🎙 INTERVIEW: Building a Creative Life, Getting Published, & Writing Through It w/ Literary Agent Kate McKean
** This is a LIVE interview with Literary Agent Kate McKean about the craft of writing and reality of building a writing career. Attendees will be sent a recording after the interview. **
What does it take to navigate the rollercoaster of publishing and build a creative life that lasts? How can you approach the business side of books without losing sight of the art?
Few people understand the publishing world from as many angles as Kate McKean. As Vice President at the Howard Morhaim Literary Agency, a widely published nonfiction writer, and the voice behind the popular newsletter Agents & Books, Kate has spent nearly two decades guiding writers through every stage of the publishing journey. Her latest book, Write Through It: An Insider’s Guide to Publishing and the Creative Life, is a candid, actionable guide to the highs and lows of life as a writer, both on and off the page.
In this conversation, Kate will share the lessons she’s learned as an agent, author, and educator: from finding the right literary partner to surviving rejection, from growing a readership to navigating the emotional terrain of a writing career.
We’ll explore:
How the practical and emotional sides of writing are deeply connected
Knowing when to stop revising and start querying
How to handle the highs and lows of submissions, deals, and reviews
The mindset shifts that help sustain a long creative career
How she’s applied her agenting knowledge to her publishing career
Her creative process for writing nonfiction
Her advice for growing a newsletter or Substack
About Kate McKean
Kate McKean is a literary agent at the Howard Morhaim Literary Agency in Brooklyn, New York. She is also an adjunct professor at New York University and earned her MA in fiction writing at the University of Southern Mississippi. Her work has appeared in Poets & Writers, Electric Literature, Catapult, and elsewhere. She writes the Agents & Books newsletter at KateMcKean.substack.com.
Your London Writers' Salon Hosts:
Parul Bavishi and Matt Trinetti are the co-founders of the London Writers' Salon, creators of the webby-nominated Writers' Hour daily writing sessions, and hosts of the London Writers' Salon podcast.
Parul Bavishi has been an editor for over a decade. In addition to running LWS she helps thriller, YA and non-fiction writers level up their craft and get published. She writes and edits for the Story Grid. She has worked as an editor and literary scout at Random House, Quercus & Eccles Fisher. She analyses TV hit shows (Killing Eve, Ozark, Game of Thrones) on the Story Grid Showrunners Podcast.
Matt Trinetti is a writer, publisher, TEDx speaker, and facilitator. In addition to running LWS, Matt designs programs to help unfulfilled professionals pursue creative work, start businesses, and reinvent their careers. Matt's work has appeared in Quartz, Observer, Creative Mornings, and on his blog GiveLiveExplore.
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