Literary Agent Interview: Alexandra Levick and Query Critique Giveaway

 Today I’m thrilled to have agent Alexandra Levick here. She’s a senior agent at Writers House. 

Status Update on 1/21/2026: Alexandra will open to queries on 2/1/2026.

Hi­ Alexandra! Thanks so much for joining us. 

About Alexandra: 

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

As soon as I found book publishing, I knew I wanted to be involved. And similarly, as soon as I met an agent, I knew exactly what I wanted to do in publishing. It felt like the perfect blend of creative and business acumen for my personality. 

I’ve been working at Writers House since 2015, first as an intern, then moving up the ranks. I started taking on my own clients in 2018 and then became a senior agent at the end of 2022. During that time, I’ve built a fairly omnivorous list working in both the children’s and adult markets. I would say a majority of my list is picture book and YA, with a bit of middle grade sprinkled in, and I’ve also been growing my adult list, particularly in the rom-com and speculative/fantasy/horror spaces. 

About the Agency: 

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

Writers House was founded in 1973 with a vision for a new kind of literary agency, one that would combine a passion for managing a writer's career with an integrated understanding of how storytelling works. With this two-pronged philosophy, Writers House has played a critical role in developing the careers of hundreds of novelists and non-fiction authors. We believe in offering our clients not only our expertise in negotiating contracts, but in contributing to all phases of the editorial and publishing processes. Our goal is to maximize the value of our clients' work by providing hands-on editorial and marketing advice, as well as leading the way in branding, licensing, and selling film/TV, foreign, audio, dramatic, and serial rights. 

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? 

Children’s:

Picture book: author-illustrators and illustrators only, I do not represent text-only PB projects!

MG

YA (not murder mysteries)

Adult:

Rom-com

Speculative

Fantasy

Horror 

For my full MSWL you can go here: https://www.alexandralevick.com/mswl 

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

I’ve been feeling the need for escapism lately (I wonder why!), so anything that transports me away from the here and now (even a swoony contemporary!) is a welcome reprieve. 

What She Isn’t Looking For: 

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

Murder mysteries are not for me and a vast majority of thrillers are not my bag. I also don’t really work on verse novels. 

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? 

Quality first. Always. Even if something doesn’t hit in the market the way we hope, but the quality is there, I think that is a major win and bodes well for the career ahead. Sometimes it takes a few books to find the one the market responds to in a big way. I also spend a lot of time thinking about impact (both intended and unintended) from the work we create, and I want to feel like the books I work on put some net good into the world, even if that’s escapism. 

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’m a very editorial agent. I get deep into the weeds with my clients as early as they’ll let me. For each client that can look a bit different. Some need an idea to take a firm shape before they can invite someone else into the process, others will share several quick pitches and want feedback on which to prioritize. In all cases I’m looking to save clients time and energy by spotting potential editorial or sales issues as early as possible. I absolutely relish my job editing work with clients, I’m truly such a nerd about it, and nothing gets me more excited than brainstorming the perfect solution to an editorial problem with them! 

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? 

The best way to query me is through my Query Manager link: https://QueryManager.com/QueryAlexandraLevick 

In a query of course I want to see the usual: a brief pitch, a couple of comp titles, a bio, etc. but I particularly love to hear about the why. Why this author wrote this particular book. What about this idea called to them? Why are they the best person to write it? I love that insight into the creative process! I love hearing the passion behind a project!! 

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

I don’t love when query letters are written from the character’s perspective, it’s more confusing than intriguing to me and presents a bit of a barrier to entry. 

Response Time: 

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

I aim to be back in six weeks, but honestly the volume has been so high of late that just hasn’t been possible. Right now, it’s more like 8 weeks. But I do respond to each and every query! You will never just not hear back from me, so if you haven’t heard yet I promise I will be back to you shortly. 

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? 

Of course! My advice would be to seriously vet the interest you receive. Particularly recently, a lot of folks have sudden interest in indie authors and you want to be absolutely sure that person knows what they’re doing and can be an effective advocate for you and your work. 

Clients: 

12. Who are some of the authors you represent? 

You can find my full list of clients here!

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. 

I don’t know that there is anything that would be helpful to query me in particular, but there are a few resources I absolutely love!

-       STORY GENIUS by Lisa Cron

-       Susan Dennard’s Substack: https://stdennard.substack.com/

-       Becca Syme’s Quitcast 

Links and Contact Info: 

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

The best way to query me is through my Query Manager link: https://QueryManager.com/QueryAlexandraLevick

Please send a query letter and the first 10 pages of your manuscript (or full sketch dummy if you are an author-illustrator). 

Additional Advice: 

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

It’s so important to read and read widely, not just in your genre or age category. And more than reading and moving on from a book, it’s important to analyze why key elements of story worked (or didn’t!) in whatever you just read/watched/played/listened to. How was the pacing? Were the characters dimensional and real? What about the motivations and stakes? Were the characters making choices that drove the action or were things just happening to them? Did the world feel fully-realized and built-out? It's an important editorial muscle to build up in order to improve your own work. 

Thanks for sharing all your advice, Alexandra! 

Giveaway Details

­Alexandra 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 January 31st. 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 Bluesky 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, January 28, I have an interview with Tracy Wolff and a giveaway of her MG The Aftermyth

Sunday, February 1, I’m participating in the Heart 2 Heart Giveaway Hop

Monday, February 2, I have a guest post by V.T. Bidania and a giveaway of her MG A Year Without Home

Wednesday, February 3, I have an interview with Alichia Dow and a giveaway of her YA Until the Clock Strikes Midnight and my IWSG post

Monday, February 9, I have an interview with Seema Yasmin and a giveaway of her MG Maysoon Zayid, The Girl Who Can

Wednesday, February 11, I have an agent spotlight interview with Tamara Kawar and a query critique giveaway

Sunday, February 15, I’m participating in the Wish Big Giveaway Hop

I hope to see you on Monday!