Agentopia: Cate Hart

Welcome to the June edition of Agentopia! For more information and to see other Agentopia posts, click here.

This month Cate Hart from the Corvisiero Agency is in the spotlight.

Cate is all about guilty pleasures. She loves salted caramel mochas, Justin Timberlake, Fox’s Sleepy Hollow, and Steampunk. As a native Nashvillian, Cate’s biggest guilty pleasure is watching Nashville.

When she’s reading, Cate looks for character-driven stories, a distinguished voice, and intriguing plots.She loves characters that surprise her, like the pirate with a heart of gold, and plots that keep her guessing until the very last page.

When she’s not reading queries, Cate works with clients to build their platform, works on PR projects to help promote clients’ books, and reads manuscripts with an editorial eye. 

Her first love will always be YA. She will consider any genre, but is looking especially for Fantasy and Magical Realism. 

For Middle Grade, she is looking for Fantasy, Adventure and Mystery with a humorous or heart-warming voice and a unique concept.

For Adult, she is only accepting Historical Romance.

Cate will also consider select LGBTQ and Erotica.

For Non-Fiction, Cate will consider select histories and biographies. She is looking for secret histories and little known facts and events. She enjoys reading about the everyday heroes of the American and French Revolutions, something more beyond the tactics of war.

To Submit your work:

Cate prefers you attach your 1-2 page synopsis and the first five pages of your manuscript as a separate Word .doc.

Cate will respond to every query. You can check her website catehart.com for “current through” dates as well as updated wishlists.

You can find Cate online:

Twitter
Facebook
Pinterest

Cate was kind enough to answer a few questions for YAtopia's readers...

1. What are you looking for in YA submissions right now?

I'd really like to see mystery, historical mysteries or mysteries than span generations or decades. I love fantasy, something along the lines of Sarah J, Maas or Julie Kagawa. Steampunk or clockpunk or candlepunk with a setting outside of typical Victorian London. And romance. I'll admit I'm drawn to a great love story.

2. What's an immediate turn-off in a query, something guaranteed to get the author rejected?

Not following submission guidelines or querying something I just don't represent. I'm very patient with queries, but if I can't get the gist of the story, I'm reluctant to read more. 

3. What's the story got to have to make you want to represent it?

Unique characters. Above all that's what really draws me into a story. I just signed my first client, and what I loved were her quirky, passionate characters.