Literary Agent Interview: Cate Hart and Query Critique Giveaway

Today I’m thrilled to have agent Cate Hart here. She is a literary agent at Harvey Klinger Literary Agency. 

Status Update: Cate is currently closed to queries but plans to open to submissions the last week of October, 2026.

Hi­ Cate! Thanks so much for joining us. 

About Cate: 

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

I began as an intern for a small boutique agency and worked up to a junior agent role while working remotely. Then I joined the Harvey Klinger Agency in 2019. I’ve been an agent for 13 years. Most of what I do involves reading queries and working with clients, whether on revisions of a current project or helping them figure out their next project or simply the next steps in their career. Since I’m not based in New York, I also find opportunities to meet with editors or catch up via calls. 

About the Agency: 

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

 For more than 25 years, Harvey Klinger Agency has represented numerous best-selling and award-winning authors in a wide array of genres and age groups. We take a personal, hands-on approach to working with our authors, from offering our editorial skills to guiding careers. We work aggressively to sell our clients’ film, TV and foreign rights. I love that we all work collaboratively together. 

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? 

Along with adult, I represent mostly upper MG and YA. I am open to all genres, but I’m more selective with Historical. While I love YA fantasy, there’s been such an influx in the genre, that I am looking for something really unique while still having a high concept and commercial feel. I enjoy like cross-genres, like historical fantasy or mystery with speculative elements. For submissions, I never really know genre-wise, but if the voice pulls me in and the narrative is strong and polished, I might just fall in love with it. 

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

I am still looking for unique, atmospheric gothic tales, whether Southern or more traditional. I’d love if the period is outside of the usual Victorian era, but I’m not opposed to that period either. I’m still looking for a fun, if not campy, upper MG or YA mystery. 

What She Isn’t Looking For: 

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

Unfortunately, I don’t represent Picture Books or Chapter Books. At the moment, I’m pretty selective with Middle Grade. I’m not the best for dystopians, though I feel like they may be making a slow come back. And while I am sure there are readers for it, ecological based stories are not the best for me either. I love historicals, but I am very selective for both MG and YA. For specific time periods I am not looking for: in or around the American Civil War, mid to late 20^th century, ancient civilization or really anything before the Elizabethan era. 

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 authors for their whole career. I attempt to be open and communicative and look for that from authors. The books I want to represent are ones could see myself picking up off the shelf and wanting to read. 

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 work editorially with clients. Usually after I have read a submission and before I make an offer of representation, I have some overall notes that I share on the call. Then after coming on board, I do another read, expanding on those initial thoughts. I communicate with the author those notes to work on revisions. After revising those big picture items, we might do a round of line edits and then send out on submission. 

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 only accept queries through QueryManager. I ask for the query letter, a short 1-2 page synopsis and the first five pages. 

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

I don’t have any specific dislikes that some might consider an automatic rejection, but I’m not a fan of queries that spend more time describing themes or things that should be inherent from introducing the main character and their motivations while giving the major beats of the story in the query. For first pages, I’m not a fan of prologues as they are tricky to pull off and most times aren’t needed. It can be hard to gauge where the story is going or get a good sense of the main character from a prologue. 

Response Time: 

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

I hate to admit I am a bit slower to answering queries and requested pages. I aim for 30 days, but sometimes I can be on the fence about a query or the requested manuscript and that can take me longer to respond. 

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 am open to authors who have self-published or published with smaller presses. I feel the best advice is to query with a new project and not a continuation of something already published. For authors who have previously published, those projects show an agent they are building a readership as well have a good understanding of the publishing business. 

Clients: 

12. Who are some of the authors you represent? 

I maintain a small list of authors, but just a few are Amanda DeWitt, Lindsay Bandy and adult author Bonnie Blaylock. 

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. 

Admittedly, I haven’t done any in a while. Though there are so many great posts with advice out there that can really be applied to querying any agent. 

Links and Contact Info: 

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

Authors can query me through QueryManager at https://QueryTracker.net/query/CateHart 

Additional Advice: 

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

Keep querying and keep writing. Publishing really is about persistence. It is very subjective as well. Something that might not be great for one agent, could be just the right thing for another. 

Thanks for sharing all your advice, Cate! 

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. 

🎉 ENTER THE LITERARY RAMBLES QUERY CRITIQUE GIVEAWAY! 🎉 

Want to get your book pitch polished by a professional? Enter today for a chance to win a free query critique from literary agent Cate! 

How to Enter:

• Leave a Comment: Drop a comment below by October 31st  to lock in your entry. To protect your privacy from spam bots, please write your email address using the "name [at] gmail [dot] com" format.
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🌍 This giveaway is open internationally! You must be 13 years or older to enter. 

Upcoming Interviews, Guest Posts, and Blog Hops

• Monday, October 25th: Interview with Jackie Garcia Morales and a giveaway of her MG Pesky Rules
• Monday, November 1st: Participating in the Thanks a Latte Giveaway Hop
• Wednesday, November 3rd: Interview with Angela Cheng and a giveaway of her YA The Fast Track
• Monday, November 9th: Interview with Karen Foxlee and a giveaway of The Wonderous Tale of Lavender Wolfe
• Wednesday, November 11th: Agent spotlight interview with Riley Jay Davis and a query critique giveaway 

I hope to see you on Monday!