 We asked Emma Fulenwider some questions and she answered! Keep reading to see if she's your dream agent. Emma Fulenwider is a literary agent with Wordserve Literary Agency. From reading with a flashlight under the covers at the age of seven, her lifelong friendship with books has accumulated a Journalism degree at Cal Poly, a print magazine with Best Version Media, and a literary press with the Birren Center for Guided Autobiography. She believes that writing is a form of self-care, publishing is about serving others, and yes you have to have a platform. A lay counselor and TEDx speaker, she brings a wealth of enthusiasm and energy to her new role as a literary agent. Emma likes working with thought leaders called to contribute their respectful insights into the problems we’re facing, and the ones we’re avoiding. She’s looking for adult nonfiction books that are nerdy, helpful, and true. Emma lives in California where she writes and reads and conspires with her husband to raise the two goofiest kids on earth with the help of their mini Australian shepherd. Her greyhound is no help at all.  What’s your favorite moment so far of being an agent? That first offer, hands down. I will forever be sad that there wasn’t a security camera pointed directly at my desk to capture the World’s Most Awkward Happy Dance™ that commenced when I opened that email. The project was an underdog, long-shot proposal in a genre that everyone says doesn’t sell, so finding it a home felt like putting a person on the moon. Every offer feels like that, but none of them have made me dance like that first one did. What do you love most about agenting? You know, agenting is a lot of different jobs all in one. I’ve often had two or three jobs at once because I like doing different kinds of work, so the cool thing about agenting is I get to do all these different “jobs” but toward a singular goal: Make Books Happen. The thing that most people hate about this job that I personally enjoy is reading the slush pile. I’m the slush pile queen. I love reading people’s ideas - good or bad, doesn’t matter. Each query is someone’s leap of faith, someone taking a risk and betting on their art, and it’s inspiring to engage with them in that moment. What author would you love to have dinner with? Literally any author who loves good food as much as they love good books. Those are my people. What do you wish querying writers knew? I wish that writers understood the difference between practicing writing as an artist, and the business of being a published author. I get a lot of manuscripts that have been written well and edited professionally, but the writer has no interest in doing anything else to make the book a success besides write it. If you want to write, go for it! No one is stopping you! But if you expect a publisher to invest thousands of dollars into your book, and thousands of readers to put it at the top of their TBR list, you need to be more than an artist. You need to be a writing professional, and that means knowing the competition, taking care of your fan base, and showing up for the boring parts like it’s a part-time (sometimes full time) job. Most people don’t want to do that, and that's perfectly understandable. I just wish they knew that about themselves. Because rejections hurt! People act like you owe it to your art to keep querying - like as soon as you stop you've given up, the next one could have been the one - but it's not true. You don't owe it to your art to be published, you owe it to your art to keep writing. What book world would you like to live in? Ha! It would probably be a children’s book. Fancy Nancy, maybe. Or Frog and Toad. What project would you love to see come across your desk? Oddly, I’d love to see a book about the Apocrypha. It’s as old as the Bible, and yet it’s a complete mystery to me. Pretty much any classic that we’ve come to neglect, actually. I found an old parenting book literally lying in a gutter when I was on vacation and took it home and started reading it, and it was amazing! I thought “What would it take to bring this book back into the market?” One of the first projects I really wanted to represent was called The Renaissance Man Project. The author, Nathaniel Kostar, picked up The Book of the Courtier which was first published in 1528 and documented his year of following the rules of becoming a renaissance man. Ultimately, I had to pass on it, but he published it independently and I'm looking forward to reading it. A lot of our canonical works were nearly forgotten at some point (A Christmas Carol, The Diary of Anne Frank) and luckily someone picked it up and said “Hey, look at this!” and either reprinted it or created something new in response to it so that it could re-enter the conversation. Theater does this a lot. Into the Woods. Hamilton. Have you seen Hadestown yet? It's marvelous! One of our oldest surviving plays, made fresh. New art that keeps old art alive. Send me books like that. Read more about Emma and the services she offers: www.thelifestorian.com How to query Emma: Please address queries to: [email protected]. In the subject line, include the word QUERY.  This post was complied by Brandy Vallance, a literary agent with Barbara Bova Literary Agency, an award-winning author, and a Story Consultant for Writing Day Workshops. Brandy is the winner of two national writing awards, one of which included a $20,000 prize. Her novel, THE COVERED DEEP, has been featured in USA Today & Writer’s Digest. WITHIN THE VEIL has been called “passionate and riveting” and Publisher’s Weekly encourages those who like sweeping Scottish sagas to dive in because “the journey is wonderful.” Brandy loves helping writers break the chains of fear and self-doubt. You can find out more at brandyvallance.com.  Attend a writers conference in 2025 - 2026:
Read More: Check out our New Literary Agent Spotlight to find your dream agent. Read our Literary Agent Interviews. Dive into our Writing Advice. Comments are closed.
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