Joyce Sweeney is the Director of Kid Lit and a literary agent with The Seymour Agency. Joyce Sweeney has been working in the Kidlit industry for four decades. First as an award-winning novelist, and soon after, leading invitation-only workshops for aspiring writers. Within the first two years, seven of JoyceÕs students had obtained traditional publishing contracts and a second career was born. Joyce and her students decided that everyone who could secure a contract should get a special ÒMagic BeanÓ to mark the achievement.
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Continuing to publish her own work, Joyce expanded into weekend writing retreats, conducted with Jamie Morris, under name NEXT LEVEL WORKHOPS. That led to ten years of online classes, taught by Joyce and produced by Cathy Castelli and CAFƒ CLASSES conducted in Fort Lauderdale.
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Using her contacts as an active SCBWI volunteer, Joyce continued to promote her students and help them find agents. The Magic Bean count continued to rise.
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By 2020, Nicole Resciniti, who is also JoyceÕs agent, offered them the chance to take this lifetime of mentoring to the next level and become a literary agent. Joyce finally found their dream job as a kidlit agent and the Magic Bean count is currently 83 and hoping for 100! At the agency, Joyce began to help and coach other agents who wanted to move into the kidlit space, and continues to represent authors and illustrators of picture books, middle grades and graphic novels.
What they’re looking for:

In Picture Books: Fiction or non-fiction. I am drawn to lyrical voices, fun syntax and offbeat concepts. I like unusual characters, and plots that make me cry or laugh out loud. Illustrator/authors welcome and rhyme (if you REALLY know how to do it) is fine. Diversity, please. Most of all, be unique.

In Middle Grade: I am especially drawn to humor, fantasy and sci-fi, but a realistic novel that makes me cry will work too. Advocate of books for boys. Would love to see more LGBTQ as well.