Monday, July 13, 2015

New Agent--Agents!



Time to roll out the red carpet and give a big welcome to these newer agents. They'll be making request on July 27-29th! Be sure and follow them on twitter!

Submission is July 15th starting at noon Eastern. You can find all the formatting instructions here





Jennifer Johnson-Blalock joined Liza Dawson Associates as an associate agent in 2015, having previously interned at LDA in 2013 before working as an agent's assistant at Trident Media Group. Jennifer graduated with honors from The University of Texas at Austin with a B.A. in English and earned a J.D. from Harvard Law School. Before interning at LDA, she practiced entertainment law and taught high school English and debate.

Jennifer is focusing on nonfiction. She is looking for seasoned writers with strong platforms and is excited by narrative nonfiction and memoirs that use a unique story to explore a larger issue. Particular areas of interest include current events, social sciences, women's issues, law, business, history, the arts and pop culture, lifestyle, sports, and food, including cookbooks and health/wellness.

Jennifer is also seeking upmarket commercial fiction, including thrillers, women's fiction, and contemporary YA, and is pleased to work with clients who write both fiction and nonfiction.






Arielle Datz started as an intern at Dunow, Carlson, & Lerner in 2011. She then worked in the foreign rights department at WME, followed by 2 years at the Elizabeth Kaplan Literary Agency. She returned to DCLA in 2015. She is looking for fiction (adult, YA, or middle-grade), especially speculative fantasy or literary sci-fi. In nonfiction, she is looking for essays, unconventional memoir, pop culture, and sociology.

Wishlist: literary fiction (I like things that are whimsical and/or dark), magical realism, middle-grade/YA fantasy and sci-fi (preferably subtle), essays, narrative non-fiction, pop culture.





Julie Crisp

Having recently set up as a literary agent, Julie was previously an editor and has over fifteen years’ experience working for three major houses across a broad spectrum of commercial titles within fiction, non-fiction and children’s. This also included three years spent working in the Australian publishing industry. Most recently she was an Editorial Director for fiction at Pan Macmillan running the Tor UK imprint and publishing bestselling and award-winning authors such as Ann Cleeves, Peter F. Hamilton, China MiĆ©ville, Neal Asher, Amanda Hocking, Naomi Novik and TV/Game partnerships including Halo, The Returned, The Walking Dead and Twin Peaks. 

She is actively looking to build her client list and is looking for science fiction and fantasy, crime and thrillers, historicals, book club reads, YA and middle grade children's fiction. 




Literary Agent Assistant Mallory C. Brown of TriadaUS is seeking young adult, new adult, women’s fiction, and non-fiction. She is especially drawn to pieces with strong character-driven plots and witty humor. She loves contemporary fiction, low fantasy, and romance. Mallory also appreciates a well-placed comma and hopes you do, too.

Some of Mallory’s favorites at the moment are: A Series of Unfortunate EventsGone Girl,Outlander, and To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before.






With a strong background in business ownership, Victoria A. Selvaggio comes to The Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency as an Associate Agent with over 6 years of actively working as a volunteer and Regional Advisor for SCBWI Northern Ohio.  Drawn to the publishing scene first as an author writing all genres, with her most recent publication in the 2015 Children’s Writer’s and Illustrator’s Market, Vicki’s passion for honing the craft carried over into reading manuscripts for the agency. Currently, she is excited to read compelling manuscripts that will resonate with her long after she’s done.

I am currently looking for lyrical picture books, middle grade and young adult fiction, new adult, mysteries, suspense, thrillers, paranormal, fantasy, narrative nonfiction, adult fiction but find I’m especially drawn to Middle Grade and Young Adult. I especially love thrillers and all elements of weird, creepy stuff. If it’s out of the box, and it will make me think and think, long after I’m done reading, send it to me! On the flip side, I yearn for books that make me laugh, cry and wonder about the world.




Moe Ferrara

Becoming a literary agent was fitting for the girl who, as a small child, begged her dad to buy her a book simply because "it has a hard cover." Growing up, she had a hard time finding YA books outside of Christopher Pike and R. L. Stine, and instead tackled Tom Clancy or her mom's romance novels. Though her career path zigzagged a bit—she attended college as a music major, earned a JD from Pace Law School, then worked various jobs throughout the publishing industry—Moe was thrilled to join the BookEnds team in May of 2015 as a literary agent and the foreign rights manager.
A Pennsylvania native, she is the proud owner of one rambunctious guinea pig who is a master at stealing extra treats. When not reading, she is an avid gamer and always awaiting the next Assassin's Creed release.

Moe is interested in science fiction and fantasy for all age groups (no picture books). She loves a bit (or a lot!) of romance in her fiction, so the right contemporary or historical romance will spark her interest. She's LGBTQ friendly, so send her that male/male erotic romance in your back pocket! At this time she's not looking for nonfiction, women's fiction, or cozy mysteries.





Caitie Flum joined Liza Dawson Associates in July 2014 as assistant and audio rights manager. She graduated from Hofstra University in 2009 with a BA in English with a concentration in publishing studies. Caitie interned at Hachette Book Group and Writers House. She was an Editorial Assistant then Coordinator for Bookspan, where she worked on several clubs including the Book-of-the-Month Club, The Good Cook, and the Children's Book-of-the-Month Club.

Caitie grew up in Ohio where she developed her love of reading everything she could get her hands on.

Caitie is looking for commercial and upmarket fiction with great characters and superb writing, especially historical fiction, mysteries/thrillers of all kinds, magical realism, and book club fiction.
Caitie is also looking for Young Adult and New Adult projects, particularly romance, historical fiction, mysteries and thrillers, and contemporary books with diverse characters.





Penelope Burns is the newest member of Gelfman Schneider/ICM Partners. She came to the agency as an intern after graduating from Colgate University in 2012. Currently, as an agency assistant, Penelope is looking to a build a list of her own. She is interested in Literary and Commercial fiction and non-fiction, as well as a variety of Young Adult and Middle Grade. 

I'm actively looking for YA/MG novels with a unique voice or an unreliable narrator, or an interesting and unique premise. I'd also love to see a YA contemporary romance, or a clever MG with a lot of humor. I am not seeking adult thrillers. 






Jennifer Azantian began her agenting career in 2011, first as an intern and then as an assistant and associate, at the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency. In 2014, after working with senior agent and entertainment lawyer Paul Levine, Jennifer opened the Azantian Literary Agency specializing in science fiction, fantasy, and smart-psychological horror novels for middle grade, young adult, and adult readers. Of particular interest are stories that explore meaningful human interactions against fantastic backdrops, underrepresented voices, literary science fiction, historical fantasy, creepy stories (especially for MG and YA), humorous space operas, well-crafted and hopeful futures, internally consistent epic fantasy, obscure retold fairy tales, modernized mythologies, and eccentric middle-grade. 





Alex Barba is an agent and the foreign rights contact at Inklings Literary Agency.

Alex has a background in publishing and entertainment. She came to Inklings after a stint as a literary consultant in New York City, having scouted the U.S. book market for film and TV clients and foreign publishers.
 Prior to that, she spent time in Los Angeles as an editor at a digital magazine, and doing story development on scripts with a literary management company.

In her own words, what she wants: 

I represent YA fiction (because I am still a 16-year-old girl at heart). I'm looking for grounded contemporary YA, but an extremely well-done contemporary with fantasy or sci-fi elements will occasionally grab me. And a clever retelling/re-spin of an old classic is always thrilling (think Ella Enchanted, one of my favorite books ever). Cinematic elements draw my eye, but ultimately I believe truly great stories are built on the backs of multi-faceted, compelling characters. Some other things I particularly love: stories about self-discovery, awesome action sequences, interesting friendships, smart girls making bad choices, a good love story, and darkly humorous writing with wacky plot twists.







Lisa Abellera joined Kimberley Cameron and Associates in 2013 with a background in management, marketing, and finance. She has studied creative writing, design and business, earning her B.A. in Strategic Management from Dominican University of CA and her M.F.A. in Creative Writing from University of San Francisco.
Lisa had a successful career in the corporate world before joining the world of publishing. After editorial internships with an independent press and Kimberley Cameron & Associates, she now follows her true passion for books and writing. She leverages her business and marketing expertise to help authors navigate the complexities of publishing. She is excited to develop talented authors and help advance their careers.
She is actively building her client list with both debut and established authors. She is looking to form long-term, collaborative relationships with writers who are committed to putting forth their best work.
Lisa responds to well-crafted prose with strong hooks and high personal stakes, to idiosyncratic, sympathetic characters, to a tangible sense of place, to multicultural aspects and international settings, to page-turning twists, and to emotionally driven fiction that explores the human condition, especially within family and close relationships.
She is seeking to represent upmarket fiction, women's fiction, historical fiction, mystery/suspense, speculative or medical science thrillers, science fiction, fantasy, NA, YA and middle grade.




3 comments:

  1. Love lists like this! Thanks for the info!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm seeing a lot of YA SFF interest in all of these contests. There doesn't seem to be a lot of Adult interest. Do you have any agents participating looking for Adult Contemporary Romances?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I see several agents mentioning women's fiction and a few with romance. I'm not sure if any are specifically looking for adult romance, but that doesn't mean they aren't.

      Delete