November/December Agent of the Month – Jane Chun – Interview Part Two

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER AGENT OF THE MONTH – JANE CHUN

TRANSATLANTIC AGENCY

Jane Chun joined Transatlantic in 2023 after four years at Janklow & Nesbit Associates. Prior to her time at J&N, she worked on a freelance project for HG Literary and interned at Writers House and Maximum Films & Management.

Before entering the publishing world, Jane attended NYU where she majored in History and minored in Business of Entertainment, Media, and Technology; Creative Writing; and Spanish. She returned to NYU shortly after graduation and a brief stint at Asian CineVision and the Asian American International Film Festival (AAIFF) to receive her M.S. in Publishing with distinction. She is a native New Yorker.

What Jane Wants:

Jane is particularly interested in stories that center on marginalized communities and prose that is cinematic and atmospheric with good rhythm. In both fiction and nonfiction, she is drawn towards compelling, fresh voices that make her feel as though the writer is in the room with her, telling her their story with intimacy as if they were already acquainted. Regardless of how plot-driven a story is, characters with rich inner worlds and emotional depth are a must for her.

1. For fiction, she is seeking commercial, upmarket, and literary works in both adult and MG/YA about the search for and rebuilding of identity, diaspora, family and community, and examinations of power in relationships.

2. She is also looking for fantasy, sci-fi, and speculative fiction that delve into sharp social commentary and have meticulous world-building and settings that don’t feel like Western Europe.

3. For historical fiction, she likes hidden histories and anything that is set in a time or place she’s not familiar with or focuses on a community that has been often overlooked if it’s a time/place she knows.

4. In terms of nonfiction, she is looking for memoirs and narrative nonfiction with a nuanced, intersectional approach and similar themes to her interests in fiction. She also is interested in books about food, travel, pop culture, and cultural criticism that dive deeply and thoughtfully into culture and traditions, particularly those written by authors of color.

5. In addition to traditional prose, she is very interested in graphic novels and nonfiction. She is looking for stylistically engaging, unique art that feels either nostalgic without being derivative or fresh and boundary-pushing. At the moment, she is only open to picture books by referral.

She is not the right person for prescriptive nonfiction, self-help, religion/spirituality books, romance, commercial thrillers, hard sci-fi, poetry, or short story collections.

For more details on what she’s looking for, please refer to her MSWL: https://www.manuscriptwishlist.com/mswl-post/jane-chun

Jane’s Submission Guidelines:

Please send the following through Query Manager.

If you are having difficulty using Query Manager, you can query Jane by email [queryjane@transatlanticagency.com]

Please do NOT submit your query through both methods; the duplicate query will not be answered.

Fiction: a brief introduction, a synopsis, and the first ten pages. For email queries, please include all text in the body of the email

Nonfiction: a brief introduction, a full outline, and the first ten pages of the proposal. For email queries, please include all text in the body of the email

Graphic novels/nonfiction: a brief introduction, a synopsis/outline, and at least five illustrated pages with text. If you do not have five pages, you can send ten script pages and some sample art instead. For email queries, please attach the sample pages/art as a PDF

For email queries, include the book title, category/genre, word count (or estimated page count for graphic novels/nonfiction), and your author bio.

HERE IS PART ONE OF JANE’S INTERVIEW:

Do you think being a native New Yorker has helped you in your career?

Yes, New York is the center of publishing, and I’m very lucky in that I didn’t need to relocate. I was able to take internship and job opportunities at places like Writers House, HG Literary, Maximum Films and Management, and Janklow & Nesbit Associates that otherwise would not have been open to me. I’ve also been able to network with editors, scouts, and other publishing professionals easily although Zoom makes networking much more accessible now.

What made you choose NYU majored in History and minored in Business of Entertainment, Media, and Technology; Creative Writing; and Spanish?

History – It was between history and English, but I ultimately chose history because I’m fascinated by the past, the way that people lived then,] and the way that connects to how we live now. There was also a lot more freedom in terms of the courses I could take in the history program; for instance, I took a class on 20^th century U.S. History in/through film, another on race theory, daily life in China from 1750-1950, global sociopolitical history through the lens of soccer/football, and more. That variety gave me a more well-rounded perspective on the world, and I still remember what I learned from those courses today!

Business of Entertainment, Media, and Technology – At one point, I was interested in becoming a film/TV producer, and what better place to learn about the entertainment and media business than NYU? This minor is a hybrid one offered through Tisch and Stern, so I was able to learn about the industries from both the creative and business ends.

Creative Writing – I was eager to stretch my fiction and poetry writing and editing muscles, and NYU has a wonderful, storied creative writing department. It was nerve-racking presenting my work for critique, but the experience was invaluable and is useful to me now as an agent.

Spanish – Fun fact about me: I love learning languages, and at one point I was, to varying degrees of proficiency, able to converse in five languages. All the AP credits I had from high school allowed me to skip a lot of requirements and freed up my schedule, so I took full advantage of that by enrolling in multiple language courses at NYU (and I still wish I was able to take more!). I chose to minor in Spanish because aside from my deep love for the language, I had made much more progress on that track than other languages as I had taken AP Spanish, and it was my dream to study abroad and live with a host family in Spain.

Was minoring in Business of Entertainment, etc. the reason you decided to become an agent?

No, that minor is focused on film/TV, which is an industry I was considering pursuing a career in prior to jumping into publishing.

How did you end up working with Transatlantic Agency?

I was ready for the next step in my career, and I was fortunate in that when I started talking to other agents, a friend told me that Transatlantic was looking to bring on a new agent. I connected with some Transatlantic colleagues and Samantha Haywood, our president, and I loved Transatlantic’s work culture and vision as well as the agency’s willingness to support my career.

Did you go for your MS in publishing while working as an agent?

No, I completed my M.S. in publishing before working full-time at an agency.

Can you tell us a little bit about the Asian CineVision and the Asian American International Film Festival?

Asian CineVision is a grassroots organization that provides a platform for AAPI artists in the media arts and is devoted to the development, exhibition, promotion, and preservation of Asian and Asian American experiences through storytelling. They’re behind the Asian American International Film Festival, which was established in 1978 and is the first and longest running film festival in the U.S. that showcases independent Asian, Asian diaspora, and Pacific Islander cinema.

It goes without saying that Asian representation—and diverse representation in general—is incredibly important and personal to me, and my time at ACV/AAIFF was one of the highlights of my life. I’m still good friends with many of the people I worked with there, and I remain a staunch supporter of ACV/AAIFF even though I left the film/TV world behind me.

Do you work from home or go into the office?

I work from home.

What are your agent’s career goals?

My aim in the upcoming year is to grow my list as I’m just starting out in my career. I’m actively seeking clients in the children’s and adult spaces, and while I know my interests as well as my strengths and weaknesses, I’m also open to learning about genres I’m not as well-versed in. You never know where that will take you!

Do you limit the number of clients you represent?

No.

Any story or themes you wish someone would submit?

Not currently although I’m always looking for inclusive representation. That doesn’t just mean stories by, for, and about people from marginalized and/or underrepresented communities, but more variety and depth in the books that get published as well. For instance, as much as stories about trauma and pain are important, I firmly believe that there’s room for joy as well because we’re more than our oppression and struggles. Going back to the conversation about AAPI representation which I touched upon earlier, I’m deeply passionate about immigrant stories, but I feel like the predominant focus when it comes to books about the AAPI experience is on the Asian immigrant/1.0-2.0 Asian American experience in coastal areas. I’d love to see more stories set outside of coastal urban areas and stories that feature Asian Americans who have been here for generations too.

FIRST PAGE CRITIQUE SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:

PLEASE name the Word document file using 2023 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER FIRST PAGE  – Your Name – Title of first page. 

IMPORTANT FIRST PAGE NOTE: Almost everyone who submitted a first page last month, did not submit it correctly.

1. You must include at the top of the page your name, the title, and the genre. Do not use a header for this. It stops me from being able to copy and paste it into the blog post.
2. Make sure you include the genre. This will help the agent give you a better critique.
3. This is not an anonymous submission. So please include your name at the top of the page.
4. I still need everyone to use their name, title, and genre in the file name of the attachment.

REMEMBER: I DO NOT OPEN ATTACHMENTS WITHOUT HAVING THE FIRST PAGE PASTED DIRECTLY INTO THE EMAIL THEN THE WORD DOCUMENT ATTACHED. PLEASE PUT 2023 SEPTEMBER FIRST PAGE IN THE SUBJECT BOX AND SEND IT TO: kathy(dot)temean(at)gmail(dot)com.

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. Remember to indent your paragraphs. When Dialog is used “parenthesis” should be used. When a new person speaks a new line should be used.

PLEASE DO NOT USE A HEADER. Place everything directly on the page. Remember a first Page should have a title, your name, and the genre on the first line. Thanks!

MUST USE WORD OR A PDF – I CAN’T OPEN PAGES

Send to: kathy(dot)temean(at)gmail(dot)com.

PLEASE FOLLOW THE GUIDELINES.

DEADLINE December 1st – noon EST

RESULTS: December 8th

CHECK BACK NEXT FRIDAY FOR PART TWO OF JANE’S INTERVIEW.

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy