Literary Rambles

This week's Agent Spotlight features Marietta B. Zacker of the Nancy Gallt Literary Agency

About: "Marietta B. Zacker has professionally experienced every aspect of children’s books for over 15 years. She has worked with authors, illustrators, publishers, educators and readers while assisting the editors at Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, consulting with schools, authors and illustrators, selecting and selling children’s books, imparting an appreciation of literature and reading to her elementary and middle school students, guiding her college students in understanding the world of children’s literature, translating and editing for various publishers and storytelling to groups of all ages. She approaches her work with the knowledge that there are remarkable books of all genres, targeted to all ages, just waiting to be discovered. Ms. Zacker brings her varied experience to every manuscript and illustration while working alongside Nancy Gallt and Craig Virden at the Nancy Gallt Literary Agency." (Link)

She also owns a book store in her hometown of South Orange, NJ called SOMe Book Nook .

Status: Accepting unsolicited submissions and actively building her client list.

What She's Looking For:

Ms. Zacker specializes in children's books.

She is looking for the following: PBs, Rhyming Books, Board Books, Easy reader/Chapter Books, Middle Grade, YA, Non Fiction, Graphic Novels, Historical Fiction, Fantasy, Edgy. (Link) She also represents illustrators. (Link)

"I hope to help usher in a set of voices and depictions that will allow children and young adults of all backgrounds, ethnicities and countries to see themselves within the pages of our books. It is imperative that the voices and illustrations represent the population of children and young adults who crave to find themselves in the books they read - authentic voices and illustrations that move us beyond the stereotypes and are as real as the world we live in." (Link)

"Sometimes we shoot ourselves in the foot at these things when we tell a room full of writers what we love. Then all of a sudden we are bombarded with MS only about that. Often times, I don’t know what I want until I read it. I want something good." (Link & see comments).

She knows what she wants when she reads it, and encourages writers to write the story they want to write and not to follow trends. (Link)

What She Isn't Looking For:

She feels that vampires, zombies, and plot driven novels without good characterization are "done." (Link)

Ms. Zacker does not represent adult fiction or adult non-fiction.

Quotables:

"I want to see more depiction of what’s outside out world – true ethnicity, true representation of our populations. ALL kids need to be represented in books. More authentic ethnicity is needed." (Link)

“Certainly, be true to your voice. But write outside of yourself. Look beyond yourself to the world around you.” (Link)

"...Please don’t pretend that we don’t know you. Indicate that you had once submitted before and now you are submitting again. I don’t know why some writers think they can pretend like we don’t know you or won’t remember you. We will. So, just mention it in your query." (Link)

Editorial Agent?

Yes.

"I love the process of writing as much as I love connecting the dots. I love talking through issues that are not quite ironed out in manuscripts, zeroing in on places where things need to be tweaked and helping writers put their best foot forward. However, it is also true that I neither want to be a member of the writer’s critique group nor take the place of an editor who will take the book in the direction that works best for them and their publishing house. These are fine lines to walk, to be sure and sometimes difficult to discern." (Link)

Pet-Peeves:

"Marietta’s number one pet peeve is when people do not even try to pronounce her name. Mad(with a soft R roll)-ee-etta." (Link & see comments.)

Watch your formatting! She also dislikes unpaged and/or single spaced manuscripts. (Link)

Her advice to Writers:

"Use your critique groups to revise, revise, revise before sending it [your manuscript] to an agent..." (Link)

"Please sit at a library or bookstore, go to the genre which you are currently writing for, start with A and just read. When you are tired, leave, come back the next day or week and pick up where you left off. Keep doing that until you get to Z." (Link)

Clients: Hillary Wagner, Stephanie Barden, Elizabeth Schoonmaker, among others.

Sales:

Ms. Zacker is not a member of Publisher's Marketplace, but she has confirmed sales.

Query Methods:

E-mail: Yes.

Snail-Mail: Yes (preferred).

Online-Form: No.

Submission Guidelines (always verify):

E-mail: Query only. Snail-Mail: Query, first three chapters, and SASE.

Web Presence:

Twitter.

Facebook.

QueryTracker,

No agency web site.

Not a member of AAR.

No Publisher's Marketplace page.

What's the Buzz?

Ms. Zacker is relatively new to agenting, but she's been in the book industry for a long time and knows her stuff. She's already made a great impression on the writing community by making her passion and wit apparent at conferences, and she stands to develop an extremely talented list of clients.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Ms. Zacker and found her to be very nice, communicative, and gracious. See the interview here.

Worth Your Time:

Interview with Marietta Zacker right here at Literary Rambles!

Interview with Marietta Zacker by Sherrie Petersen at Write About Now.

Check out the SCBWI Conference blog here and here for notes from SCBWI-LA 09.

Tara Lazar offers a summary of the SCBWI-NJ conference with quotes by Ms. Zacker.

Sheri Perl-Oshins also has a fabulous summary of the SCBWI-NJ conference with information and quotes regarding Ms. Zacker (which features a lot of the quotes I used here - thanks Sheri!).

Contact:

E-mail: mbzacker(at)yahoo(dot)com

Snail mail:

Marietta Zacker
Nancy Gallt Literary Agency
273 Charlton Aveune
South Orange, NJ 07079

***

Have any experience with this agent? See something that needs updating? Please leave a comment or e-mail me at agentspotlight(at)gmail.com

Note: These agent profiles presently focus on agents who accept children's fiction. Please take the time to verify anything you might use here before querying an agent. The information found herein is subject to change.