Sarah Younger
If you’re a writer with a dream, get one step closer to being a writer with an agent. Learn how to hone your craft, your pitch, and your query, at the conference with a long history of launching careers.
The SDSU Writers’ Conference was among the first to pioneer 1:1 appointments with agents and editors, giving you unprecedented access to top-tier publishing professionals — many of whom interact with unpublished authors only through conferences.
The 32nd annual conference is Jan. 22-24, 2016 at the San Diego Marriott Mission Valley.
Meet Literary Agent Sarah Younger of Nancy Yost Literary Agency at the 2016 conference:
1. What’s the best advice you can give to writers who are currently polishing their pitches and query letters in preparation for the 2016 SDSU Writers’ Conference?
The best advice I can give those writer’s polishing their pitches, is to print it out and give it some time, some space (perhaps a day or three) and then come back to it with fresh eyes and clear mind.
2. Can you share one of the best/worst opening lines from query letters you’ve received?
Worst query opening and the entirety of the query email: “Attached is my manuscript.”
The best varies and could be yet to come!
3. What’s the first book that spoke to you as a young reader?
I think that would have to be Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine. I read this book in 3rd grade and totally fell in love with reading and now that I think back it’s the perfect hallmark for what was to come career wise. As I love a book that’s witty, and fun, and of course has a happily-ever-after.
4. If you had to choose only one, what’s your favorite book?
This is a HARD ONE. I really don’t think I can answer, so I’m not. (Insert evil laugh.) But I will say that Gail Carson Levine, Anne Rinaldi, and J. K. Rowling were all super influential on me as a young reader and as an adult reader. I could read almost any of their books.
5. What do you hope to find at the 32nd Annual SDSU Writers’ Conference?
Last year I found my first non-fiction project and I would love to find another one, but I’m open to anything that’s fabulous and is also something that I represent.
