SPOTLIGHT FEATURE: Leticia Gomez from Savvy Literary

Good morning, everyone!

We start off the new year with a wonderful interview with Leticia Gomez!

Leticia Gomez is the founder of Savvy Literary, a literary agency based in the US. She specialises in representing non-fiction books and has represented works across the spectrum of non-fiction genres. According to Publishers Marketplace in 2020, Leticia ranked number one in the numbers of deals she made in the non-fiction: narrative category, number two in non-fiction: anthology, and number eight in non-fiction overall, among all literary agents in the United States.

Leticia has worked in the publishing industry for nearly three decades where she has published her own newspaper, authored and published three books, and edited numerous fiction and nonfiction manuscripts written in both English and Spanish that have gone on to publication. As a literary agent, she has placed more than 200 books with independent and mainstream traditional publishers.

Check out some highlights from our interview with Leticia below.

“I firmly believe that everybody has a story inside of them that’s just itching to get out, so don’t ignore that feeling.”

Good afternoon Leticia, thank you so much for taking the time to talk with us today! We would love to know more about how you became an agent, what you’re looking for in submissions, and advice for querying authors.

Q. What brought you to agenting?

I got my start in the publishing industry by publishing a bilingual newspaper with my best friend. Then I got married and wanted to start a family. I relocated to Texas and continued in the publishing industry by doing magazine freelance writing work until I got pregnant with my first child. At this time I decided I wanted to do something else to keep me occupied, so I wrote a romance a novel and found my own publisher for it. That’s what gave me the first taste of being a literary agent. I knew from then that I wanted to work in publishing as either a literary agent or as an acquisition editor, but back in the early 2000s a lot of acquisition editors really had to be based in New York or California, so I chose to become a literary agent. And then in 2007, I started my own agency, Savvy Literary Services.

Q. What’s at the top of your fiction wish-list? What authors do you love? What kind of books?

Upmarket contemporary women’s fiction is always at the top of my list because women are the biggest consumer of books, and there’s also more women writing. I really want good upmarket contemporary women’s fiction – I will do some historical, but it’s a bit more difficult to place. I’m essentially open to anything written for women, by women.

Q. What do you love when it comes to non-fiction? What topics fire you up? Which genres leave you cold?

In non-fiction I specialise in narrative non-fiction, whether it’s historical or contemporary. The reason I really love narrative non-fiction is because they’re very desirable in terms of being optioned for film and television. So true stories, narrative non-fiction, and memoirs. And then anything that’s self-help for the adult market across all the boards, whether it’s business, self-help, health, and advice and relationship books. I also represent a great deal of inspirational and spirituality books.

Q. Is there any genre you’d rather not receive?

In fiction, I don’t do erotica and horror, and really those are the only two genres that I will shy away from at first sight. I don’t do poetry. I also don’t do children’s picture books. I do however do middle grade and young adult novels.

For non-fiction there’s very little that I won’t take a look at.

Q. What do you want to see in a query letter? And what do you hate?

With fiction I want the writer to give me their best well thought out elevator pitch. I want the title of the work, the genre, the word count, and a really good overview of the plot/storyline. I would attach to it the first 3 chapters. I know some agents ask not to send attachments but I prefer attachments than to have it pasted into the body of an email because that amount of text in that space becomes overwhelming.

For non-fiction I really have to see a well put together book proposal. Even if the author has the full manuscript ready I just want to see the proposal.

Q. Same question when it comes to the synopsis. What should writers do? What should they avoid?

I prefer a synopsis on the shorter side, between 2 and 5 pages. Anything longer than that and it becomes difficult to follow. Keep it short and sweet. I do, however, want them to have a beginning, middle, and an ending. You don’t necessarily have to include all the spoilers though. I want the author to set the stage for the story and set up the intrigue, but not let the cat out of the bag.

Q. What are you looking for in the opening pages of a novel? What really excites you?

I’m a sucker for great one-liners. I like a good balance between narrative and dialogue – I don’t want all narrative or all dialogue. I like for the dialogue to be very witty, crisp, and authentic sounding to the character.

Q. How can a book proposal convince you to take on a book or to hear more about an idea?

Firstly, the overview has to hook me. Then, it has to answer the following questions: what is the concept of the book, why is now the best time to write and publish this book, why is the author the best person to write the book, and what are the reader takeaways? A proposal that answers all of these questions will capture my heart and make me want to read more.

Q. What is a day in the life of an agent like for you?

The one thing I will say is that the life of an agent is very unpredictable. It’s difficult to plan out your days in advance.

The first thing I do is grab my coffee (I can’t function without coffee), turn on my computer, and check my emails. Usually by this point my day has already been derailed because something has come up in my inbox that I need to give immediate attention to, so my plans from the night before fall apart. For me the first order of business is to look at emails that might contain publication offers, as those require immediate attention. Publication offers are my number one priority. Number two is putting out any fires that have emerged in my inbox. Number three is business development. Number four is reviewing new submissions, unfortunately at the bottom of the chain.

Q. Any final words of advice for querying authors?

The first thing I have to say is to summon up the courage to query. Give it your best shot because sometimes that’s all you get in life, one shot. Be yourself; let your personality come out. It’s not just a piece of writing it’s a person with a dream, so show me just how much it means to you through your writing and through your query.

There’s also no better time than the present to write. If you’ve got a story inside of you then you need to get it out. Whether that’s a fiction story, or non-fiction, get it out of your system. Don’t worry about getting it out perfectly, just write it and worry about going back and editing it later. I firmly believe that everybody has a story inside of them that’s just itching to get out, so don’t ignore that feeling.

The full interview can be found on Leticia’s AgentMatch profile.

In the meantime, if you’re struggling with your query letter and synopsis, do check out our free resources on our website. We have lots of info to help you on your way. Or, better still, if you’re a Premium Member with us, our lovely Writers Support team will be happy to offer you a free query letter review!