Meet the Agent: Jennifer March Soloway
Jennifer March Soloway is a senior agent with the Andrea Brown Literary Agency. Previously, she worked in marketing and public relations in a variety of industries, including financial services, healthcare, and toys. She has an MFA in creative writing and English from Mills College in Oakland and lives in San Francisco with her husband, their two sons, and a bulldog.
Amy Perl
“I love to champion others,” March Soloway says. “As an agent, I get to help people pursue their dreams. It’s thrilling to call a client to let them know their project is going to get published, especially if we’ve been trying a while without luck. One client and I had been on submission for two years. We came close several times, but something always seemed to fall apart. Yet my client never gave up. Together, we worked on countless revisions and kept trying new editors. When we got an offer, we both broke down and wept with joy. The offering editor was exactly the right person to champion the book. They understood the project and knew how to best position it. Landing with them was worth our hard work and the long wait.”
You can find March Soloway online at AndreaBrownLit.com and on X (Twitter) @marchsoloway.
Favorite
Drink: latte, no sugar
Blog: “Lately, I’ve been reading and enjoying Robert Reich’s blog/newsletter. (I’m a political junkie.)”
Living author: “Oh, goodness, there are so many, I cannot choose.”
Dead author: “James Baldwin, but also, so many others.”
Poem: “One Art” by Elizabeth Bishop
Quote: “Revision is magical!”
About Me
“In addition to reading, I watch a lot of horror movies. I love the rush of feeling scared.”
“My preferred mode of transportation is my bicycle. I ride all over San Francisco.”
“I recently started singing in a choir again—–something I haven’t done since high school. I thought my voice might have changed, but I’m still an upper soprano.”
Pitch Tips
“The goal of the pitch is to raise a question—or better yet, two more deeply compelling questions. Don’t be afraid to include an early reveal; it will raise even more questions. (I promise you’re not giving anything away.)”
“Make sure your pitch includes the main elements of your story: the protagonist, the inciting incident and/or set up, the objective/goal of the story, the stakes, and the ticking clock. You want to give some light context to establish what’s at stake, but most information—even if it feels important—can be omitted. Less is more.”
“Create a positioning statement, comparing your book to published books, aka ‘comp titles.’ Look for stories that have similar elements. Ideally, you will want to use titles published in the last three years that have sold well—but not too well.… The best comps will have large fan bases of readers that will be attracted to and want to read your novel.”
“Add a line to your bio that connects you to your story that reflects the tone of the piece.”
Writing Tips
“If something isn’t ‘working,’ try brainstorming other possible outcomes. Then try writing another outcome, even if it takes the story in a different direction than you originally planned.”
“Share your work with multiple readers. Consider their feedback, especially their questions. Heed only the advice that resonates.”
“Save a few readers for subsequent drafts, so they can have fresh eyes to catch anything you or your regular readers might miss.”
It will be OK—Truly!
“It’s OK if you accidentally type the name of a different agent; I know writers are sending out many queries; it’s easy to make this kind of editing error.”
“It’s OK if there’s a small typo—or two, or three—in your query letter or pitch; I make mistakes, too, and I promise I will understand.”
“It’s OK if you accidentally include the wrong sample. Feel free to withdraw the query with a quick explanation and then query me again with the right one. I understand and don’t mind at all. … I’m happy to disregard the first one and read the new query.”
“It’s even OK if you query me too early with a project that needs more polish. I promise I won’t hold it against you…. If you rewrite the opening pages and then send me a terrific revision, I am going to be impressed with your revising skills and your perseverance. And if I like the new draft, I will offer representation.”
Seeking
“I would love to find some more exciting adult literary thrillers and horrors. Throw in a dash of (bad) romance, make me fall in love (or lust), and I will stay up all night reading. I am also hungry for YA novels in any genre (horror, thrillers, gothic, humor), but most of all, I would like to find literary stories about ordinary teens dealing with life, family, relationships, sexuality, mental health, or recovery. The pandemic has been really hard on all of us but especially kids and teens. I think young readers are going to need to see their experience reflected on the page to know they’re not alone and to see how someone else navigates the challenges of growing up.”
Clients
Aiden Thomas, author of Cemetery Boys (Swoon Reads, 2020)
Kim Johnson, author of This Is My America (Random House Children’s, 2020)
Jamison Shea, author of I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast Is Me (Holt, 2023)
Mentor/Role Model
“I had the great fortune to assist executive agent Laura Rennert, who has been and continues to be an incredible mentor to me. The best advice I received from Laura is to consider every negative a positive. If something isn’t working—that spot is an opportunity to make the project better. Same goes for repetition in language or clichés; that language is a placeholder for a future draft. It’s amazing what just a few additional beats of detail or inner mind or context can do to a project. I love to help writers see those possibilities in their work. Writing is hard; publishing is even harder. It takes guts, thick skin, and sheer tenacity to keep going. Not only has Laura’s approach helped me hone my editorial skills, but her advice has helped me to see the power of looking at each challenge with a lens of hope and possibility.”
Dream Project
“A story that I love to read again and again and again, one for which I have editorial ideas of how to elevate the story and a vision of how to position and sell it—where I add value in multiple ways.”
Dream Client
“Someone with whom I have a solid, professional relationship built upon mutual trust and respect, complete with transparency, editorial synergy, and open communication. I want to work with someone who wants to work with me, who likes my style, who … collaborates with me editorially, who has similar goals, and who isn’t afraid to share their opinions or tell me when they disagree.”
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