Literary Agent Interview: Kelly Dyksterhouse Interview and Query Critique Giveaway

Today I’m thrilled to have agent Kelly Dyksterhouse here. She is a literary agent at The Tobias Literary Agency.

Status: Update on 11/17/2023. Kelly is currently closed to submissions but the agency website says to check back on the first of the month when she plans to reopen to submissions. I'm not sure what month she posted this notice on Query Manager. You should check the agency website to find out when she reopens.

Hi­ Kelly! Thanks so much for joining us.

About Kelly:

1. Tell us how you became an agent, how long you’ve been one, and what you’ve been doing as an agent.

Literary Agenting is a career that still operates on an apprentice model in many ways. In other words, the way to train is by working your way up, first an intern, and then as an assistant, and then as an associate, until you are finally an agent. And that is largely the path I followed. I started working as an intern back in 2012—wow, 10 years ago! I interned and then assisted at both a large agency and small boutique kidlit-only agency for almost 8 years. In fall of 2019, my colleague Jacqui Lipton made plans to start her own agency and invited me to work with her, and I joined her at Raven Quill Literary Agency in January of 2020. We built the agency from the ground up for 2.5 years, and in May of 2022, we merged with The Tobias Literary Agency.

As an agent, I represent authors and illustrators. My first year as an agent was focused on building a list of clients, and since, the focus has been on selling their works. I have sold picture books, middle grade, and young adult books, both fiction and nonfiction in every category, as well as illustrator deals for picture books.

 About the Agency:

 2. Share a bit about your agency and what it offers to its authors.

The Tobias Literary Agency is a full service agency that offers its clients the personalized attention of a boutique agency with the full-service rights management. Each agent has the freedom to develop their practice to suit their personality and their list to suit their tastes. I tend to be more editorial and to work closely with my clients to develop projects for the market. We all work hard to manage and exploit rights in all fields: foreign, translation, film, audio, merchandising, etc.

What She’s Looking For:

3. What age groups do you represent—picture books, MG, and/or YA? What genres do you represent and what are you looking for in submissions for these genres?

I represent all ages, Picture Book through YA, and both fiction and nonfiction, as well as illustrators, and I am pretty open in terms of genres I will consider. I am particularly looking to grow my illustrator list. In broad terms, I would say that my tastes really walk the line between literary and commercial, but I am drawn to character-driven stories that have amazing voice and stellar writing. I find that in genre fiction (fantasy and sci-fi), it’s really important to have a world that is well-defined. I love worlds where the setting is so well described it almost becomes a character in the book. I also think it’s really important in genre fiction to ensure that the character’s desires are rooted in a universal emotion to create relatable stakes. In contemporary books, I am drawn to characters whose stakes are well-defined and whose stories add something new to the shelves – new outlook, new perspective, new cultural statement. In all genres, the voice of the story must be unique and compelling.

4.  Is there anything you would be especially excited to seeing in the genres you are interested in?

Right now I would love a middle grade action adventure book, along the lines of Rangers Apprentice—books that have a vivid, well-developed world, a cast of characters that the reader loves to root for (or against), humor and high stakes. I have long been on the lookout for a spooky ghost story in middle grade. That really goes for YA as well as MG. And I would love to find a great, twisty heist story. I am also on the lookout for humor—I want a book that makes me laugh out loud. I would love a YA rom-com, but there needs to be depth to the character and the story.

What She Isn’t Looking For:

5. What types of submissions are you not interested in?

Gratuitous violence, sexual violence, and hard sci-fi are probably not a good fit.

Agent Philosophy:

6. What is your philosophy as an agent both in terms of the authors you want to work with and the books you want to represent?

I want to represent books that bring something new to the table, books that respect the child reader, prompting them to look at the world around them in a new way, as well as their place in that world, but that are not didactic or speak down to them. Also books that are just plain—fun!

As for authors, the best kind of client is one who is always curious and never completely satisfied. Someone who is willing to do the work, someone who is thick-skinned but not hard-hearted. Someone who relentlessly pursues their craft and does so while building others up, as well.

Editorial Agent:

7. Are you an editorial agent? If so, what is your process like when you’re working with your authors before submitting to editors?

I do consider myself editorial, and I love working with clients to refine their manuscripts. With novels, once a client feels like their work is submission ready, they send it to me (I am usually expecting it, as we have talked about what work is best for them to work on next.) We usually put the manuscript through a developmental round of development, where I am looking at big picture edits: character arcs, plot, structure, themes, and world building. A second round goes in a little closer, and a final line edit to make sure the draft is clean and ready to go.

I always send back an editorial letter as well as the manuscript with comments in the text, and I ask for the client to let the comments sink in for a day or two and then we hop on a call and talk through any questions they may have and brainstorm possible fixes.

For picture books, my method is similar, but first a client may send me 4-6 pitches of finished works, and we would pick out one to lead with, and put that through edits.

Query Methods and Submission Guidelines: (Always verify before submitting)

8. How should authors query you and what do you want to see with the query letter?

Authors should query me through Query Manager: QueryManager.com/KellyDyksterhouse.

The best query letters showcase both the author’s knowledge of their work, their craft and the business, all written in the unique voice of their work.

I want to see a logline—one sentence that describes the protagonist, the inciting incident, the Story problem and goals, and the stakes. Less is more—the snappier the better! You would be surprised as to how many queries do not have this. And then a single paragraph that fleshes out the log line a bit, giving a sense of character growth, world, themes, and a bio.

The most successful queries also showcase the author’s knowledge of the industry and where their project will fit into it, utilizing comps to showcase themes and target audience. 

9.  Do you have any specific dislikes in query letters or the first pages submitted to you?

I am not fond of overly informal queries. This is a business, and your query is a business letter. It need to be professional. Also (this isn’t a dislike as much as a warning), I see a huge number of queries that tell me about the book rather than what the book is about. Keep that focus on the characters and plot, ie: that logline/pitch!

Response Time:

10. What’s your response time to queries and requests for more pages of a manuscript?

I just checked my stats for 2022, and my average response time this year is 30 days.

Self-Published and Small Press Authors:

11.  Are you open to representing authors who have self-published or been published by smaller presses? What advice do you have for them if they want to try to find an agent to represent them?

I have several clients who have self-published, but the works that I am representing have not been previously published. Traditional publishers want to publish first rights—the right to be the first one to publish a work—so they’re not likely to pick up a book by an unknown author that has been self-published. Now, if new work makes the NYT bestseller list, previous works may hold more of an interest to publishers. As they say, the best way to sell your book is to write another one!

12. With all the changes in publishing—self-publishing, hybrid authors, more small publishers—do you see the role of agents changing at all? Why?

I have definitely seen the role of agents becoming more editorial, mainly because editors have so much on their plates. But in terms of more small presses, this is only good news for agents, as it means more places to submit their clients work!

Clients:

13. Who are some of the authors you represent?

I represent Tom Birdseye, CS Surrisi, Dana Swift, Jess Brallier, Callie Miller, Nedda Lewers, Leslie Stall Widener, and to name just a few. You can check out all of my amazing creatives on my website: KellyDyksterhouse.com

Interviews and Guest Posts:

14. Please share the links to any interviews, guest posts, and podcasts you think would be helpful to writers interested in querying you.

The best resource would be to check out my website and MSWL, which I keep updated.

Links and Contact Info:

15. Please share how writers should contact you to submit a query and your links on the Web.

To Query Me:

www.QueryManager.com/KellyDyksterhouse

Website: www.KellyDyksterhouse.com

Or www.TheTobiasAgency.com

MSWL:

https://www.manuscriptwishlist.com/mswl-post/kelly-dyksterhouse/

Additional Advice:

16. Is there any other advice you’d like to share with aspiring authors that we haven’t covered?

Pursue your craft relentlessly. Love your stories. Lift others up.

Thanks for sharing all your advice, Kelly.

­Kelly is generously offering a query critique to one lucky winner. To enter, all you need to do is be a follower (via the follower gadget, email, or bloglovin’ on the right sidebar) and leave a comment through December 24th. Due to the holidays, the winner will not be notified until after January 1, 2023. If your e-mail is not on your Google Profile, you must leave it in the comments to enter the contest. If you do not want to enter the contest, that's okay. Just let me know in the comments.

If you mention this contest on Twitter, Facebook, or your blog, mention this in the comments and I'll give you an extra entry. This is an international giveaway.

Have any experience with this agent? See something that needs updating? Please leave a comment or e-mail me at natalieiaguirre7@gmail.com

Note: These agent profiles and interviews presently focus on agents who accept children's fiction. Please take the time to verify anything you might use here before querying an agent. The information found here is subject to change.