When Alexandra Penfold was invited to be the kick-off speaker to The Writing Barn Presents Advanced Writer Weekend Workshop Series last October, she was a much esteemed editor at Paula Wiseman/Simon & Schuster.
In late December, Alexandra called to inform The Barn that she was making the leap from one side of the publishing arena to the other and come February 2013 she’d be an agent with Upstart Crow.
Alexandra’s engagement at The Writing Barn was in mid-January and those in attendance were invited to submit to her before she “officially” began her new post. When she made the call to Bethany, who was currently between agents and just about to be looking, she asked to be considered on her “agent shortlist.”
After fielding two agent offers, Bethany decided to sign on with Alexandra at Upstart Crow, saying, “I’ve long admired Alexandra as an editor. After chatting with her about how she plans to use her editing strengths, her business degree, and her marketing knowledge and contacts from her time at S&S, I knew she’d be the type of creative career advocate I want in my corner.”
It’s true, Bethany and Alexandra, got to spend more time together (an entire three days based around workshop events, hitting food trucks, a passion of Alexandra as she is the co-author of New York a la Cart: Recipes and Stories from the Big Apple’s Best Food Trucks) than most agents and prospective clients, even leading some of the weekend workshop together.
“We have a nice rapport,” Bethany said, “And any agent who buys a Narwhal finger puppet to comfort the writer’s on the workshop chopping block to wear for support and comfort is compassionate and quirky enough for me.”
Alexandra plans to keep her client list highly select and she is currently looking to represent picture books, middle-grade, young-adult as well as lifestyle/cooking projects. For more information on Alexandra Penfold’s tastes and how to submit to her at Upstart Crow, see here.