We’re so excited to start our summer series about how a book gets made! This week we’re talking all about book agents, from what they do to how authors find an agent in the first place. We brought on Taylor Haggerty, an agent at Root Literary representing commercial fiction for teens and adults, and Iman Hariri-Kia, writer and editor born and based in New York City whose debut novel A Hundred Others Girls will be published July 26th by Sourcebooks.

We chat with Iman about her writing process for A Hundred Other Girls and how she found, queried, and picked out an agent to work with. Taylor explains an agent’s role in the publishing process and shares her tips for choosing the right agent, how to regroup if you get passed on, and she gives us a sense of how much money an author can expect to make for a debut novel.

You can find Iman at @imanharirikia on Instagram and @imanharirikia on Tik Tok

You can find Taylor at @rootliterary on Instagram, rootliterary.com, and PublishersMarketplace.com

Related to our conversation:

Track Changes - First Draft with Sarah Enni

Obsessions

Becca: The Summer I Turned Pretty & The Time Traveler’s Wife

Olivia: My Sweet Dumb Brain email newsletter by Katie Hawkins-Gaar

What we read this week!

Olivia:

Book Lovers by Emily Henry

Tell Me Lies by Carola Lovering

Becca:

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Episode description

How A Book Gets Made Series: Agent Taylor Haggerty with Author Iman Hariri-Kia

Episode description