Author & Agent Interview: Megan Kamalei Kakimoto and Iwalani Kim

Today, we are thrilled to be interviewing Megan Kamalei Kakimoto, Kanaka Maoli author of Every Drop is a Man’s Nightmare, and her literary agent, Iwalani Kim. More about Megan can be found on her website and more about Iwalani can be found on her agency’s website.

You can add Megan's short story collection, Every Drop is a Man's Nightmare, to your Goodreads here, or to your Storygraph here. Megan's book is also available now through these retailers.

We started this Author & Agent blog series to spotlight Pacific Islander creators and their agents for Asian and Pacific Islander month. Our hope is that this series will inspire other Pacific Islanders interested in pursuing traditional publishing as creators or as agents! As we learned in the creation of our website, there is not a single Pacific Islander agent, and we hope to see that change.

Thank you for joining us!

Megan's Interview

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself, and the project for which you've found representation? 

I’m a mixed Kanaka writer currently based in Honolulu. I found representation for my debut story collection Every Drop Is a Man’s Nightmare (Bloomsbury, 2023), and my forthcoming novel Bloodsick. 

What inspired you to write it?

The story collection was inspired by so many of my longtime interests and obsessions, including the female body, local superstitions, the moʻolelo of my ancestors, and the collision of the mythic and the modern. 

What resources did you use to compile your list of agents to query? What criteria did you use to build your list?

I had an unusual query journey, in that I both queried traditionally but also connected with Iwalani (who would become my agent) before my manuscript was ready. Our connection happened before I queried. Iwalani sent me the most generous “fan mail from a literary agent” after happening upon a tweet I wrote about getting into Tin House then reading from my website the only story I had ever published: “Temporary Dwellers” in Qu Literary Magazine. I didn’t have a completed manuscript at the time, but we decided I would touch base when I did. (I should say it was the honor of a lifetime to receive this “fan mail”!) 

About four months later I was feeling confident in my draft collection and was ready to query. I had assembled a list of agents by browsing the acknowledgements of books for which I felt a strong affinity and connection—books I imagined were in conversation with my own. Here I found most authors would reference their agents in their thanks. I decided to query these agents once I researched their tastes and interests in a manuscript, so long as they were in line with my project. And of course, I reached out to Iwalani. 

Did you tailor your query to each agent?

Absolutely. Each agent is taking their time to encounter your query (and sometimes even an excerpt of your work). I think it’s incumbent on the writer to do their research and query wisely so as not to waste either person’s time. 

What about Iwalani made you query her?

Though Iwalani was the one to reach out, I felt especially excited to query her based on her commitment to championing Kānaka and Pacific Islander writers. It’s one of the very first things we talked about, and we continue to have related conversations to this day. It’s also an interest I don’t hear often expressed in the publishing world. Receiving her email was so touching and honestly very exciting (to have an agent interested in my work seemed like the dream come true), but even beyond that initial excitement, I was also just very taken by her outlook on Pacific Islander representation and her passion for short story collections. 

What advice would you give creators looking for representation?

Be intentional in everything you do. I don’t believe in querying widely just to get an offer of representation from any agent who will have you. The author-agent relationship is exactly that, a relationship, and you want to feel both comfortable and confident in your partnership. Also, be mindful about why you are querying, and don’t query before you or your project are ready. Give your book the best chance to find its ideal agent by first making it the best it can be. 

When Iwalani offered, what made you decide to sign with her? What criteria did you consider?

Iwalani saw into the heart and soul of the collection, truly. When we had our first zoom (before she offered representation), Iwalani walked me through her reading experience story by story, then spoke to the book as a whole. And that magical thing happened in which it felt she was describing the book I dreamed of writing, seeing potential in each story while offering thoughts on the book’s thematic ligature. I was searching for a strong editorial partner, and I could just tell we would work so well together. I was also excited by the fact that she was, at the time, a junior agent, and I was to be the first author she signed. I thought we could do this very mysterious and truly magical thing of putting a book into the world together. 

What advice would you give to Pacific Islander creators looking for agents?

The same advice I would give to creators looking for representation, but with the added note to pay attention to what you need out of an agent. Take the time to look for agents who are hoping to bring more Pacific Islander art into the world, and ask all the questions you need to feel confident in your decision. 

How long have you been signed together? What’s your favorite thing about Iwalani?

We’ve been working together since late April 2021. Iwalani is my biggest champion and first reader. It’s corny, I know, but she really does believe in me when I have lost the belief in myself and my work. That belief and unwavering support is the greatest gift. I joke that I’m president of the Iwalani Fan Club, but it’s pretty much the truth! I could keep gushing, but I’ll close by saying my book owes its whole life to Iwalani and her day one trust. 

Iwalani's Interview

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself? What do you love about agenting?

I’m an associate agent from Honolulu, Hawaiʻi and I began my career at Sanford J. Greenburger Associates in 2018. I got into this work because I enjoy advocating for writers, and this felt like the most direct way to do so in the industry. Writers are such wonderful, often eccentric people, and I love working with them to shape a creative project before finding a publishing home for both. There are so many exciting parts of this job. I love the thrill of connecting with a book and feeling that I need to work with its author. I love connecting the author with an editor who has a vision that will take the book to the next level. Publication day is of course so special, but I also think it’s so fun to run into a book I worked on in the wild, to stumble across it in a bookstore or see someone reading it on a train, and to think about the long life of a book and how readers will continue to encounter it for years to come.

What do you look for in a query letter?

I’m looking for a project’s themes/guiding questions/central conflict, stakes, a basic understanding of the plot, and a sense of where it would sit on a shelf. This means: what genres is it working within (or against)? Who is the audience? What other titles would readers of your work enjoy? I think a successful query letter is also able to capture the tone of the book it’s introducing.

Do you ask for any pages with a query letter? What do you look for when you're reading those pages?

I ask for the first few chapters of a project. I’m looking for the writer’s sense of style and their ability to quickly ground me in the world of the book. I want those pages to capture my attention and demand that I read further. I think writers often misinterpret this as immediate action on the page, but that’s not necessarily what I mean. As a pretty character-driven reader, I’m interested in meeting characters that I’ll want to spend time with, whether I’m rooting for them or exasperated with them or perplexed by their decision-making. When I connect with that kind of well-drawn character, I’m hooked.

Any pet peeves when it comes to query letters and/or pages? Any dos and don’ts?

So much pressure is put on the query letter and I think if you’re following an agent’s submission guidelines and querying them for a genre they actually represent, you’re off to a good start! I mentioned above that a query letter should give the agent a sense of the tone of your book, but it’s worth elaborating on. Whether your book is darkly funny or whimsical or atmospheric, try to include details and language that illustrate this. Reading the jacket copy of a book you’re comparing yours to is sometimes helpful here.

A green flag that I find helpful is when a writer really makes the most of their comp titles by describing what exactly about a comp title is similar to their book. Is it the tone, structure, family dynamics, character arc, etc.?

On the other hand, I generally find that if a writer is exclusively comparing their work to ‘canonical’ books, we’re probably not a match.

My random formatting pet peeve: please don’t send a wall of text in a tiny font size. My eyes thank you!

What sort of projects are you hoping to find in your inbox? Any specific stories you’d love to see from Pacific Islander creators?

I represent adult upmarket and literary fiction, and within that, I’m drawn to coming of age stories, family dramas, queer stories, speculative work, and books with a strong sense of place. I love character-driven work, and books about all kinds of relationships; romantic, yes, but also stories about friendship, siblinghood, and motherhood. I also represent nonfiction and am seeking memoir, cultural histories and criticism, essay collections, and work that engages with feminism, politics, history, anthropology, and design/architecture. I’m hungry for work from Pacific Islander writers that are working with any of these genres, and in the fiction space, I’d love more books set in the Pacific. So many of the stories set in the Pacific that make it to trade publishing have been written by non-PI writers and populated by non-PI characters. I’d love to see PI writers having more of a say in the way that their homes are depicted in fiction. But I’m here for all of it!

What about Megan’s project grabbed your attention? What about Megan as a client?

In so many ways, Megan's short story collection was a dream project! I loved that it was set in Hawaiʻi, where we're both from, and I recognized an authentic, complex depiction of our shared home in those opening pages immediately. I admired how playful and at times humorous these stories were, even as Megan engaged seriously with the superstitions of the islands, as well as themes like imperialist history, the pressures of womanhood, and the darker side of desire. It gave me a sense of her values as a writer, which is part of what made me interested in working with her as a client. When we spoke on the phone for the first time after I read the book, it was such a beautiful and generative conversation. I think we spoke for close to 2 hours! It’s really exciting when you have that kind of shared vision for a project and when collaboration feels organic before you’ve officially begun to work together.

What qualities do you look for in a potential client?

Beyond that creative chemistry in an initial call, ideally I’m looking to work with writers who are intellectually curious, serious about their craft, and in it for the long haul, so to speak. I always hope a writer wants to work together on their writing career, not just on a single book. When I’m interested in working with someone, I hope they are open-minded about editorial ideas but I hope they also have a sense of the elements of their project that they want to preserve or stay true to. I think that indicates a clarity of purpose.

Any advice for querying creators?

Querying can be such a difficult and often emotional experience, but it can also lead to some lovely connections and interactions. Hold on to the words of encouragement you receive along the way, and remember that this industry is pretty small—there are many ways in which you may continue to cross paths with agents you interact with during the querying process. Have many of your writer friends and mentors read your query letter and give feedback on it before you start sending letters out.

Any advice for aspiring agents?

Speak to as many early career agents as you can to get an understanding of the financial picture of agenting. Make connections with all kinds of people in publishing, not because you think the relationship will help further your career in some way but because having friends to celebrate and commiserate with about this industry is essential. I’m always happy to chat with aspiring agents!