Now that all the contracts are signed, here's the team I'm hoping will make my middle grade adventure series a winner:
My Agent:
Natalie M. Lakosil is an agent at the Bradford Literary Agency. An honors graduate of the University of San Diego, California, Natalie holds a B.A. in Literature/Writing. After nearly four years at the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency and a brief dabble in writing author profiles and book reviews for the San Diego Union Tribune, Natalie joined the Bradford Agency in February of 2011.
Natalie is drawn to talented, hard-working new authors with a fresh, unique voice and hook. Her specialties are children’s literature (from picture book through teen and New Adult), romance (contemporary and historical), cozy mystery/crime, upmarket (literary and commercial blend) women’s/general fiction and select children’s nonfiction. Her interests within her specialties include historical, multi-cultural, magical realism, sci-fi/fantasy, gritty, thrilling and darker contemporary novels, middle grade with heart, and short, quirky, lovely or character-driven picture books. She is always drawn to an open and positive attitude in an author, professionalism, good grammar, and fantastical, beautifully written, engaging and sexy plots.
Natalie is a member of RWA and SCBWI.
Read more about her agency on their website or Facebook, and follow Natalie on Twitter @Natalie_Lakosil!
Natalie is drawn to talented, hard-working new authors with a fresh, unique voice and hook. Her specialties are children’s literature (from picture book through teen and New Adult), romance (contemporary and historical), cozy mystery/crime, upmarket (literary and commercial blend) women’s/general fiction and select children’s nonfiction. Her interests within her specialties include historical, multi-cultural, magical realism, sci-fi/fantasy, gritty, thrilling and darker contemporary novels, middle grade with heart, and short, quirky, lovely or character-driven picture books. She is always drawn to an open and positive attitude in an author, professionalism, good grammar, and fantastical, beautifully written, engaging and sexy plots.
Natalie is a member of RWA and SCBWI.
Read more about her agency on their website or Facebook, and follow Natalie on Twitter @Natalie_Lakosil!
My Illustrator:
Cathleen Thole-Daniels has been a published illustrator since 1990. Her clients include Simon & Schuster,Barnes & Noble, PlayStation, Sega Genesis, Marvel Comics, DC Comics, Legend Entertainment, Fleer Trading Card Co, Topps Trading Card Co. Her professional awards include Best Logo Design NJ-SCBWI 2009, Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, Visual Artist Fellowship Award 2008, Fantasy/Sci-Fi Illustrators & Writers Of The Future Contest, Honorable Mention 1992. Cathleen was also a N.J. State certified Commercial Art educator from 2002-2014. Her educator awards include N.J. Governor's Award in Arts Education 2006, Outstanding Educator in the Arts Award, VSA Arts of New Jersey 2006. VSA is an affiliate of the JFK Center for Performing Arts. Cathleen now spends her time illustrating for kids, playing with her cats and bugging her husband, daughter and neighborhood squirrels to pose for photo reference! You can find her work at http://cathleendaniels.com/
Cathleen Thole-Daniels has been a published illustrator since 1990. Her clients include Simon & Schuster,Barnes & Noble, PlayStation, Sega Genesis, Marvel Comics, DC Comics, Legend Entertainment, Fleer Trading Card Co, Topps Trading Card Co. Her professional awards include Best Logo Design NJ-SCBWI 2009, Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, Visual Artist Fellowship Award 2008, Fantasy/Sci-Fi Illustrators & Writers Of The Future Contest, Honorable Mention 1992. Cathleen was also a N.J. State certified Commercial Art educator from 2002-2014. Her educator awards include N.J. Governor's Award in Arts Education 2006, Outstanding Educator in the Arts Award, VSA Arts of New Jersey 2006. VSA is an affiliate of the JFK Center for Performing Arts. Cathleen now spends her time illustrating for kids, playing with her cats and bugging her husband, daughter and neighborhood squirrels to pose for photo reference! You can find her work at http://cathleendaniels.com/
My Publicist:
After years of working in children's publicity at Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, and other major publishers, in 2003, Rebecca Grose started her own freelance literary publicity firm - SoCal P.R. (www.socalpr.net). Using her experience and relationships with media, booksellers, and other key contacts, she works closely with her clients to strategize, design, and implement successful publicity campaigns. She has worked with several of my friends, including Yvonne Ventresca, for her Pandemic release.
So that's the team. We're all excited for this project and I think working together it will be a dream realized for me. This is the first children's book that I wrote (if you don't count all the verbose picture manuscripts I tried). And as I've mentioned, it has a special place in my heart.
Next week, this post will move over to my journey page and my blog posts will go back to writerly and world musings. When something big or exciting (hopefully not upsetting) occurs, I'll post it to the main blog then move it over.
Next, I hope to show a rough draft from Cathleen as our projected debut is September for the first book, December for the second. If all goes well, March for the third and June for the fourth.
Keep checking in,
Char
