Monday, March 9, 2015

PB Party Agents



Whee! This is the cutest, most hugable mini-contest ever! A big thanks to these agents for agreeing to look at our fabulous entries on March 24. Please thank them with a follow on twitter. 







Maria Vicente of PS Literary

Maria Vicente is a creative and editorial agent, providing support to her clients through all stages of the writing and publication process. Her publishing career began as an intern with Bree Ogden at D4EO Literary Agency, and she also interned at P.S. Literary before joining the agency as an associate agent. Her reading preferences vary across categories and genres, which is reflected in her client list. Maria holds a B.A. in English Literature from Carleton University and a B.Ed. from the University of Western Ontario. She has affinities for literary prose, strong character development, original storytelling formats, and anything geeky. If you would like to send a query to Maria, please click or tap here to review our Submission Guidelines.


Maria is actively acquiring both fiction and nonfiction projects. In fiction, she is looking for Literary and Commercial Fiction (including fiction with a touch of genre), LGBTQ, Young Adult (any genre), Middle Grade (any genre), and illustrated Picture Books. For nonfiction, she is looking for projects in the Pop Culture, Geek Culture, Pop Psychology, Design, and Lifestyle categories. You can view her detailed manuscript wish list here.










Heather Alexander of Pippin Properties

Heather Alexander comes from a family where the constant ​​refrain was, “Don’t forget to bring a book!” In college, she hid THE PRINCESS DIARIES between Dickens and Hawthorne. One Children’s Lit class later, and her path in publishing became obvious. Heather landed in editorial at Penguin, where she happily stayed for six years, working with ​both​ debut and veteran authors and illustrators. As an agent, she is ​excited to develop new talent and help shape careers, which is what she loves to do best.








Clelia Gore of Martin Literary Management

It was when Clelia first read Charlotte’s Web in the first grade that she got hooked by the magic of books. Her love of children’s books carried through adulthood and she is delighted to dedicate her life to bringing quality books and stories to young (and whimsical adult!) readers. 

Clelia is originally from the suburbs of New York City. She has a bachelor’s degree in English literature from Boston College. She received her J.D. from American University, Washington College of Law and practiced law as a corporate litigator in New York City. 

In 2011, she decided to dedicate her career to books and reentered graduate school at Emerson College, where she received a master’s degree in Publishing and Writing. While she was studying publishing and taking creative writing courses at Emerson, Clelia gained firsthand experience in the publishing industry working in the children’s book division at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and in academic books at Oxford University Press.  She also taught academic writing and research courses to freshman students as a graduate student faculty member at Emerson College. 

Clelia acquires picture book, middle grade and young adult books. She is particularly interested in developing her middle grade and young adult nonfiction clientele. With apologies, Clelia is no longer accepting new adult fiction queries at this time. 






Christa Heschke of McIntosh and Otis

CHRISTA HESCHKE graduated from Binghamton University with a major in English and a minor in Anthropology. She started in publishing as an intern at both Writers House and Sterling Lord Literistic, where she fell in love with the agency side of publishing. Christa has been at McIntosh and Otis, Inc. in the Children's Literature Department since 2009 where she is actively looking for picture books, middle grade, and young adult projects. She is a fan of young adult novels with a romantic angle, and strong, quirky protagonists. Within YA, Christa is especially interested in contemporary fiction, horror and thrillers/mysteries. As for middle grade, Christa enjoys contemporary, humor, adventure, mystery and magical realism for boys and girls. For picture books, she’s drawn to cute, funny, character driven stories within fiction and is open to non-fiction with a unique hook.

Christa is not looking for any Adult fiction or non-fiction, paranormal or dystopian at this time.







Jessica Sinsheimer of Sarah Jane Freymann Literary Agency

Jessica Sinsheimer has been reading and campaigning for her favorite queries since 2004. Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, she went east for Sarah Lawrence College and stayed for the opportunity to read soon-to-be books for a living.

“Now an Agent at the Sarah Jane Freymann Literary Agency, she’s developed a reputation for fighting office members to see incoming manuscripts first—and for drinking far too much tea. Her most recent sale is RIPPER, a paranormal/historical YA novel, about a Victorian girl who takes down Jack the Ripper–and its sequel.

“Always on the lookout for new writers, she is most excited about finding literary, women’s, and Young Adult fiction, and—on the nonfiction side—psychology, parenting, self-help, cookbooks, memoirs, and works that speak to life in the twenty-first century.





Essie White of Storm Literary

Essie White used to be a teacher, and before she was a teacher, she was a graduate student studying Emergent Literacy in Early Childhood Education. It may have been then, or it may have been long before, but at some point, Essie White fell in love with Children's Literature, and it has been the focus of her life ever since.

After earning her MA in Curriculum and Instruction in Early Childhood Education, Essie spent several years creating and developing literature based curricula for elementary level programs. She provided classes for parents and educators, specifically addressing emergent literacy in children ages birth to age 8, prior to opening Young Child Academy, an early childhood program. During her tenure as Director at Young Child Academy, Essie wrote several books both with other educators, as well as with the children. For often, she discovered, the best books come from the children themselves! 

Essie considers Storm Literary Agency an extension of what she loves most: Children and Literature. And she cannot imagine one without the other. She desires to work with clients who have not quite forgotten what it was like to be children, who loved books as children, and love them just as much today.





Ella Kennen of Corvisiero Literary

Ella Kennen is a nomad courtesy of the US Air Force. She's lived here, there, and everywhere and done this, that and the other. She's always on the lookout for new things - in the real world or on the page.

Ella's favorite books leave her a bit shaken at the end - not necessarily because they're emotionally wrought (though they can be), but because they are such thorough world-builders, with such real characters, that it's hard to transition back to the real world when they're over. 

An experienced editor who came to Corvisiero from a publishing house, Ella loves working one-on-one with writers to help mold their manuscripts into the best possible stories. When she's not busy interning, she manages the blog at Rate Your Story, a service that helps writers make sure they'll stand out of the slush pile before they submit. She also teaches drama and creative writing to school-aged kids.

To balance out her right-brain propensities, Ella also has a Masters in Industrial/Organizational Psychology, which means she enjoys thinking about how to make systems run smoothly and efficiently. 

Ella is looking for:-- graphic novels (any age/genre)
-- children's nonfiction (any age/genre)
-- picture book submissions from author/illustrators
-- middle grade and young adult (any genre)
-- new adult (no romance, but romantic subplots welcome)
-- adult nonfiction on parenting or education

Twitter|Website






Rena Rossner of The Deborah Harris Agency

 Rena Rossner works at The Deborah Harris Agency in Jerusalem, Israel. She’s a graduate of the Johns Hopkins University Writing Seminars Program, where she majored in poetry and nonfiction writing. She also studied at Trinity College, Dublin and holds an MA in History from McGill University in Montreal, Canada. She has worked as a bookseller in four countries, and is a writer of fiction, nonfiction and poetry. You can usually find her cooking, doing ceramics or reading, but she has been know to do Yoga and take walks with her pug, Pablo. 

She is seeking: “I am most interested in representing Fantasy and Science Fiction in all its permutations – Adult, Middle Grade, Young Adult etc. I also look for Middle Grade and Young Adult contemporary stories and I’d be open to MG/YA mysteries and thrillers as well. I represent quite a few picture books and I’m always looking for those. In terms of adult books, I look for Literary Fiction, Historical Fiction, multicultural books, and I’d also consider adult mysteries, thrillers and psychological suspense, but not cozy mysteries. I specifically look for literary work (in any genre,) and books with elements of magical realism and the fantastic. You will steal my heart for sure if it’s set in the Middle East, in Israel or if it has Jewish or Israeli themes and characters, but I’m open to all themes, settings and characters. You’ve got to have a really good reason to send me nonfiction, or cookbooks, but if you have a reason that seems to fit with who I am and what I’m looking for, I’ll take a look.” (Bio taken from a Writers Digest article.)

Website|Twitter

6 comments:

  1. This is a wonderful opportunity, Michelle! Thank you!

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  2. Thanks so much Michelle! There aren't many contests for PB writers. I appreciate you doing one!

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  3. Thank you for creating this opportunity for us, Michelle:)

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  4. Thank you for this incredible opportunity, Michelle!

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  5. This submission window opened at 3:00 pm central time. My submissions were sent at 3:04 and 3:06. Too late according to the response. Wow! Seriously? In less than 4 minutes, all the possible slots for PBs were taken? Sorry I missed this opportunity b/c your list of agents is excellent.

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    1. Sorry about that. It closed in less than a minute.

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