Kate McKean, author of 'Write Through It: An Insider's Guide to Publishing and Creative Life' - Literary agent reveals how to get signed, how they help you get published, and first sentences
Writer's Routine
Dan Simpson
4.9 • 599 Ratings
🗓️ 11 September 2025
⏱️ 60 minutes
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Summary
Kate McKean is a literary agent who has built a diverse client list of New York Times Bestselling Authors, in genres from fantasy, TA, humour and horror. A few years ago, she started a newsletter with all the backstage secrets of agent life, and tips on how you can make it happen.
Now she's got a book out, filled with even more help. It's called 'Write Through It: An Insider's Guide to Publishing and Creative Life'. We discuss how she came to write a book like this, and how you'd go about planning a book like this.
We run through Kate's writing routine, writing space, and life in the industry. You can hear the vital steps in getting an agent, what they'll do if you're signed, and how important the first sentence is.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, welcome along to a brand new episode of writer's routine. This week, our guest is Kate McKean. |
| 0:15.6 | Kate has worked as a literary agent for a while, helping all types of writer get published. |
| 0:22.0 | And she's on with a crash course in how it works. |
| 0:24.7 | You can hear how she's managed to write a book filled with tips on making it happen. |
| 0:29.5 | We talk about why she knew she could give help on the common feelings that writers get. |
| 0:35.0 | What I can give is both the how-to and then the support, |
| 0:40.3 | because so many of the feelings in writing are common. |
| 0:44.6 | You know, you have that voice in your head. |
| 0:46.4 | You're like, no one's going to read this. I'm horrible. |
| 0:48.4 | Like, everybody has that at some point. |
| 0:50.5 | And you're like, that's normal. |
| 0:51.5 | Everybody thinks that. |
| 0:52.4 | It's not true. |
| 0:54.2 | So that intersection of emotions, feelings, and the how-to was where I was like, this is where I can carve out a niche. |
| 1:04.4 | And she chats about what she's looking for as an agent. |
| 1:07.3 | I am looking to forget I am reading query letters. |
| 1:13.3 | I'm looking to be sometimes transported, sometimes distracted, sometimes, you know, escapism, |
| 1:20.4 | sometimes blown away by prose. |
| 1:22.5 | It's never one thing because we all read different books for different reasons. |
| 1:27.0 | So I'm looking to forget |
| 1:28.7 | that this is a manuscript and it to feel like a book. And that doesn't mean it has to be done, |
| 1:34.0 | but that you have started on the path of this world exists and I'm taking you with me. |
... |
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