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Ask The Agent — Skylark Literary
Simon Whaley chats to literary agents Amber Caravéo and Joanna Moult of the Skylark Literary Agency.
This feature first appeared in print in the August 2023 issue of Writing Magazine.
Amber Caravéo was the Editorial Director at Orion Children’s Books, and Joanna Moult edited Cressida Cowell and Alex Shearer, among others, at Hodder Children’s Books. They joined forces to establish their boutique literary agency representing writers of children’s and young adult (YA) books.
Why did you leave publishing to establish Skylark Literary?
Being a literary agent involves all the same skills we needed as editors, but with added freedom. In the major trade publishers, the further you progress up the ladder, the more your time is taken up with strategy, profit-and-loss charts, and project management, rather than actually working with authors on their wonderful books. Unsurprisingly, it was the creative work with authors that we particularly loved, so setting up our own literary agency allowed us to get back to working directly with authors once again, and we’ve never looked back!
