On Tuesday 14th March, Hannah Sheppard launched the Hannah Sheppard Literary Agency (HS-LA)!! HS-LA is a boutique agency with the primary focus on bringing down barriers to entry for Authors and consciously building up a community of Authors who celebrate diverse and joyful representation.
Tell us about HS-LA and why it was founded?
I’ve always loved the idea of having my own business. When I was at university, I set up a poetry press with some friends and when I moved across to agenting from editorial (I’ve been an agent for 10 years, after being an editor in-house for 10 years before that) it was always with setting up my own agency at the back of my mind. Over the years I’ve done numerous one to ones with aspiring authors and I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve been told that publishing feels impenetrable and there seems to be a general idea that agents are incredibly fierce and intimidating. On top of that, I’ve been paying a lot of attention to the issues we have in the industry - both in terms of diversity of staff and authors and the barriers to entry that exist, and I wanted to start an agency that tried to address some of these issues.
What experience and knowledge from your time at DHH Literary Agency will you be bringing into your new Agency? And how will you be making a change when it comes to demystifying publishing for Authors?
I’m a very editorially led agent - I love working with authors to develop ideas and so that editorial background is definitely something I’ll be putting to use. But I also aim to be more outspoken about the changes the industry needs, to build my list with inclusion in mind and to help authors navigate the industry more easily. I have a page of recourses for authors on my website which I’ll be adding to over time, and once a month I’ll be holding a zoom drop-in session for authors (and people who want to work in the industry) to come and chat and ask questions.
What exciting plans do you have for the Agency in the upcoming months and year ahead?
I hope to have lots of excellent book deals to announce soon - I have some amazing books coming through at the moment which I’m really excited about pitching to editors. I also plan to hold at least one virtual pitch session for authors… I may do some in person in future too, but at the moment I think the virtual option is the most accessible to the widest range of authors.
Check out the HS-LA socials below to keep track of what they get up to, new clients and book reveals, details on their monthly aspiring Author Zoom drop-ins, and more!!
