Today I’m thrilled to have agent Andrea Colvin here. She’s the president of and an agent at Andrea Colvin Creative Agency.
Status Update: Andrea will be reopening to queries in June 2026.
Hi Andrea! Thanks so much for joining us.
About Andrea:
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 just over four months! I started my agency at the end of 2025 after being laid off from my job as editorial director at Little, Brown Ink. But for a long time I’ve been what I call “agenting curious.” I was always a bit jealous of the ongoing relationships agents got to have with authors, whereas editors aren’t always able to acquire their next books, for a variety of reasons. My favorite part of being an editor was always working with authors, and now I get to essentially do that full time!
About the Agency:
2. Share a bit about your agency and what it offers to its authors.
My agency represents authors and illustrators in the children’s space, from board books through YA, from heavily illustrated projects to prose-only projects. Because of my background in graphic novel publishing, my client list has graphic novelists strongly represented, but I also love working with picture book creators and middle-grade and YA authors. My overall goal for the agency is the same as most agencies—to make my clients money and get their work in front of the largest audience possible. But I do think a lot about the experience my clients will have working with me. I want everyone represented by ACCA to feel fully confident that I am working as hard as I can to advance their careers. I want them to know that I will respond to their emails right away. I want them to feel supported!
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?
As noted above my agency represents authors and illustrators in the children’s space, from board books through YA, from heavily illustrated projects to prose-only projects. I’m looking for both literary and commercial projects. And I am looking for illustrators who want to illustrate other people’s projects, whether they are graphic novels or picture books, covers or interior illustrations.
It’s harder than ever to break through the submissions noise these days, so I am looking for projects that connect with readers right out of the gate, where the first page plunges us into the story, tells us what to expect, and instills that urge to keep reading.
4. Is there anything you would be especially excited to seeing in the genres you are interested in?
I’d love to see a very voice-y middle-grade prose novel or nonfiction manuscript. And a very innovative picture book or early reader with lots of layers.
What She Isn’t Looking For:
5. What types of submissions are you not interested in?
I do horror or creepy stuff sparingly (though I have some clients who are terrific at it, I get scared reading it!). And I am taking on picture book authors (who do not also illustrate) only very sparingly.
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 diversity in every sense of that word. So I’m looking for authors of different backgrounds (to my own and to each other) and illustrators with different styles. I’m looking for books that are about diverse topics and are different from other books I represent.
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?
Very much so (I always say, editors are gonna edit, and I am still an editor on the inside). And it’s getting so difficult to make it through the submissions process that I want all of my clients to be putting their best feet forward. What this usually means is that we have editing rounds before we go on submission. It’s not enough anymore that an editor can see the promise in a project; they must also see the execution.
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?
I am closed to queries for the time being while I work through my backlog, but I plan to open back up this summer. My submission guidelines are available on my website here.
- Please send all queries
via the Submission Form or to andrea@andreacolvincreative.com with “Query”
in the subject line.
- Novels (middle-grade
and YA): Please send a query letter, bio, and the first 10 to 20 pages of
your manuscript.
- Picture books: Please
send a query letter, bio, and your manuscript and/or dummy as an
attachment. If you are an illustrator, please also include a link to your
portfolio.
- Graphic Novels: Please
send a query letter, bio, and your pitch packet which should include
sample pages. Please also include a link to your portfolio.
- Illustrators: For
illustrators seeking illustration representation, please send a bio and
portfolio, and a brief description of your career goals.
*Though we do our best to
respond to every submission, please note that our response time is currently
8-12 weeks.
Ask me again in a year!
Response Time:
10. What’s your response time to queries and requests for more pages of a manuscript?
I’m running closer to 3 months right now, but I’m hoping to get this back down to 8 to 12 weeks.
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. They should query the exact same way as unpublished authors.
Clients:
12. Who are some of the authors you represent?
https://www.andreacolvincreative.com/illustrators
https://www.andreacolvincreative.com/authors
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.
https://youtu.be/cwYwsrVT51g?si=Z44zSXl9KEo5Um2G
Links and Contact Info:
14. Please share how writers should contact you to submit a query and your links on the Web.
See above in the query submissions and guidelines section
Additional Advice:
15. Is there any other advice you’d like to share with aspiring authors that we haven’t covered?
Try to remember that agents and editors are all human beings with busy jobs. They want you to be successful and they don’t want to ignore you! They are all making decisions about how to spend their time every day and they are often prioritizing existing clients and projects. And trust me, they are all well aware that you could have written the next Twilight or Smile or Harry Potter and they just haven’t found time to read it yet, and yes, they feel terrible about this!
Thanks for sharing all your advice, Andrea!
Giveaway Details
Andrea 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 May 23rd.
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
Saturday, May 16th, I’m participating in the Moms Rock Giveaway Hop
Monday, May 25th, I’m off for Memorial Day
Monday, June 1st, I’m participating in the Very Berry Giveaway Hop
Wednesday, June 3rd, I have an interview with Dana Swift and a giveaway of her YA When Dealing With Dragons and my IWSG Post
Monday, June 8th, I have a guest post by Rebecca Caprera and a giveaway of her MG Eva to the Max
Tuesday, June 16th, I’m participating in the Dad-o-Mite Giveaway Hop
Wednesday, June 17th, I have an agent spotlight interview with Madelyn Knecht and a query critique giveaway
I hope to see you on Saturday!
2 comments:
Great interview - thank you! I would love a query critique! Shared this on X and FB.
Thank you for sharing this helpful interview and giveaway opportunity! (email: bookclubhbhs@yahoo.com)
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