Welcome back to Story Effect and an extra big thank to all my listeners for tuning in for this and every episode. I’m Abagail K. Perry, host of Story Effect and developmental editor with literary agency, teaching, and film experience. Today, I want to take this time to let listeners know that I will be taking a short break from podcasting in order to welcome my first baby into this world. I’m a few days past my due date and excited to meet him and her, but also anticipate that I will be quite busy in the upcoming weeks, so podcasting will have to go on hold. 

However when I return, I do have exciting plans for evolving Story Effect into an especially resourceful and insightful podcast for writers. If you’ve listened to Story Effect episodes with associate literary agent Stephanie Winter and literary agent Maria Vicente, you probably know that I had the good fortune to work at P.S. Literary Agency for two years. During this time, I spent one year as an editorial intern working directly with Carly Watters, VP and Senior Literary Agent of P.S. Literary, and another year as P.S. Literacy’s Agency Relations Assistant. Although after these two years I decided to pursue my own creative and editorial endeavors instead of a career as a literary agent, I cannot express how grateful I am for the lessons and invaluable mentorship I received at PSLA, all of which taught me a tremendous amount about the literary agent role, query process, editing, the publishing world, and more. 

As I evaluated Story Effect and podcasting, and how I could service writers with our shared passion for storytelling and my unique experiences, I decided...

Why not adapt the Story Effect podcast into a niched podcast that can help writers tackle the query process? One of the important steps a writer needs to master during the query process is finding the right agent for them. This research can be intimidating and sometimes difficult to accomplish, so, when I return from maternity leave, I’m dedicating my podcasting skills and literary agency knowledge to helping writers do exactly this: find the agent that is best for them—the dream agent he or she would love to query. 

Not only will this new podcast provide tips on how to champion the query process, but it will also share conversations with specific literary agents on their favorite stories and manuscript wish lists, so that writers stop wasting their time querying the wrong agent, and start listening to personalized conversations that can identify if certain aspects of a writer’s manuscript is right for a specific agent.    

If you are a writer and have literary agents or query questions you’d like to learn more about, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me during my brief time away from the microphone. Email me at abigailkperry [AT] gmail [DOT] com with any questions or comments. 

Until then, visit my website at www.abigailkperry.com for more on me, my editing services, podcast, writing workshops, writing blog, and other strategies and advice on writing, editing, querying, and reading like a writer. I can’t wait to return to podcasting this fall with this evolved idea. To be informed about the release of this new podcast, sign up for my Story Effect email list, or stop by my website for new posts.

I wish you all the best of health, happiness, and creativity, and look forward to sharing my podcast’s new conversations with literary agents and their story favorites soon. Thank you, and be well.