Agent of the Month: Keely Boeving

Keely Boeving is an Agent with WordServe Literary. After receiving her B.A. in English from the University of Virginia, she went on to attend the Denver Publishing Institute and then began her career in New York working in the editorial department at Oxford University Press, where she acquired books for the trade history list. She moved back to Colorado in 2014 and began her own freelance editorial company before joining WordServe in 2016. She lives in Denver with her husband and their twins. You can find out more about her editorial work at www.keelyboeving.com.

She is passionate about partnering with clients to develop books that connect with readers, find success with publishers, delight our imaginations, and create real change in the world. She is drawn to books that bring new ideas and voices to the table, change our perspectives, and broaden our experiences.

In the children’s market: Keely represents select picture books, middle grade, and young adult fiction. She represents a wide range of genres and subjects and loves stories that feature characters who are quirky and complex. She is drawn to contemporary stories that take on perennial questions in a new way, excite the imagination, and allow children to see themselves in the book’s pages, perhaps for the first time.

For Non-fiction Books: Keely is looking for well-researched nonfiction books in the areas of health and wellness, business, parenting and family life, social justice, and religious studies; as well as projects from diverse and under-represented voices and is also seeking narrative nonfiction and memoir, and occasionally represents smart, well-crafted contemporary and literary fiction.

For the Christian market: She is seeking books in the areas of Christian Living, spiritual transformation, devotion and worship, and women’s topics including motherhood, relationships and marriage, work-life balance, and calling. She represents a wide range of genres and subjects, particularly in the areas of Christian living, spiritual transformation, the intersection of faith and culture, physical and mental health, embodiment, social justice, business and entrepreneurship, and motherhood, parenting, and family life. She is always seeking projects from diverse and under-represented voices.

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HERE ARE THE SUBMISSION GUIDELINES FOR SEPTEMBER 2021 FIRST PAGE CRITIQUES:

In the subject line, please write “SEPTEMBER 2021 FIRST PAGE CRITIQUE” Example: Paste the text in the email, plus attached it as a Word document to the email. Please make sure you put your name, the title of the piece, and genre: a picture book, chapter book, middle grade, or young adult, Non-fiction, contemporary, historical, Sci-fi, fantasy, etc. at the top on both the email and the Word document (Make sure you include your name with the title of your book, when you save the first page).

PLEASE name the Word document file by putting 2021 September  – Your Name – Title of first page. Thank you.

REMEMBER: ATTACH THE WORD DOCUMENT AND NOT GET ELIMINATED! Your First Page Word document should be formatted using one inch margins and 12 point New Times Roman font – double space – no more than 23 lines – only one page.

Send to: kathy(dot)temean(at)gmail(dot)com. Sending it to my hotmail account will probably keep me from seeing it and including you in the running.

PLEASE FOLLOW THE GUIDELINES: Your submission will be passed over if you do not follow the directions for both the pasted email and the attached Word doc. This is where most people mess up.

DEADLINE: SEPTEMBER 20th. – noon EST

RESULTS: OCTOBER 1st.

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy