Erica Verrillo's Blog, page 99

Three New Literary Agents Looking for Clients

Here are three new literary agents looking for clients. As new agents, they are building their lists, which means they are eager not just for new writers, but for their success. Read the websites of their respective literary agencies to see if the agency offers services you may be interested in further along in your career. Rachael Dillon Fried

About Rachael Dillon Fried: Rachael is a new agent at Sanford Greenburger Associates, located in New York. After a stint with International Creative Management’s [now ICM Partners] live appearances division in Los Angeles, associate agent Rachael Dillon Fried embraced her love of books and relocated to New York City to pursue a career in literary representation. She landed at Sanford Greenburger, where she assisted agent Heide Lange before becoming an associate agent. Rachael is a Rhode Island native and graduate of Brown University. She lives in Manhattan with her husband, a television writer. Find Rachael on Twitter.

What she is looking for: Rachael is enthusiastic about increasing her client list with both fiction and nonfiction authors. She has a keen interest in unique literary voices: women’s fiction, narrative nonfiction, memoir and humor and pop culture. She hopes to build long-term relationships with clients who are passionate about developing their craft and career.

Recent Sales: Rules Of Becoming A Legend By Time Lane (Viking/Penguin), My Boyfriend Barfed In My Handbag...And Other Things You Can't Ask Martha By Jolie Kerr (Plume/Penguin), We Were Here By Mary Kubica  (Mira/Harlequin)

How to contact her: rfried [at] sjga.com. Please submit a query letter and your first three chapters to RFried@sjga.com. If she is interested in pursuing you as a client, She will contact you within six to eight weeks.

Shannon Hassan

About Shannon Hassan: Shannon Hassan is a new agent at Marsal Lyon Agency, located in Solana Beach, CA. Shannon has worked in publishing and law for more than a decade. She represents authors of literary and commercial fiction, young adult fiction, and select nonfiction. With respect to fiction: she is drawn to fresh voices, compelling characters, and crisp prose. For nonfiction: she is interested in memoirists with exceptional stories to tell, as well as authors with a strong platform in current affairs, history, education, or law. Based in Boulder, Colorado, she is also eager to hear from authors with a unique perspective on the New West.

Previously Shannon was an agent at the Warner Literary Group where she represented a range of literary and film projects, including the soon to be published Future Flash by Kita Murdock (Sky Pony Press). Prior to that she was the Acquisitions Editor at Fulcrum Publishing, where she worked with best-selling and award-winning authors such as Anita Thompson, Laurie David, Adam Schrager, Larry Schweiger, Marilou Awiakta, Matt Dembicki, Sally Kneidel, and Mitch Tobin.

Before entering the publishing world, Shannon was a corporate attorney at Arnold & Porter in New York, and she received her JD from Harvard and her BA from George Washington University. She has served on the board of the Publishers Association of the West and was a founding board member of the Boulder Writing Studio. Find her on Twitter.

What she is looking for: Shannon represents authors of literary and commercial fiction, young adult fiction, and select nonfiction. With respect to fiction: she is drawn to fresh voices, compelling characters, and crisp prose. For nonfiction: she is interested in memoirists with exceptional stories to tell, as well as authors with a strong platform in current affairs, history, education, or law.

How to contact her: Query Shannon [at] MarsalLyonLiteraryAgency.com and write “QUERY” in the subject line of the email. “In all submissions, please include a contact phone number as well as your email address. If we are interested in your work, we will call or email you. If not, we will respond via email. Our response time is generally 1-4 weeks for queries and 4-8 weeks for sample pages and manuscripts.”
Maria Vicente

About Maria Vicente: Maria Vicente is an Associate Agent at P.S. Literary Agency, located in Ontario, Canada. She has a B.A. in English Literature from Carleton University and a B.Ed. from The University of Western Ontario. Her reading preferences vary across categories and she is interested in writers with unique and creative concepts. Maria has a literary blog and can be found on Twitter at @MsMariaVicente.

What she is looking for: Maria is looking for literary and commercial fiction, new adult, young adult, middle grade, high-concept picture books, and nonfiction proposals in the pop culture, pop psychology, design, and lifestyle categories. She has a particular interest in magical realism, fiction with visual components, and nonfiction inspired by online culture.

How to contact her: Note: Please read the submission requirements on P.S. Literary's website carefully before sending a query. P.S. Literary only accepts queries via e-mail: query [at] psliterary.com. Please limit your query to one page and include the following: an introduction (the title and category of your work and an estimated word count), a brief overview (similar to back-cover copy), and a writer’s bio (a little bit about yourself and your background). Do not send attachments or submit a full-length manuscript/proposal unless requested. In your email subject line, have it read “Query for Maria: [Book Title].

Calling All College Writers: Avon Impulse Launches College-Based Challenge to Discover Future Bestsellers

HarperCollins has announced a free contest that budding romance authors can enter. The romance market is huge, with over 30,000,000 dedicated readers. And publishers are just now realizing that money can be made from digital imprints, so they are opening their doors to writers. No agent required. And - have I said this? - it's FREE.

So, come, all you romantic New Adults, blow the dust off your keyboards and type!
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From the website:

Avon’s Digital-First Imprint Encourages Graduate and Undergraduate Writing Students to Submit Romance Manuscripts for Chance to Win One-on-One Editorial Consultation. All Submissions will be Considered for Publication by Avon Impulse!

September marks the end of summer and a return to academia—and for many university students, it’s also a return the equally grueling and rewarding routine of creative writing classes. Avon Books and Avon Impulse, imprints of HarperCollins Publishers, recognizes the raw talent and passion for the craft that many students bring to their work, and it is for this reason that they have chosen to work with HarperCollins’ Academic Marketing division to launch an initiative seeking emerging young stars of Romance.

Graduate and undergraduate students are invited to submit up to three chapters (or 50 pages), a detailed synopsis (no more than five pages) of the romance novel. Entrants should also include a brief paragraph on what their follow-up book would be to the Avon Impulse Editors.

What are Avon’s editors looking for? Amanda Bergeron,the lead editor for the Avon Impulse digital-first publishing imprint, says, “First and foremost, we always want a fresh voice and an ability to create real-to-life characters. Beyond that, we are looking for writers who have an understanding of what’s working in the current market. And if you can make us laugh, cry, or go absolutely weak-kneed, that certainly doesn’t hurt. Know your strengths when you write—and trust in a great editor to make your manuscript even stronger”

Avon is actively acquiring the following types of novels:
New Adult romanceRomantic suspenseSuper sexy contemporariesTrilogies—and beyondSerialized erotic romanceWhat types of submissions will get students noticed? Bergeron notes, “Fabulously sexy heroes who let nothing get in the way of getting what they want—the heroine of course—and giving her everything she needs,” are top-of-bell curve for Avon editorial. Emphasis is also on heroines who are unafraid to take chances in life … and in love. “World-building” is key—writers are asked to choose the setting, just make sure it’s utterly romantic! Readers should be able to immerse themselves in the wonderful world that an author creates. "Series Wanted!" Bergeron asserts that readers always cry out for more when authors give them characters to believe in … so, in outlines, aspiring authors are asked to give Avon’s editors an idea of more stories to come in the same vein. And finally—for anyone who has discovered the super-dramatic, addictive joy of New Adult, editors are looking for dark spectacles that explore the many twists and turns of true love.

Further guidelines can be found at www.avonimpulse.com—but the sky’s the limit, since there are no specific call outs for this opportunity; as long as it’s romance, it qualifies! This call for submissions is aimed directly at students.

Deadlines:

All submissions should be digitally sent by 5 pm on April 1, 2014, via email to avonromancecollege@gmail.com. All submissions must be submitted from a college email address. All submissions will be reviewed and considered for publication through Avon Impulse, the publisher’s digital-first arm—winners will be announced on May 15, 2014.

Please Click Here for Official Rules

ABOUT HARPERCOLLINS PUBLISHERS

HarperCollins Publishers, one of the largest English-language publishers in the world, is a subsidiary of NewsCorp (NASDAQ: NWS, NWSA; ASX: NNC, NNCLV). Headquartered in New York, HarperCollins has publishing groups around the world in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and India. HarperCollins is a broad-based publisher with strengths in literary and commercial fiction, business books, children's books, cookbooks, narrative nonfiction, mystery, romance, reference, pop culture, design, health, wellness, and religious and spiritual books. With nearly 200 years of history, HarperCollins has published some of the world's foremost authors, including winners of the Nobel Prize, the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, the Newbery Medal, and the Caldecott Medal. HarperCollins is consistently at the forefront of innovation, using digital technology to create unique reading experiences and expand the reach of its authors. You can visit HarperCollins Publishers online at: http://www.harpercollins.com.

Why Does the Federal Government Care What You Are Reading?

Big Brother is watching ... What were the most recent books you took out of a library? Were they, by any chance, How to Build a Bomb That Will Destroy a Large Building in Washington, DC? Or, perhaps, Death to America? Or did you simply want to refresh your memory of Howard Zinn's classic, A People's History of the United States?

The American Library Association, the American Booksellers Association, the Association of American Publishers, and PEN American Center have all endorsed a bill, the Freedom Act, that will restore Americans' right to read and say what they like - unmonitored.

Privacy is among our most cherished civil rights - and for good reason. If somebody, somewhere in the bowels of wherever the Patriot Act allows drones to monitor what we read, decides that Howard Zinn or Noam Chomsky is a terrorist, then you may suffer the consequences, simply by having taken home one of their books.

Of course, the argument in favor of monitoring citizens is that citizens must give up a certain amount of freedom in order to have security. The fears of Americans after 911 made this perspective seem reasonable.

What people tend to forget is that the federal government's (or any institution's) idea of security may have more to do with its own self-preservation than yours. The abandonment of freedom of the press in America in the wake of the Jacobin threat (The Sedition Act), stimulated, not a crack-down on sympathizers of the French Revolution, but on political opponents of the Federalist government.

Historically, it has always been the case that whenever civil liberties are revoked, the purpose is not to safeguard the rights of citizens, but to extend the reach of whoever happens to be in power.

This article appeared a few days ago in Publisher's Weekly. Give it a read. And send a quick thank you note to Senator Patrick Leahy and Representative James Sensenbrenner for standing up to Big Brother. George Orwell would appreciate it.

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Book Groups Back Bill to Restore Privacy Protections

Publisher's Weekly, Nov 14, 2013

Spurred by revelations of how the National Security Agency is collecting information on citizens, the Campaign for Reader Privacy has issued a statement calling for Congress to pass the USA Freedom Act. CRP, a joint initiative of the American Booksellers Association, the American Library Association, the Association of American Publishers, and PEN American Center, said passage of the bill will restore privacy protections that were eliminated by the Patriot Act.

The Freedom Act (S. 1599/H.R. 3361) was introduced on October 29 by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) in response to the news that the National Security Agency is using Section 215 of the Patriot Act to collect records of the telephone calls made by Americans without regard to whether they are suspected of involvement in terrorism. Section 215 eliminated the requirement that the government show evidence of “individualized suspicion” before it can conduct a search in a terrorism investigation.

Since 2004, CPR has warned that Section 215 could be used to obtain the records of innocent Americans, including records of the books they purchase from bookstores or borrow from libraries. Supporters of the Patriot Act, including Rep. Sensenbrenner, argued that it would be used only to investigate someone suspected of terrorism. The revelations of former NSA contractor Edward J. Snowden, however, convinced Sensenbrenner and others that additional safeguards are needed to protect privacy. The Freedom Act would limit government searches to the records of people who are suspected terrorists and their associates.

Read the rest of this important article HERE.

Ray Bradbury's Words of Wisdom - Write Like Hell!

There is no doubt about it, Ray Bradbury could give a great lecture.

In 2001, Bradbury spoke at Point Loma Nazrene University in San Diego, California, where he imparted his wisdom: Read the greats, broaden your mind, and write like hell.

We've heard it before - practice makes perfect - but nowhere is this message delivered with greater honesty, more clarity, and deeper conviction than when it comes out of Ray Bradbury's mouth. Because this is a man who waited until he was 30 before he wrote his first novel, Fahrenheit 451, and who spent the previous 18 years writing "millions of words" until he got it right.

In an age of instant gratification and overnight success stories (a very bad idea for writers, by the way - overnight success usually kills a writer's career), Bradbury's words of wisdom may fall on deaf ears.

But that does not make them any less true. Here is the writer's problem, as Bradbury saw it:

"The problem with novels is you can spend a whole year writing one and it might not turn out well."

He's right. In fact, chances are that if that novel is the only thing you have ever written, it will turn out to be a piece of crap. Unfortunately, writers are a stubborn lot - fixated on their "little darlings" and their plans for world domination.

Nonetheless, those who are wise will follow Bradbury's advice:

"If you can write one short story a week, it doesn’t matter what the quality is to start – at least you’re practicing. At the end of the year you have 52 short stories. And I defy you to write 52 bad ones. It can’t be done. After 30 or 40 weeks, all of a sudden a story will come that is wonderful – just wonderful. That’s what happened to me..."

While you're coming up with your wonderful gem, read the great short story writers: Richard Matheson, Nigel Kneal, John Collier (brilliant short stories), Edith Wharton, Edgar Allen Poe, Melville, Hawthorn. Read the great poems. Read the great essays, from various fields. "Stuff your heads!"

Watch this fabulous video - this man is one of the greats, and well worth listening to.

"The sooner you know how to write a metaphor, the better off you'll be."

Ray Bradbury, August 22, 1920 – June 5, 2012

Marketing Terms for Those Who Would Rather Use a Hammer

When I bought my 175-year-old farmhouse, my brother handed me a book. 

"You'll need this," he said.

The book was Better Homes and Gardens Complete Guide To Home Repair & Improvement, and it was enormous. Not only was it big, it contained a lot of things I would never be able to do - like fix squeaky stairs, and take apart plumbing.  

I expressed some reservations about my handyman abilities. My brother replied, in his infinite wisdom, that the book was not meant for me to actually use - that would require being able to name a tool other than a hammer - but for me to understand what plumbers and other repairmen were doing when they came to my house.

The book proved invaluable, as anyone with a 175-year-old house can attest to.

There is a point to this story.

As I was browsing the net, I came upon an article explaining marketing terms. I am not a marketer, and don't plan to become one, mostly because I haven't the faintest idea what these people are talking about. As it turns out, it's a good idea to know what marketing terms mean, if only because, like the plumber's wrench, it's nice to recognize a tool when someone else charges you for using one.

Even if you don't ever have to pay a marketer, you may want to know what marketing is about. Chances are you'll be doing some of this work yourself.
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17 Marketing Terms You Were Too Embarrassed to Google (But Should Definitely Know)

By Maggie Hibma

As inbound marketers, it’s our job to keep up with the latest trends in our industry, news on our competitors, and the latest marketing jargon.

But sometimes, every once in a while, a term or concept will eek by you. You might kind of know what it means, but not entirely.

And you’ll know exactly what that term is when a colleague says something to you and your first reaction is ... “Huh?”

Perhaps you’re more eloquent than me, but I’ve had plenty of “Huh?” moments at my time here at HubSpot. And if I’ve been hesitant to Google a few things here and there, I bet there are some fellow marketers out there that also have been.

So ... I put together a list of some -- okay, 17 to be precise -- terms and concepts that you can brush up on (or maybe learn about for the first time) and your Google search history will be none the wiser.

1) Long-Tail Keywords

Long-tail keywords are cool. Essentially, they’re search queries that contain three or more keywords. So, for example, a regular keyword for HubSpot would be “HubSpot.” But a long-tail keyword could be something like “inbound marketing software.”

What makes long-tail keywords great is Google’s new algorithm, Hummingbird, focuses on user intent, which is the concept behind long-tail keywords, making them an important part of your marketing strategy. They’re also what can turn your PPC efforts into successful campaigns. See? Like I said -- cool.

Read the rest of this enlightening article HERE.

LitCrawls - The Newest Thing Since Pubcrawls

Last September, the New York Times published an article, A Heady Cocktail of Books and Booze, covering the latest trend among the literati - LitCrawls. As with so many entertaining concepts, the LitCrawl - an event combining food, fun, alcohol, and (I almost forgot) authors - began in San Francisco, home of Rice-A-Roni. 

Gone - or nearly gone - are the days when 25 people find themselves uncomfortably seated on metal folding chairs in a dank library basement for the privilege of listening to an embittered author read from his or her latest unsuccessful novel. Of course, there are still the $35 events at the 92nd Street Y, but these are getting some serious competition from literary events that are free - and fun! After all, which would you rather do - sit in a dank basement (or part with your money), or eat, drink and be merry with people who still read books?

Two questions immediately come to mind, 1) Where are these events held, and 2) How can we get into one?

The answer to the first question is London, San Francisco, New York, and, most recently LA.

The answer to the second question is, make connections. (Just read who sponsored the LA event, and you'll see what I mean.)
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First LitCrawl Los Angeles a Big Success

By Wendy Werris, Publisher's Weekly, Oct 24, 2013

An estimated 2,000 devotees from the Los Angeles literary community were out in force on the evening of Wednesday, October 23, in North Hollywood, Calif., for the first annual LitCrawl 2013 Los Angeles: NoHo. The event is now a participant in the national Litquake Foundation series.

Held in the burgeoning NoHo arts district in the San Fernando Valley, the organizers of LitCrawl scheduled 23 events in 12 locations around the business hub of North Hollywood. Literary salons, workshops, and periodicals such as Tongue and Groove, Black Clock, GETLIT – Words Ignite, Los Angeles Review of Books, The (In)Visible Memoirs Project, and The Rumpus featured readings in venues as varied as pizza parlors, bars, theatres, and a hair salon. Round 1 of the Crawl ran from 6:00 – 7:00 pm; Round 2 from 7:30 – 8:30 pm. A sold-out after-party and fundraiser for LitCrawl L.A. began at 9:00 pm at The Hesby restaurant, where over 200 people mingled and listened to a live jazz band.

Read the rest of the article HERE.

SCBWI Opens Yearly Award to Self-Publishers

Increasingly, writers' societies are recognizing the value of self-published books. This year, the Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators is bestowing an annual award to "non-traditionally" published children books (picture, middle grade, YA) that meet SCBWI's standards for excellence.

If you have written a children's or YA book, and self-published it, this is a prize well worth pursuing. The SCBWI is a highly respected organization, one all children's book authors should join.

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Spark Award

The Spark Award is an annual award that recognizes excellence in a children’s book published through a non-traditional publishing route.

Deadline:

Deadline for submission is December 31 for books published in that calendar year. Books published in previous years and re-issues are ineligible.

YOU MUST FOLLOW THE APPLICATION PROCEDURES BELOW EXACTLY. INCOMPLETE APPLICATION PACKAGES WILL BE AUTOMATICALLY DISQUALIFIED.

Award:

The winner and Honor Book recipients will receive a Spark seal to display on their book, a commemorative plaque and the opportunity to have their book featured at our Summer and Winter Conferences in Los Angeles and New York, in our SCBWI online bookstore and publicized through SCBWI social networking sites.

Guidelines:

1. You must be a current SCBWI member with membership current through April of the following year to apply.  If you are a member now but your membership is scheduled to expire before that time, you will need to renew your membership in order to be eligible for the award. BOTH the author and illustrator (if applicable) must be members. In the case of co-authors, both must be members. If either case wins the award, two awards will be given.

2. You must have published a book intended for the children’s or YA market in one of the following categories: Board Book, Picture Book, Chapter Book, Middle Grade, or Young Adult.

3. The book may be fiction or non-fiction.

4. The book should have been self-published either through an established self-publishing enterprise or individually self-published.  The book cannot have been previously published in any print or digital form prior to the self-published form.

5. SCBWI reserves the right to disqualify books published by enterprises that we believe, in our discretion, operate in a predatory or unbusiness-like manner.

6. The entry must be submitted in traditionally bound form, contain an ISBN number, and provide evidence of Copyright Registration. For books originating outside the US you must follow the copyright rules of your country. Due to the government shutdown you will not be able to access the Copyright website, you may submit your email recipt as proof of copyright registration.

7. One winner and one Honor Book recipient will be chosen from two rounds of judging. The first round will be judged by an SCBWI panel; the second round will be judged by a panel selected from industry editors, agents, authors, illustrators and/or booksellers.

8. Books may be entered for either the Spark Award or The Golden Kite Award, but not both.

Judging will be based on a number of criteria, including but not limited to: quality of writing and concept, quality of illustrations (if applicable), professional presentation, editing and design, appropriateness of content for the targeted age group of the book.

Application Procedures:

You must include ALL of the following. Incomplete application packages will be automatically disqualified:

1. Cover letter with ALL of the following information:

-Your name

-Your SCBWI membership expiration date

-Name of your book

-Genre of your book

-Publishing method

-ISBN

-Synopsis of your book

2. Evidence of copyright registration. A completed pending application form is acceptable.

3. Two copies of a printed and bound copy of the book

Send application packages via a traceable mailing method (i.e. FedEx, UPS, US or International Mail with tracking number) to:

SCBWI Spark Award

8271 Beverly Blvd.

Los Angeles, CA 90048

Questions? Call us at 323-782-1010 or email the Grant Coordinator

TRICK OR READ! ... THIS MAN IS MY HERO!!!

Retired MU professor offers books instead of candy on Halloween

Source: MISSOURIAN, 10/30/13,  updated Thursday, October 31, 2013

COLUMBIA, Missouri

Children's books swamped Gary Fox's kitchen countertops Wednesday. Gary Fox, 83, collects books for months to hand out to kids on Halloween. This year, he has "Mother Hubbard," "Robinson Crusoe" and many more.

On Halloween night, they will all disappear — more than 100 of them — handed out to costumed children as part of Fox's "Trick or Read" tradition.

When neighborhood children dressed as witches or superheroes come to the retired MU professor's door in Fairview, they open their bags and he slips in a copy of "The Cat in the Hat" or "Cinderella" or "Aladdin."

"Candy is gone in 30 minutes," Fox, 83, said. "Books will be passed on and shared."

He started the tradition about three years ago and estimates he has given away dozens of books over the years. He acquires them from secondhand bookstores and assorted donations.

Read the rest of this GREAT story HERE.

Literary Agents Looking for New Clients

These agents are actively seeking clients, so if your manuscript is ready, and if it fits their interests (read what they do and do not represent very carefully), "lob it over the fence" as one of my professors used to say. (Sports metaphors abound in communications schools.)


Beth Phelan

Beth Phelan has recently joined the Bent Agency in Brooklyn, NY.  As a new agent she is actively building her client list. This is how she describes herself:

“After graduating from New York University, I found my footing as an intern with the Levine Greenberg Literary Agency. Since then, I’ve held positions at Waxman Leavell Literary and Howard Morhaim Literary Agency. As a literary agent with the Bent Agency, I am looking for complex fiction that pulls you in immediately, characters that you wish were your real friends and plot lines that drag you away from reality to a world you never want to leave. My favorite stories are told with humor and sprinkled with surprises. When I was a kid, my father told me: ‘You’re not going to have any friends left if you keep reading instead of returning their phone calls.’ That’s when I knew I wanted to work with books (although I like to think that I’ve managed to strike a better balance in my life now). I live in Brooklyn with a neurotic chihuahua, goofy beagle and always some form of cheese in the fridge.”

What she is looking for:

Beth Phelan represents fiction for young adults and middle-grade readers, select commercial and literary adult fiction, and nonfiction by way of lifestyle, cooking/food writing, humor, pop culture, LGBT and pets/animals. For adult fiction, she leans toward new adult, suspense, thriller, and mystery

She is not considering sports, history, poetry, screenplays, reference, science, academic, short stories, erotica, art, self-help, spirituality.

How to contact her:

To query Beth, please read the agency submissions guidelines, then email phelanqueries [at] thebentagency.com.

Molly Glick

Molly Glick is an established literary agent who is looking for new clients. She is currently working with Foundry Media, a literary/talent agency based in New York. Like many agents, Molly worked as an editor (Crown), before switching to representing authors. She has served on the Contracts Committee of the AAR and teaches classes at Media Bistro and the Grotto. Her instructional articles on nonfiction proposal and query letter writing have been featured in Writer’s Digest.

What she is looking for:

"Mollie represents literary fiction, young adult fiction, narrative nonfiction, and a bit of practical nonfiction. She’s particularly interested in novels that bridge the literary-commercial divide, combining a great, high concept plot with beautiful writing, and nonfiction dealing with popular science, medicine, psychology, cultural history, memoir and current events. She’s very hands-on, working collaboratively with her authors to refine their projects, then focusing on identifying just the right editors for her submissions. Some of Mollie’s recent projects include New York Times Bestseller Jonathan Evison’s West of Here and The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving (Algonquin); Carol Rifka Brunt’s Tell The Wolves I’m Home (Random House); Rhonda Riley’s The Enchanted Life of Adam Hope (Ecco); Elizabeth Black’s The Drowning House (Nan A. Talese); Dr. Tracy Alloway’s The New IQ (Free Press); Lenore Skenazy’s Free Range Kids (Jossey-Bass); Josephine Angelini’s Starcrossed (Harper Teen) and Gennifer Albin’s Crewel (Farrar, Strauss & Giroux)."

How to contact her:

Mollie Glick only accepts submissions by email. Please send all queries for Mollie to mgsubmissions@foundrymedia.com. Read the agency's submissions page first.

Monica Odom

Monica Odom joined Liza Dawson Associates in 2010. She is also the agency’s manager of finance and social media. Monica graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in English from Montclair State University, and is now a candidate for her Masters in Publishing from New York University. Prior to joining LDA, Monica interned at Joelle Delbourgo Associates, New Jersey Business Magazine, and MTV Networks’ Public Affairs department. Find her on Twitter. In her free time, Monica can most often be found with her nose in a book (or handheld screen), unless she is catering to the various and extensive needs of her spoiled-rotten cats, Sam and Luna.

What she is looking for:

Monica is looking for literary fiction, women’s fiction and voice-driven memoir, as well as nonfiction in the areas of pop culture, food and cooking, history, politics, and current affairs. Monica is especially interested in writers with strong social media platforms.

How to contact her:

Contact Monica at querymonica [at] LizaDawsonAssociates.com. Along with your query letter, please include the first ten pages of your manuscript as an email attachment.

Connor Goldsmith 

Connor Goldsmith is an Associate Agent and Digital Strategist at Lowenstein Associates, a New York based agency founded in 1976 by Barbara Lowenstein.

What he is looking for:

Connor specializes in adult science fiction and fantasy, but is also looking for psychological thrillers and literary fiction with a unique hook. He is particularly looking for fiction from authors from marginalized perspectives, especially LGBT and/or racial minority authors. He is also very interested in manuscripts with LGBT and/or racial minority protagonists. Connor does not represent Young Adult or Middle Grade books.As a nonfiction literary agent, Connor seeks books by recognized experts with broad, established platforms. Subjects of interest include cinema, television, theater, mass media, historical biography, and progressive politics.

How to contact him

“For fiction, please send us a one-page query letter, along with the first ten pages pasted in the body of the message by email to assistant@bookhaven.com. If nonfiction, please send a one-page query letter, a table of contents, and, if available, a proposal pasted into the body of the e-mail to assistant [at] bookhaven.com. Please put the word QUERY and the title of your project in the subject field of your email and address it to the agent of your choice (Connor). Please do not send an attachment as the message will be deleted without being read and no reply will be sent. We reply to all queries and generally send a response within 4-6 weeks.

40% of Adults Own an Ereader ... What Are They Reading?

In spite of protests from the inhabitants of Jurassic Park, it looks like ereaders are here to stay. A recent poll conducted for USA Today and Bookish, a website designed to help people find and buy books, found that 40% of adults — including 46% of those ages 18 to 39 — own an e-reader or a tablet. That's more than double the numbers of less than two years ago. (You can read the full article HERE.)

In a nutshell, twice as many people own an ereader, and three times as many own a tablet, as compared to two years ago.

The biggest demographic for ownership is, not surprisingly, between the ages of 18 and 49, almost half of whom own an ereader. For this group, the number of books read on an ereader outstrips print books. Also, not only are they reading more, they are talking about it on Facebook. The poll asked a number of other interesting questions, including: What keeps you from reading more books? (Lack of time), and (big question!) For those using ereaders, what books are you reading more of? (In order of popularity: Sci-fi, mystery, romance, and nonfiction.)

Find out what factors play a role in their book selections HERE.