Literary agent Juliet Mushens talks about what she looks for in a query letter and more

In the first of a special series of industry episodes following a books journey from being picked up by an agent all the way to Hollywood, we chat with superstar literary agent, Juliet Mushens! Juliet started her publishing career in 2008 at HarperCollins, and became an agent in 2011. She has been shortlisted for Literary Agent of the Year four times and is currently the number 1 ranked UK fiction dealmaker on Publishers’ Marketplace. In 2021 she was picked as one of the 150 most influential people in publishing by The Bookseller and The Times ran a piece recognising her as the first agent to represent the number 1, 2 and 3 UK bestsellers in the same week: ‘Star literary agent first to top the charts three times’. More than a dozen of her clients are Sunday Times bestsellers and four hit number 1 in 2022 alone. Her clients include million-copy no. 1 bestseller Jessie Burton, multi-million copy NY Times bestseller Taran Matharu, record-breaking multi-million copy no. 1 bestseller Richard Osman. Her guide to YA creative writing was published by Hodder in 2015.
We loved speaking to Juliet about how she became an agent, and talking with her about what she looks for in a query letter (including some very important dos and don'ts!) Plus, we hear how she works with authors that she represents, and chat about how she secures such brilliant deals for her clients.
Links:
Visit Mushens Entertainment: www.mushens-entertainment.com/
Follow Juliet on Twitter: / mushenska
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[@freedomthroughspirit]

Thank you. Really enjoying these agent interviews.

[@pageonepodcast]

Thanks! Glad you are enjoying them.

[@ElderBill]

This interview was so very informative. Thank you very much for doing it and for posting it.

[@pageonepodcast]

Glad it was helpful! Please do check out our other agent interviews as well!

[@WriteLinda]

Brilliant. Well done, everyone. Very well presented and engaging!

[@fabulousfinds7714]

So many great tips-thank you so much!

[@sbaglioscherzo]

Fabulous interview! Thank you :)

[@clint_oreilly]

I'm happy to have found this channel. Insightful. And am now a subscriber :)

[@pageonepodcast]

Glad you found us! Hope you continue to find the episodes useful!

[@lanceevans1689]

How am I the first comment? Thank you Juliet, that was wonderful.

[@mayablake1]

The interviewers' audio is really low. I can hear Juliet fine but keep having to turn up the volume to hear the interviewers' questions. Please fix it.

[@pageonepodcast]

Unfortunately TH-cam doesn't let you change the video once uploaded, sorry about that. When we listen, we can hear it all okay if we turn the volume up a bit?

[@tibbar1000]

I have a manuscript, true story, of a missionary to Kenya who watches her life crumble but continues to serve for 30 years. It is written like a third person privileged novel. Should I call it biography or narrative non fiction? Thanks

[@pallabigupta7251]

If I may, traditionally speaking, it's not a biography if it doesn't detail events from birth. It's a fiction "inspired by true events," perhaps?

[@tibbar1000]

@@pallabigupta7251 thanks for the reply. It is 100 true, but focuses on 30 years out of 75 .

[@miss_naomi7377]

It’s creative nonfiction.

[@tibbar1000]

@@miss_naomi7377 thank you. I got an agent!

[@judymiles7186]

Audio is too low.

[@pageonepodcast]

Sorry you found that - we've just checked and it seems okay - in fact with volume turned all the way up it is quite loud?