Who are we?
Rêves de Jeunesse est une agence littéraire spécialisée dans la littérature jeunesse et les littératures de l?imaginaire (fantasy, science-fiction, fantastique?), même quand elles s?adressent à un public adulte.
The agency was created in 2022 by Anne Paris, a freelance publisher.
Anne has always been passionate about reading manuscripts and helping writers through their creative process. She started reading as soon as she was able to and never stopped since. In love with children’s literature and fantasy, she used to dream about becoming either a writer or an adventurer: working as an agent seemed like a good middle ground!
Depuis la création de l?agence, de nombreux auteurs ont rejoint l?aventure, ainsi que des illustrateurs, que vous pouvez découvrir dans les rubriques « nos auteurs » et « nos illustrateur ».
At Rêves de jeunesse, we have a few very strong beliefs:
- No literary genre is nobler than another: writing for children, or writing science-fiction or fantasy, is no less important than writing poetry, essays or anything else, and deserves the same amount of hard work and professional help. We are proud to be one of the first french agencies specialised on those literary genres, and we hope to share this pride and this love of literature with the world.
- Protecting the environment is one of the most important goals of our times. Our team and writers must share this care for ecology, and it must be at the center of our actions. In publishing a lot of work has to be done yet, but we want to move forward in the right direction.
- There will be no inequalities and injustice in our agency. We are proud of our humanist values and we want our writers and illustrators to share them, but also any of the publishers we work with. All the manuscripts we take in must respect those values.
In French, a « rêve » is a dream, and our dream is only beginning. Our agency grows every day, and our team as well. If you want to be a part of this dream, make it happen: contact us!
Un agent littéraire, qu'est-ce que c'est?
The profession of literary agent, still unknown in France and very little represented in children's literature, comes straight from the Anglo-Saxon tradition.
The agent acts as an intermediary between the author and the publisher. They handle the literary career of the author they represent.
They have a lot of different tasks:
- they read the manuscripts of the author
- correct them
- they help rework the text and better it
- sélectionne les maisons d’édition les plus appropriées
- they send the projects to the publishers and handle all contact with them
- they negotiate the publishing contract
- fait la promotion du livre une fois celui-ci publier
- they can represent the author on social medias or in other instances such as book fairs if needed
- they handle the foreign rights of the book as well as the multimedia rights, so as to sell the book for adaptation on different medias or in different languages
Generally speaking, an agent will represent the author when needed and act as an intermediary with the publishers so that the author can focus on their writing. The agent has the best interests of the author in mind and will promote their books and make sure their literary career develops.
In terms of remuneration, the agent is not paid directly by the author but is due a part of the royalties the author earns once the book has been published. This part is generally between 10 and 20%. This ensures that the agent works in the best interests of the author, as their remuneration entirely depends on the literary success of the author!
Each agent is specialised in a different field. Here at Rêves de jeunesse, we come from a publishing background and have a specific interest in reworking the text and accompanying the author through their creative and writing process. Other agents might be more interested in the legal aspect of the work and will be champions at negotiating contracts. Some might be very social medias oriented with a love for marketing and promotion. It is very important that you find the agent that works for YOU!
If you are interested in working with us, please clarify your expectations in your very first email: we will always ask you what you want in an agent before going any further.
Please note that while we do work with english speaking authors, we are primarily oriented toward the french publishing market.
Jeunesse et littératures de l'imaginaire
What is children's literature?
It’s not easy to define children's literature! Coincidentally, it was also the research subject of the master’s degree of the creator of Rêves de jeunesse. Let’s try to sum it up in a few words!
Plus qu?un réel genre littéraire, la littérature jeunesse est une catégorie commerciale : c?est une littérature qui se définit par son public, afin de pouvoir être plus facilement vendue par les services marketing, les libraires et tous ceux chargés de la promotion du livre, qui savent directement à quels clients le proposer.
Children’s literature is also a very vast category: all the books that can be sold to ‘children’.
Yes, but the difference is huge between a 3 years old child and a 16 years old teenager! Nevertheless, all books marketed toward one or the other are called children’s literature. It can mean books for toddlers, books to learn how to read, picture books, novels for children, novels for teenagers, even Young adult novels!
Here at Rêves de jeunesse, we believe books should not be put into cages (for the record, we also believe the same for human beings). We don’t need those restrictive categories! If you write for an audience that can be loosely described as ‘the youth’, young adult included, and if you broach topics and themes important to that audience, then chances are strong that you are indeed writing children’s literature. Welcome! This place is for you.
What about fantasy, science-fiction and the fantastic genre?
Excellente question ! Cette catégorie est plus thématique et regroupe notamment la fantasy, la science-fiction et le fantastique. Elle désigne, tout simplement, toutes les ?uvres littéraires qui se déroulent dans un monde imaginaire ou une réalité alternative.
Science-fiction is, well, fiction about science. More specifically, it takes place in a futuristic or technologically more advanced (or at least very different) world. It often takes us to space, but not always. It shows imaginary sciences and techniques, very different from ours, hence the name.
Fantasy is also about imaginary worlds but here the difference with our world does not necessarily come from scientific or technical progress. It’s the rules of the universe itself that are fundamentally different. We often find magic in those worlds, but as with space in science-fiction it’s absolutely not mandatory.
Le fantastique se caractérise par un récit où le surnaturel existe mais n?est pas normal pour le personnage qui le vit : contrairement à la SF ou à la fantasy, le personnage vit dans un monde où ce qui lui arrive n?est pas la norme, et partage son dépaysement avec le lecteur.
Of course, all of those categories are very close and share some traits. They are also perfectly permeable: it is possible to belong to more than just one of those genres.
At Rêves de jeunesse we welcome all of those genres even if the text targets an adult audience!Grown-ups can dream too.
English (UK) 
Français