It’s Thanksgiving week, and we’re looking forward to family and food. In this week’s roundup we cover agent & agency news, submission deadlines, Manuscript Wishlist highlights, and confront our age-related limitations.
We’d love to hear your feedback. Please let us know what you think in the comments and if there are certain types of information you would like to see in the Roundup. Also feel free to tweet at us (@freelancingrads) with any ideas or questions. Have a great writing week!
One Promotion, Two New Hires
At P.S. Literary Agency, Maria Vicente has been promoted to Agent.
Seeking:
Fiction: Young Adult (contemporary; horror; magical realism; mystery; light science fiction; light fantasy), Middle Grade (any genre), and illustrated Picture Books
Nonfiction: Pop Culture, Science, Design, and Lifestyle
“Maria specializes in children’s fiction and nonfiction projects for readers of all ages. She is actively looking for young adult, middle grade, illustrated picture books, and nonfiction projects in the following categories: pop culture, science, design, and lifestyle. She has affinities for literary prose, diverse characters, original storytelling formats, and anything geeky.”
Maria is accepting queries via email at query@psliterary.com. For submission guidelines, click here.
Elianna Kan has joined Regal Hoffman Associates as a Literary Agent.
Seeking: Fiction and non-fiction works by Spanish-language writers.
“She has a passion for interdisciplinary cultural programming and teaches creative writing and literary translation at Columbia University. Elianna is actively building a list of Spanish-language fiction and non-fiction writers and is interested in literature in translation in general.”
Elianna is accepting queries via e-mail at submissions@rhaliterary.com. For submission guidelines, click here.
Michelle S. Lazurek has joined WordWise Media Services as an Associate Literary Agent.
Seeking:
Fiction: Children’s picture books
Non-fiction: Christian non-fiction books for adults
Michelle is accepting queries via email at get.wisewords@gmail.com. Check out the company website for extensive guidelines and a required query form here.
Writers, you have until the end of November to submit your work for these contests, so if you feel inspired now is the time to jump on it!
Publishizer “Nether Ether” Speculative Book Proposal Contest—Submissions due November 29th (Final Contest—$$ Prize)
What: Book proposal of up to 1000 words for Science Fiction, Fantasy, and everything in between. Winner receives $1000.
“What one can experience in the nebulous cloud of “speculative fiction” spans the entire dimension of human imagination. As long as we feel disillusionment and the unease of existential angst, these improbable and impossible worlds will continue to delight mankind with their own histories, laws and cultures. In providing a framework to explore the challenges of life, our deepest fears of the unknown can be domesticated; our flights of fancy, indulged.”
To Submit: Submit a proposal here. For rules and guidelines, click here.
Backbone Press The Shared Dream Chapbook Contest—Submissions due November 30th (Poetry Contest—$$ Prize, Publication)
Who: First-generation immigrants born outside the United States or children of (two) parents born outside of the United States
What: Chapbook-length poetry collections (18-30 pages). Winner is awarded $250 and publication in Backbone Press.
To Submit: Submit via online form, here. For rules and guidelines, click here.
#MSWL highlights: one agent that wants all sorts of fiction and two agents looking for nonfiction
Lynette Novak, Literary Assistant at The Seymour Agency
Lynette is making the most of her 140 characters: “I’m looking for: Adult: fantasy, thriller, contemporary romance, rom. com., mystery, & sci-fi. YA: fantasy, sci-fi, horror, contemporary, thriller, & mystery. I love dark & twisty, light & funny, & stories with or without romance. querylynnette (at) http://theseymouragency.com.” Source Tweet
Seeking:
Fiction: Didn’t you read the tweet?
Nonfiction: Not interested.
How to submit: Lynette is accepting submissions via email at querylynnette@theseymouragency.com. More info on submissions may be found here.
Follow Lynette on Twitter @Lynette_Novak.
Amanda Annis, Literary Agent at Trident Media Group
Amanda, a self-declared lover of toast, wants to hear from the new generation of feminist homemakers: “Who wants to write a rad millennial, feminist home ec book celebrating DIY sewing & cooking, caring for your home & being smart about finances?” Source Tweet
Seeking:
Fiction: Literary fiction
Nonfiction: Self-help, Biography, Food & Wine, Health & Fitness
How to submit: Amanda is accepting submissions via online form, here.
Follow Amanda on Twitter @diaryofaneditor.
Deidre Knight, Senior Agent and President of the Knight Agency
Deidre is apparently getting enough fiction already: “I have one #MSWL wishlist–bring me your nonfiction.” Source Tweet
Seeking:
Fiction: Romance, Women’s Fiction, Southern Fiction, Commercial Fiction, Young Adult, Middle Grade
Nonfiction: Memoir, Narrative Non-Fiction, Personal Development, Business, Financial, Net Culture
How to submit: Deidre is accepting submissions via email at submissions@knightagency.net. For submission guidelines, click here.
Follow Deidre on Twitter @DeidreKnight.
Ejusdem Generis
Trying to keep up with an ever-changing publishing industry can be difficult, and sometimes we’re confronted with things that we simply do not have the background to understand, in spite of our constant analysis of the intersection of publishing and pop culture.
This week I discovered that a self-published book had rocketed to the top of Amazon’s Best Sellers list and thought to myself, “Our readers would be interested in this.” I investigated further, and found out that the book, Milk and Vine, is a parody of the NYT bestseller Milk and Honey. Poetry selling well is always interesting, but a parody of poetry?
The Tab, a website that caters to college kids, interviewed the authors, who are undergraduates at Temple University. The authors intended the book to be read by their friends, but found that the combination of Vine-style poetry with the reference to an already-famous book of real poetry proved immensely popular.
Here’s where this takes me: I’ve never used Vine, the now-defunct video application, and my use of Twitter is largely limited to the publishing world. So a book that was recently number one on Amazon, and self published at that, is completely beyond my ken. I feel old.
Check it out here.