Linda Camacho On Being Persistent With Your Creative Pursuits

Warm welcome to our new listeners, be sure to follow us on Instagram @88CUPSOFTEA to keep up with our latest posts and Instagram stories where we announce new episodes and essays,  feature our favorite quotes, and host Instagram Story takeovers by some of your favorite authors. So make sure to head over to https://www.instagram.com/88cupsoftea/ so you don't miss out on the next takeover!  --------------------------------------- We Love Our 88 Cups of Tea Sponsors Did you know we collaborated with VCFA's MFA in Writing for Children & Young Adults to curate a thoughtful series of intimate essays and podcast episodes so you can feel empowered throughout your writing journey? Click here to explore the published pieces. Vermont College of Fine Arts is a global community of artists continuously redefining what it means to be an arts college. They're accredited by the New England Commission on Higher Education and offers the Master of Fine Arts degree in a variety of fields, including Writing, Writing for Children & Young Adults, and Writing & Publishing, along with an International MFA in Creative Writing & Literary Translation. With low-residency and fully residential options, VCFA has the graduate program to fit your needs. Be sure to learn more about VCFA by clicking here! --------------------------------------- Curious about breaking into the publishing industry and becoming a literary agent? Or how to craft the best query letter for your story? How about the common mistakes to avoid as a new author navigating the publishing world? We talk about it all and more with Linda Camacho. Linda is a literary agent with a B.S. in Communication from Cornell University and an MFA in creative writing from the Vermont College of Fine Arts. She's held various positions at Penguin Random House, Dorchester, Simon and Schuster, Writers House, and Prospect Agency. Now at Gallt & Zacker Literary Agency, Linda is looking for MG, YA, and adult fiction across all genres (especially upmarket, women's fiction/romance, and literary horror); she's also seeking select graphic novel writer-illustrators. We kick off the conversation talking about horror movies and how they sparked her love for storytelling inspiring her publishing career. We discuss the publishing world and the different roles she had that lead her to become a literary agent. From this conversation, she shares how crucial it is to uplift your community, not take any opportunities for granted, be relentlessly persistent in your creative pursuits, and to know your worth. Further in, we talk about how to create lasting diversity in publishing. And later, Linda chats about her experience getting her MFA in creative writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts and how her degree helped strengthen her skills as a literary agent and communicate better editorially with her clients. We dive into how to improve your query letter, the common mistakes new authors make navigating the publishing industry, and how to avoid them. Please say 'Hi' to Linda on Twitter! https://twitter.com/lindarandom Head over to her shownotes page at https://88cupsoftea.com/linda-camacho to download one of her favorite query letters and to find the resources and books mentioned in her episode, tweetable quotes, and the timestamps of highlights throughout the entire conversation.