#135 Query Letters, Persuasive Proposals, and Publishing Secrets Featuring Literary Agent Joëlle Delbourgo

Joëlle Delbourgo is President of Joëlle Delbourgo Associates, a boutique literary agency founded in 1999. She represents a broad range of adult nonfiction and fiction. Her authors include NYT bestselling and award-winning novelist Ben H. Winters; Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Debbie Cenziper and Dale Russakoff; award-winning educator Michele Borba, the late Dr. Susan Forward, memoirists Ariel Burger, Rachel Stolzman, Grace Jung and Sara Sherbill; historians Philip Freeman, Joanna Sliwa and Elizabeth White; true crime writer James Renner; and novelists Marilyn Simon Rothstein, Lindsey J. Palmer, Roy Hoffman and Rosa Kwon Easton, and Tommy Hays. A former senior executive at HarperCollins and Ballantine Books, she has a Masters in Literature from Columbia University and graduated from Williams College.

 

• Joëlle shares what she looks for in nonfiction and fiction submissions [6:50]

• Her background in both sides of the publishing wall [6:50]

• Why she considers herself a “Renaissance Agent” [7:10]

• The excellence advantage that writers need to get on her radar [14:24]

• How to craft a compelling proposal that gets attention from agents and publishers [14:49]

• Joëlle’s tips for memoirists [18:05]

• Why your query letter matters and what red flags agents look for [19:59]

• Why obsession can help get a writer a book deal [26:54]

• Can a writer jump genres? [27:26]

• Some of her authors success stories [31:16]

 

Connect with Joëlle

Website: https://www.delbourgo.com

 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/joelledelbourgoassoc

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joelledelbourgo/

 

Episodes Mentioned

Georgia Hughes formerly Editorial Director of New World Library

https://estelleserasmus.com/69-a-chat-with-the-editorial-director-of-new-world-library/

 

Michele Borba 

Writing a Bestselling Book and Making Mistakes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vY0JTzbnFrY

Estelle Erasmus: an award-winning journalist, is the author of WRITING THAT GETS NOTICED (named a "Best Book for Writers" by Poets & Writers Magazine), a Contributing Editor for Writer's Digest, and host of the podcast Freelance Writing Direct. She is an adjunct instructor for NYU’s School of Professional Studies/Center for Publishing and Applied Liberal Arts, has written for over 150 publications, including The New York Times, Next Avenue/PBS, WIRED, The Independent,The Washington Post, and AARP: The Maga