Query Critiques with Erin Hosier

Literary agent, author, and podcaster Erin Hosier discusses the current publishing landscape, challenges and opportunities in the industry, the author-agent relationship, and what aspiring writers can do to develop their writing. Finally, she and Laura critique three query letters submitted by Ohio writers.

 

Erin Hosier is a literary agent with Dunow Carlson & Lerner in NYC, specializing in narrative nonfiction (music biography, memoirs by artists, history, science and untold true stories of all kinds) and select literary fiction. She is the author of the memoir DON'T LET ME DOWN (Atria, 2019), and the coauthor of HIT SO HARD by Patty Schemel (Da Capo, 2017). She is the co-creator and host of the podcast Tell Me About Your Father, now in its third year. In general, novels with happy endings put her in a bad mood. She lives in Cleveland.

 

Mentioned in this episode:

• Edan Lepucki
• Leigh Stein
• Betsy Lerner
• Molly Shannon’s 2022 Cleveland appearance (Tell Me About Your Father episode)
• Daddy Issues royal family episode (Tell Me About Your Father)
• FOREST FOR THE TREES: An Editor’s Advice to Writers by Betsy Lerner
• Youngmi Mayer
• Feeling Asian podcast
• Hairy Butthole podcast
• HYSTERICAL by Elissa Bassist
• Poets & Writers online resources
• Publishers Marketplace
• Belt Magazine
• The William N. Skirball Writers’ Center

 

Publishing News & Info

• Publishing, Under Pressure (New York Times)
• The Great Publishing Resignation (Book Riot)
• Is the Publishing Industry Broken? (Publishers Weekly)
• HarperCollins strike (NPR)

Page Count is produced by Ohio Center for the Book at Cleveland Public Library and hosted by Laura Maylene Walter. For full show notes and a transcript of this episode, visit the episode page. To get in touch, email ohiocenterforthebook@cpl.org (put “podcast” in the subject line) or follow us on Twitter or on Facebook.