July 2018 Pass Or Pages Agent Panel

Meet the agents who are going to critique your Young Adult Contemporary entries!

Whitley Abell

The Jennifer DeChiara Literary Agency

Whitley Abell joined The Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency in 2018, where she is actively building her list and is seeking submissions in YA, MG, and select adult fiction and narrative non-fiction. Previously with Inklings Literary Agency, she also interned with the Carol Mann Agency and P.S. Literary Agency, and worked as a medical/S&T journal editor and a sales content project manager. She graduated from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville with degrees in English and Secondary Education, which means she can tell you everything there is to know about feminist literary theory and the Common Core Standards. Whitley is a proud geek—still expecting to find her misplaced Hogwarts letter, the spare key to the TARDIS, or the secret entrance to Narnia—and is beyond thrilled to have found the perfect profession for channeling her fangirl powers: Associate Literary Agent. You can find her on Twitter @whitleyabell.

Jess Dallow

Brower Literary and Management

Having grown up with the same name as her favorite Sweet Valley High twin, Jess has always had a love for books, especially those that feature kickass female characters, child psychopaths, and serial killers. She loves a book that can scare her, that can make her crying when she’s least expecting it, and a book that she can’t put down no matter what time it is or what rerun of SVU is on. She has a BFA in Writing for Film and Television from the University of the Arts and worked in entertainment for eight years before returning to her home state of NY where she worked at a literary agency for two years before joining Brower Literary & Management. Connect on Twitter: @JLDallow

Andrea Somberg

Harvey Klinger Literary Agency

A literary agent for over fifteen years, Andrea represents a wide range of fiction and nonfiction, including projects for adult, young adult and middle grade audiences. Her clients’ books have been NYTimes and USABestsellers, as well as nominated for The Governor General’s Award, the Lambda Award, the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award and the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award, and have been chosen for ABA’s Indies Introduce Program. Andrea is a guest instructor for MediaBistro and Writers Digest. To learn more about her, please visit her website and her publishers marketplace page.

Details for July 2018 Pass or Pages:

Entry starts: Monday, July 9 at 6 a.m. Eastern
Ends: Wednesday, July 11 at 6 p.m. Eastern
Category/Genre: Young Adult 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 here.

The winning entries with agent commentary will be posted on Operation Awesome the week of July 23rd, 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 tweet @OpAwesome6. Also, feel free to chat about the contest with fellow participants on the hashtag #PassOrPages.