovery, of being swept away to an entirely new time and place. Surprise me!
OA: Any exciting news you can share?
TH: I recently signed several wonderful new clients that I'm thrilled to be working with, and I'm actively searching for more talented writers to add to my list, so I'm looking forward to an exciting fall!
OA: And a few just for fun:
Coffee or Tea? Lots and lots of coffee.
Sea or mountains? Sea!
Chocolate or bacon? Chocolate! Preferably in oatmeal chocolate chip cookie form.
Ebook or print book? Both.
Favorite tv show? Oh this changes all the time, but I finally started watching OUTLANDER, so I'm pretty excited about that one at the moment. (Can we get a moment for fangirl squeels please - squeee!!)
Thank you so much to Taylor for being our Mystery Agent this month!! And congrats to all the winners!!
Stay tuned for info on our next Mystery Agent contest!
Congrats everyone!
ReplyDeleteCongrats to the winners!
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