"Our blog kinda blew up last week and we want you to represent us." This was our 2009 cold email to Kate McKean, who had shepherded other "blog-to-book" deals. I'm so grateful she replied, because it led to Random House buying and publishing Historical Tweets, which became the foundation of McBeard and everything after.

In many ways, Kate is everything you want in a literary agent: smart, funny and very New York. But she's surprising too: from her Southern roots to her unabashed support of aspiring writers through her advice and guidance on Twitter and through her newsletter. She's no gatekeeper. She's a champion of art (and apparently, bad Twitter jokes).

Follow her at: https://twitter.com/kate_mckean
and subscribe to her paid newsletter at: https://katemckean.substack.com

Commercials in this episode include:

• Sauconys, my shoe of choice: http://mcnayr.com/runforgood
• My favorite books, available on Bookshop.org: http://mcnayr.com/books
   

Special thanks to:

• Jason Crow, editor
• Chris Billings, original music: http://www.christopherbillings.com/
• Kailey Howell, podcast art
   

Thanks for listening. Follow along at: KingofNetworking.com