Kate McKean is an accomplished literary agent at Howard Morhaim Literary Agency with nearly 20 years of building a diverse client list of New York Times bestsellers like fantasy writer Alix E. Harrow to humorist Daniel M. Lavery. She’s also been dishing out industry insider info through her popular Agents & Books newsletter and now, she’s released a book Jasmine Guillory calls “a must-have for all aspiring authors”. In Write Through It: An Insider’s Guide to Publishing and the Creative Life, McKean details what she has learned in her years in publishing that she thinks all writers need in order to persevere. We’re thrilled to feature her on our August 2025 digital cover and got the chance to sit down for an exclusive interview where she discussed her book, today’s publishing landscape and what she looks for (and avoids) when being queried.

Kate McKean is currently open for queries, check out her manuscript wishlist here.

Tell us about Write Through It. What inspired you to write this and why do you feel it’s the message that writers need right now?

I love writing and books and I’ve spent my whole career surrounded by those two things. No one knows how publishing works unless you’re in it. I’m in it, and I want to tell other people who want to be in it how it works. I started that on my newsletter Agents & Books (agentsandbooks.com) and it grew into Write Through It. Writing is hard. I want to be a little light at the end of the tunnel.

How did you strike the balance between emotional validation and actionable advice and why do both serve writers in today’s publishing climate?

Nothing is easy about publishing a book, and all that stuff comes after you spend years writing the whole thing. That can be a lonely endeavor and no one knows how it’s going to all work out–even me. Having confidence in your work and voice can help you weather the highs and lows of this industry, on top of being familiar with what those highs and lows even are. As an agent, I can’t help writers publish books they’re too demoralized to write. As a writer, I know first hand how much even a little boost helps. Besides, I was a cheerleader in high school, so I think that just comes naturally to me. The actionable advice is actually a smaller part than the emotion component, I think. There are many ways to publish a book, once you have an idea of the general guidelines.

What would you say to a writer who is currently in the thick of querying? Perhaps they feel like they’ve read all the resources and followed them to a T and still aren’t landing an agent.

It’s them, not you. There are tons and tons of literary agents out there and you aren’t going to please them all. In fact, you will please very, very few of them! It only takes one to say yes. But as a writer, you’re not writing to please a literary agent; you’re writing to please a reader. The right agent for you will see that. You’ll get more no’s than yesses–everyone does. A no doesn’t mean your book sucks. It just means that agent isn’t right for your work.

What are some of the biggest changes you’ve seen in the industry during your publishing career?

Well, when I first started I sometimes had to call an editor to see if they had enough memory in their email inbox to handle the word document I was going to send them, so obviously we’ve come a long way from that technologically. And social media has changed the media landscape top to bottom. There are fewer and fewer media outlets out there talking about books, and that makes it hard for every book to get their moment in the sun. There’s all these great books out there, but how can we tell everyone about them?

With your book, your newsletter, and other avenues, you’re constantly reaching out to writers to help them better understand the business side of things. What makes you feel called to bring that level of education to authors?

In all other art fields, it makes perfect sense that you have to figure out how the business works before you can find success. Want to be a pop star? You have to figure out record deals. Want to be an actor? You need to know how movies work. It’s no different for writers. No one’s going to see you scribbling away in a cafe and say OMG, it’s the next great American novelist! and hand you a book deal. You have to go out and get that, if you want it. I want to tell people how to go out and do that because I think it’s so interesting and also, selfishly, I want to read great books. What better way to do that than to help more good books get published.

What’s a misconception you wish more debut authors understood from the start?

Publishing will not change your life. It will not fix your problems, personally or financially. It will not heal your wounds of being bullied in middle school and it will not make the cool kids like you more now. Little changes in your day to day life when you publish a book. And that’s ok. Your life might change if you publish a lot of books, and that takes a lot of time.

What do you hope readers of Write Through It will walk away with?

I hope that readers see that agents, editors, and publishers are not this malevolent force conspiring to make things unfair for writers. I mean, publishing is not fair. It is not a meritocracy. It is subject to the biases and systemic forces everything else is in this country. But overall, the people in publishing are trying hard to get good books to the readers who need them and who want them. No one deserves to be published. Publishers have to make money to keep publishing books. But on the whole, we’re trying to use our powers for good.

What’s something that will really catch your eye in a query? What’s something that will turn you away?

A clear plot with clear stakes always catches my eye. Does your character have to do something? And if they don’t, big stuff will happen? Stuff they care about? I always want to see that. It sounds simple, but it’s true!

It’s a turn off when the author talks about their book only in abstractions (my book is about love, and hope, and faith, and healing etc) and/or only about why they wrote their book. Why they wrote it is important, but not the first thing. We don’t go to a bookstore and say I’m looking for a book that healed the author’s childhood trauma. If that’s the case, then great! But from the reader’s point of view, it’s not as important as it is to the author.

Tell us about your newsletter as well and how this differs from your book and what authors can gain by subscribing.

Agents & Books comes out Tuesdays (free) and Thursdays (paid subscribers) and has been since 2019! In the newsletter, I’m able to respond and expand on things happening right now in the industry, and lately I’ve been talking a lot about the publicity and marketing journey of the book. It’s almost a behind the scenes for the book, and publishing. I also talk to authors, do interviews, and for paid subscribers our famous Q&A Thursday, where you can write in and ask me specific questions. The book is a great resource when you want to get an overview of how everything works and for when you need to go back and look something up, to remind you how to format your manuscript or what a book advance means. It is a great companion for the whole journey from writing through to publication. The newsletter is a great reminder of what’s going on now in publishing and your weekly pep talk and reminder that everyone hates something about writing, and you’re not alone.

Write Through It: An Insider’s Guide to Publishing and the Creative Life by Kate McKean

Literary agent and author Kate McKean delivers a candid guide that helps writers navigate both the practical and emotional aspects of the publishing journey. Drawing on her experience and popular newsletter Agents & Books, McKean walks authors through every stage while addressing the often-overlooked emotional toll of the process. She reminds writers that fear, doubt, and hope are natural parts of the journey, and that the internal experience is just as important as the external milestones. This book is an essential companion for any writer seeking clarity, encouragement, and industry insight.

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