TODAY: literary agent Kara Rota
Today I’m talking to Kara Rota, Senior Agent at Thompson Literary, who represents memoir plus, parenting, pop culture, and mind/body/spirit books (including tarot decks). Before joining Thompson Literary, she worked as an Executive Editor at Chicago Review Press, acquiring narrative nonfiction, music, and pop culture titles, and at Macmillan, acquiring and editing cookbooks, mind/body/spirit projects and other nonfiction.
Here are a few projects she has sold in the last year:
Voices on the Side podcast host Leah Kim's MOM UNFILTERED, about the urgently dire state of postpartum and maternal care in America and how BIPOC mothers bear the brunt of the systemic neglect, told through the lens of her experience as an Asian American mother, to Rowman & Littlefield.
Music journalist, Endless Scroll co-host, and Chasing Sundays blog owner Eli Enis's WHEN THE SUN HITS, an analytical history of the shoegaze genre from its roots in late '80s UK rock to its ongoing resurgence among Gen Z musicians and mainstream culture, to St. Martin’s.
New Yorker cartoonist Rachel Deutsch's THE MOTHER, a humorous graphic memoir of chaotic early motherhood, to Douglas & McIntyre (Canada).
Journalist Kristin Marguerite Doidge's WOMAN ON TOP: BECOMING GRETA GERWIG, tracing the director's journey from "mumblecore" darling to Hollywood box office recordbreaker, to Chicago Review Press.
Join me today at 1pm EST, when I’ll be asking Kara:
How has her experience as a book editor informed her work as a literary agent? What has she learned from being on the receiving end of submissions?
What is the current state of the nonfiction market and what is she hearing from editors about what’s on their wishlists?
Will the current presidential administration usher in a fresh wave of demand for books in the mind/body/spirit category? (#selfcare)
How can a writer can use a personal experience as a springboard to tell a larger story that is easier for her to sell to a publisher as memoir plus?
What advice does she have for writers working on nonfiction book proposals?
Where does she scout new talent? Where does she think writers should be sharing their work in public to build a platform?
How does she evaluate pop culture projects that come across her inbox?
I will interview Kara for about 30 minutes and then open it up to your questions!
If you can’t attend live, there will be a recording available to watch for 7 days.
As a reminder, this is a private, off-the-record conversation, exclusively available to my diamond medallion members. You may not post quotes from the conversation anywhere on the internet, or create content out of my events. Keeping the Chat Room series private allows both me and my guests to speak candidly.