Meet Seth Fishman | Children’s Book Writer & Literary Agent

We had the good fortune of connecting with Seth Fishman and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Seth, why did you pursue a creative career?

Books were a constant in my house growing up. My parents read them, my dad told me stories from them, I was glued to the pages. When I thought of what I wanted to be, a writer was ALWAYS the goal. Coming up with stories, telling them, writing them, crafting them — it all seems so silly but it was what I loved doing.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
My day job is being a literary agent. I help writers get their books published. But before that I wanted to write myself, and have written all sorts of books. Some that are in drawers. But writing is a strange world where even rejections are measurements of success. And when I wrote my first picture book, I wasn’t expecting much. I was almost embarrassed, as so many people try to write picture books, and I knew how hard they were. But then the book, A HUNDRED BILLION TRILLION STARS (illustrated by the amazing Isabel Greenberg), came out and won the Mathical Prize, and was named best book of the year by Amazon, the Planetary Society, Space.com and is still selling around the world… It just showed me that if you keep working, and crafting, and trying new things you can still succeed at your dreams and find surprising, gratifying ways forward.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
LA is still a newish place to me, and I love discovering new things, so I don’t think I’d be stuck on a particular itinerary. I’d recommend everything from beaches to hikes in PV or Topanga, touristy goodness like Santa Monica Pier or Disney or Universal to the endless food that you can’t get anywhere else. I have 2 young kids so often aim for things that work for them. The Zoo, museums, etc. But LA has almost too many options, so it’s all about doing whatever new thing guests want.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
A writer sits in a room by themself all day, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t SO MANY people who helped them along the way. I’d say my writing group readers, for supporting me, reading early drafts, talking over it all. Jay Katsir, Alfred Brown, Clare Beams, Joe Dunthorne, Sam Gasson. And more, really. Readers shape the writing, and they were there doing so from the beginning.

Website: www.sethasfishman.com

Instagram: @sethasfishman

Twitter: @sethasfishman