Literary Agent Interview: Shelly Romero Interview and Query Critique Giveaway

 Today I’m thrilled to have agent Shelly Romero here. She’s an agent at Azantian Literary Agency.

Status: Shelly is currently closed to queries but hopes to open to submissions later this year. Check the agency website to find out when she reopens. Shelly is providing a special link for Literary Rambles followers to query her until 9/3/2025:  https://QueryTracker.net/query/shellyromero/Literary_Rambles 

Hi­ Shelly! Thanks so much for joining us. 

About Shelly: 

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

I’ve been an agent for about four months now, but this August I’m celebrating 8 years in the publishing industry. 

I did the whole editor-to-agent transition that a lot of editors before me have done. I started in children’s books at Scholastic. There I assisted on series such as The Bad Guys and Goosebumps while also acquiring titles for my own list. I rose up the ranks from Editorial Assistant to Associate Editor before I left to work for a book packager, and later becoming a freelance editor.

It’s been a very non-linear path, but I began thinking about the switch to agenting over a year or so ago. 

In these past four months, I’ve opened and then closed to queries after receiving over 1,100 in just over a month. I’ve signed-up two lovely clients who are currently working on edits for their projects. I hope to open up again later in the year but right now, I’m reviewing queries from May and from pitch events I’ve participated in. 

About the Agency: 

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

I work at Azantian Literary Agency (ALA) and to be honest (and of course, biased), it’s an amazing place to be both an agent and a client at. Jen Azantian, our agency head, is someone who I’ve known since the beginning of my career, and I’ve always admired her work. I still very much do, of course. 

What separates ALA from other agencies is simply the agents that work there, their publishing goals, and their passion. We’re all incredibly passionate, nerds, who deeply care for our clients. And we’re also all huge genre fiction fans. 

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 middle-ground and young adult fiction. Like my previous editorial lists, I really do love working on a large gamut of stories. But I’m definitely known for being a huge fan of horror and other genre fiction. I’m definitely looking for horror, sci-fi, and grounded/contemporary fantasy. I’m more of a “magic in our world” than a second world-fantasy person. A lot of what I’m looking for is reflected in the projects that I worked on as editor such as: THE WITCHERY by S. Isabelle; LAST GAMER STANDING by Katie Zhao; SCAREWAVES by Trevor Henderson; and JOIN THE CLUB, MAGGIE DIAZ by Nina Moreno. 

I’m also big on comps to not just books that I’ve loved but also movies. I’m a cinephile and I feel like there’s always so much inspiration in movies and TV. 

For a more in-depth look of my MSWL and anti-MSWLs, check out my page on ALA’s site. 

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

I’m Honduran-American, I am always looking for more Honduran and CentAm authors. We have such a gap in the already small pool of Latine authors when it comes to authors from Central America, South America, and the Caribbean. 

I’m also a fan of found footage movies so when books use a mixed-media format to tell a story with framed narratives and potentially unreliable narrators, I’m immediately excited to dive in. One YA title that I really enjoyed from several years ago that used that format is THE KINGDOM by Jess Rothenberg. Another example is SCAREWAVES by Trevor Henderson is a MG who uses both prose chapters as well as radio transmission transcripts from a DJ who helps the kids in the novel. 

What She Isn’t Looking For: 

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

I’m really not looking for stories that emphasize and reflect real-life political events such as mass deportations, etc. I don’t ever want to be queried with a submission that’s been “written” by AI. Stories over 100,000 words (which should not really be a thing for kid lit) are a huge yellow flag for me. Kids, and adults too if we’re being honest, do want shorter books to read. 

I am also not looking for stories about BIPOC (as the main characters) that are not written by BIPOC. We have a huge discrepancy in these numbers* and I want to see BIPOC write the books that are going to be “mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors” as Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop wrote. 

I’m not the best fit for “Issue” books. It's not that I don’t want stories where characters are facing realistic struggles or hardships. I do. But I don’t want the whole story to be about that. Marginalized people are more than just our struggles and we have so many other stories to tell. 

*The Cooperative Children’s Book Center publishes these diversity statistics yearly. 

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? 

My goal as an agent is the same goal I’ve had since I started as an editorial assistant…my priority is to sign BIPOC, queer, and other traditionally marginalized authors. So, I’m always excited to see writers from these backgrounds playing with genre and format as well as the tropes that cis-het white authors have always gotten the opportunity to publish. We are always needing these stories. 

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? 

Absolutely! Since I was a previous acquiring editor, I bring that experience and skillset to agenting. Every book, even from the same author, is a different beast to tackle. I always do a dev edit and line-edit with each project. I’m constantly communicating with my authors. 

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? 

Via QueryManager only, please! I do not accept any pitches via DMs or through my website’s contact form from authors who are not my clients and to be honest, it will make me way less inclined to work with you. 

As for a query letter, more information is always best for me. I love knowing the who, what, why, and where. I love seeing the themes, comps, and tropes you’re working with in them. 

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

Sometime that immediately turns me off from a project is terrible comps or none at all. It suggests to me that you either don’t know the market that you’re wanting to publish in or you’re too lazy to do that research. I’ve seen more queries than I’d like that have said “for anyone who likes to read” or [insert classic novel here]. Sometimes, there’s even no comps at all. 

Response Time: 

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

It really depends. Currently, I’m averaging about 90 days for most queries. As I mentioned, I received over 1,100 queries in my first month and so and my priority is my signed clients. It’s quite a lot to get through and I do reply to every query. So even if you haven’t heard back from me in a while, it’s still under consideration. No answer is no answer. 

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? 

Absolutely!

And my advice would be the same as for debut or trad-published querying authors: do your research on that agent. Be sure to read their MSWL and anti-MSWLs thoroughly. It becomes incredibly clear in query letters when you’ve just seen my QueryManager/Tracker page and decided to just throw spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks. 

Clients: 

12. Who are some of the authors you represent? 

Currently, I represent two authors: Amber Clement and Sheryl Stein. 

Interviews and Guest Posts: 

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

You can find all of this and more on my website’s News tab: https://shellyromero.com/news 

Links and Contact Info:

@shellyromero - BlueSky
@shellyromerobooks – Threads/Instagram

@_smromero – Twitter/X

shellyromero.com 

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

Please find our Submissions guidelines on our site prior to querying me or any ALA agent. I only accept submissions via QueryManager. 

Additional Advice: 

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

I’ve got three main pieces of advice that I am always repeating like a broken record. 

1)    Read recently published titles in whatever age category and genre you’re wanting to work in. Knowing the market is incredibly important and I don’t want to see only classics or modern tentpole titles like THE HUNGER GAMES or SHADOW & BONE as your only comps.

2)    Publishing is a very slow industry. Please be patient and please remember that agents are humans too. Lots of agents have day-jobs. We have personal lives, family, and we may face illnesses or have disabilities that prevent us from being able to reply with the speed of light. We are not villains who are gleeful to reject your projects. More often than not, we can be slow in our responses, but it’s because we know how much work you’ve put into your writing and want to give it the consideration it deserves.

3)    Finding your author/writing community can be incredibly beneficial, but your path is going to look different from your colleagues or friends. Not every publishing journey looks the same, even for the different books that you write and hope to publish throughout your career. Your journey is your own journey and constantly comparing yourself to other creators does not do anyone any good. 

Thanks for sharing all your advice, Shelly.

 Giveaway Details

­Shelly 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 August 30th. If you do not want to enter the contest, that’s okay. Just let me know in the comments. If I do not have your email (I can no longer get it from your Google Profile), you must leave it in the comments to enter the contest. Please be sure I have your email address.

If you follow me on Twitter or 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 email 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.  

Upcoming Interviews, Guest Posts, and Blog Hops

Monday, August 25th I have an interview with author James Ponti and a giveaway of his MG Hurricane Heist 

Monday, September 1st I’m participating in the Glam and Glitz Giveaway Hop 

Wednesday, September 3rd I have an interview with debut author Skyla Arndt and a giveaway of her YA House of Hearts and my IWSG post 

Monday, September 8th I have an interview with author J.A. Dauber and a giveaway of his MG Press 1 for Invasion 

Wednesday, September 10th I have an agent spotlight interview with Ashlee MacCallum and a query critique giveaway 

I hope to see you on Monday!