FALL FICTION FEST is coming up fast!
It’s time to announce the agents! We have 15 agents joining us for this improvised contest. Some are new. Some are established. All are looking to make requests (FROM YOUR query & first page!).
To everyone entering this year, best of luck! The Slush Pile is going to be SUPER competitive
Only a third of the agent list is here. You’ll find the rest on Michelle & Amy’s blogs:
Mentors will be revealed next week, followed by Instructions to Enter. This is not a Twitter pitch event but an online contest where you email your entry. For the announcement post, go here. Remember that submission starts on October 31st
Now, to introduce some of the agents!
Lynette Novak
Prior to joining The Seymour Agency, Lynnette spent seventeen years freelance editing. She worked with new writers, advanced writers, as well as New York Times and USA Today bestselling authors. Lynnette earned a bachelor of education degree from the University of Manitoba, where she specialized in English and French. She excelled in Advanced Creative Writing in university and studied writing for children and teens through the Institute of Children’s Literature. She was a Pitch Wars mentor in 2015 and 2016. Both her mentees acquired an agent.
Although Lynnette was born and raised in Manitoba, Canada, she now lives in Minnesota with her husband, twin girls, and many pets. Her personal interests include reading, writing, exercising at the gym (okay, that’s a love/hate relationship), working on an assortment of crafts, all things having to do with animals (if she could own a farm, zoo, and animal shelter, she would), and enjoying time with family and friends.
In adult fiction, Lynnette is interested in acquiring: thrillers, psychological suspense, fantasy, sci-fi, contemporary romance, romantic comedy, and mysteries (traditional, amateur sleuth, and cozy). In young adult fiction, she is looking for: thrillers, psychological suspense, horror, mysteries, sci-fi, fantasy, historical, and contemporary. In middle grade fiction: fantasy, sci-fi, action/adventure, mystery, contemporary, horror, and humor.
Query: querylynnette@theseymouragency.com
Follow Lynnette on Twitter: @Lynnette_Novak
Alec Shane
Alec Shane majored in English at Brown University, a degree he put to immediate use by moving to Los Angeles after graduation to become a professional stunt man. Realizing that he prefers books to breakaway glass, he moved to New York City in 2008 to pursue a career in publishing. Alec quickly found a home at Writers House Literary Agency and is now aggressively building his own list.
On the nonfiction side, Alec would love to see humor, biography, history (particularly military history), true crime, “guy” reads, and all things sports. In fiction, Alec is looking for mystery, thrillers (though he’s experiencing terrorist fatigue at the moment), suspense, horror, historical fiction, literary fiction, and middle grade and young adult fiction.
He doesn’t want Romance, straight sci-fi, high fantasy, picture books, self-help, women’s fiction, food, or travel memoir.
Laurel Symonds
Laurel began her publishing career in the editorial department of HarperCollins Children’s Books/Katherine Tegen Books in New York City. In the past decade, she has also held positions in the marketing department at a small publishing house, in a library, and as a bookseller at one of the nation’s best independent bookstores. What she loves about agenting is being the author’s number one cheerleader through all these parts of the publication process!
She’s seeking young adult and middle-grade fiction with earnest, engaging voices set in immersive worlds. Fantasy, contemporary, historical settings, retellings, and manuscripts with unique elements are of specific interest. In particular, she’s seeking voices that have previously been underrepresented and stories that have been overlooked. She’s also interested in middle-grade that might lend itself to illustration.
For chapter and picture books, she’s seeking authors and illustrators (or author-illustrators) who bring a unique vision to their stories. In chapter books, she’s seeking sweet realistic or mystery series. Her picture book tastes are diverse, ranging from sophisticated to quirky to gently humorous. She’s interested in art in all mediums, but especially appreciate a smart use of color and perspective.
Website: http://www.thebentagency.com/laurel-symonds
Chris Kepner
Chris Kepner has been working in the publishing industry since 2008, both as a literary agent and more recently as a director of international rights. He has negotiated hundreds of book licenses all over the world, and he couldn’t be more excited about launching this agency. Discovering authors is his passion, and building a new list is an absolute thrill.
If you’re an author seeking representation, please review his query guidelines.
Lauren Galit
Being a literary agent is my dream job (but then again, I was a literary geek at Harvard): I get to work with writers all day long, helping them craft their book ideas and editing their proposals. And then, once the proposal is complete, I get to connect with editors to sell them on something I have passionately committed myself to for the past few months. And I get to chat — a lot (but hopefully not too much). With writers, with editors, with Caitlen. All good.
I started my agenting career in 2002 at John Boswell Associates, a literary agency and book packager that’s most noted for creating 365 Ways To Cook Chicken, as well as countless other best sellers. Because Boswell was a packager as well as an agent, he taught me how to do more than just craft a proposal and sell it; he showed me how to create a book from scratch, working with designers and production people along the way. It is that attention to detail that I bring to my current projects, even if we aren’t packaging them. I help my authors envision what their books could be.
Before becoming an agent, I was a magazine editor for 10 years, starting at GQ (Gentleman’s Quarterly) and ending at GH (Good Housekeeping). That’s where I learned to edit and copy edit, to read and reread until an article or caption or pull quote was just so. It is a skill I bring to every proposal I work on with a writer. It won’t go out until it is just so, because the proposal should beautifully and accurately represent the idea an author is dying to bring to the world.
Website: http://lkgagency.com/