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Kate Woodrow is the founder of Present Perfect, a full service literary agency serving clients from across the globe. Kate launched the agency in 2015 with the goal of advocating for artists and creatives in publishing and is recognized as an industry leader in design driven nonfiction work. Kate specializes in developing visually arresting books that offer a unique perspective across a wide range of topics, particularly art, lifestyle, personal growth, and anything with a practical bent.

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Before becoming an agent, Kate was an acquisitions editor at Chronicle Books where her experience spanned 10 years and hundreds of books and gift products. Bringing that many projects from a simple brainstorm to the bookshelf gave Kate a keen sense of what makes a book commercially successful and how to be a professional collaborator.

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On today\'s episode, we\'re talking about the process for finding an agent, how to create your pitch, and how to find the right publishers. If you have ever wanted to write a book or wondered what the process was like, this episode is for you.

ON TODAY\\u2019S EPISODE:

• The misconceptions people have in regards to writing a book
• Kate\\u2019s career path & how she ended up starting her own business
• When she knew it was the right time to go out on her own
• Her role as a literary agent
• The benefits of an author hiring a literary agent and how to find one
• What Kate looks for when she is scouting artists to work with
• How she finds the right publishers for her clients
• What goes into a pitch
• A typical payment structure for an author & industry standards with regards to royalty percentages
• What\\u2019s next for Present Perfect

KEY TAKE-AWAYS:

\\u201cOne of the hardest things about writing a book is the maintaining momentum and enthusiasm for the project across a really long period of time.\\u201d - Kate Woodrow

\\u201cI had my first kid and I slowly started to realize that my priorities were shifting and that my dream had changed, so I needed to find something else to support my new dream and my new lifestyle.\\u201d - Kate Woodrow

\\u201cI represent authors and artists and across the globe and help them get book deals. That\'s the main part of it, but the bigger picture is that I am their advocate and coach and guide and I help them navigate the very opaque world of publishing.\\u201d - Kate Woodrow

\\u201c I work with my clients to develop their book ideas and I sell them to major publishers and I help my clients strategically build their publishing career beyond just that one book idea.\\u201d - Kate Woodrow

\\u201cMost often authors thank their agent in their acknowledgements so you can start compiling a list of the relevant agents who might have the category expertise that you\'re looking for and start targeting them.\\u201d - Kate Woodrow

\\u201cThe first step is finding an agent with the right category expertise.\\u201d - Kate Woodrow

\\u201cShowing that you can thoughtfully articulate a specific book concept is going to go a long way in capturing the agent\'s attention.\\u201d - Kate Woodrow

\\u201cWhen I send the proposal and that lands in an editor\'s inbox, I know she\'s going to open it right away and respond right away. Whereas if you\'re sending to a generic submissions, email address, not so much.\\u201d - Kate Woodrow

\\u201cWe feel putting together a very thoughtful, compelling vision from the get go is going to get you the best possible deal with the best possible publisher.\\u201d - Kate Woodrow

\\u201cPublishers are really looking for authors who are motivated to help make the book a success and reach a wide audience.\\u201d - Kate Woodrow

\\u201cAn author should expect to get an advance in royalties. The advance is money that\'s paid up front and is the author\'s to keep, no matter if the publisher sells zero copies or a million copies.\\u201d - Kate Woodrow

\\u201cOne important thing about putting together a pitch for an agent or for a publisher is you want to look professional and polished, but don\'t feel the need that you need to figure everything out.\\u201d - Kate Woodrow

\\u201cThere are a lot of cooks in the kitchen developing the idea and to the strongest possible book, and so I think entering into it with truly a genuinely open mind about making the strongest book is going to set you up for success.\\u201d - Kate Woodrow

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CONNECT WITH KATE:

Website: http://presentperfectdept.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/presentperfectlit/

If you\\u2019re gearing up for trade show season and need help creating a beautiful booth that doesn\\u2019t break the bank, I want to invite you to my free masterclass.

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I\\u2019m sharing my three secrets to maximize your trade show investment and keep wholesale orders coming in long after you trade show end. \\xa0To join me for this FREE workshop, head to www.theboothblueprint.com to register!

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ABOUT PROOF TO PRODUCT:

Proof to Product is brought to you by Tradeshow Bootcamp and hosted by Katie Hunt. Since 2011, TSBC has worked with hundreds of product based businesses to help them up level, scale, and build profitable sustainable companies. You can find our show notes and additional resources at ProofToProduct.com. If you like what you heard today, please head over to Apple Podcast to leave a five star review and subscribe. Thanks so much for listening. We\'ll be back next week with a new episode!