Literary agent Jill Corcoran at Herman Agency seeks books for children: picture books to young adult

Herman Agency

350 Central Park West
New York, NY 10025

http://www.hermanagencyinc.com/

Herman Agency represents professional artists and authors with an emphasis on the children's market, which includes books for all ages, educational books and supplementary materials, children's magazines, cartoons, licensed characters, as well as stationery, advertising, toys and editorial illustrations.

Agent Jill Corcoran is seeking clients. With an English degree from Stanford University and an MBA in Finance and Marketing from The University of Chicago, Jill has marketed everything from sneakers to cereal. Jill is also a children’s book author and poet. Here’s what she has to say:

I represent Children's Books: Picture Books, Chapter Books, Middle Grade and Young Adult authors. No adult fiction or non-fiction, kid non-fiction or high fantasy, no poetry, screenplays, or plays.

Young Adult & Middle Grade

Thrillers: Up the stakes and make me unable to put down the book until I know that everyone is okay, or not.  I am NOT talking about Boxing Helena or Shutter Island, as I am a huge chicken and will have nightmares. I am talking more CSI and Law & Order, Die Hard and Armageddon (yes, I am a Bruce Willis fan), Men in Black and Independence Day (and a huge Will Smith fan). Thrillers are cinematic. As I read I want the movie playing in my head.

Romantic YA: Contemporary, mystery, paranormal, historical, scifi,  ROMANTIC COMEDIES … doesn't matter – it’s about characters – soul-searching, groin-yearning, heart thumping, heart breaking, fast paced, laugh out loud, cry out loud, make me want to be your character romance! BTW, I want my romance from the girl’s POV. I have amazing male writers who are writing romance and YA from the male POV so I am looking more for girl povs.

Original/Out of the box Paranormal / Sci-fi Middle-Grade and Young Adulst that keeps me at the edge of my seat and has a fantastic payoff at the end.

Upper MIDDLE GRADE that captures the reality of Middle School with an intriguing plot + authentic emotion. 7th & 8th grade = hormonal roller coaster where kids strive to be independent yet are still such babes in the woods.

Younger Middle Grade: funny boy & girl illustratable for 3rd-5th grade be it b/w line art all the way to graphic novel. I'm talking IVY & BEAN, CLEMENTINE, FANGBONE (new from Michael Rex), BIG NATE, LUNCH LADY.

Coming of age girl Middle Grade & Young Adult with commercial hook and beautiful writing. School stories, sibling stories, friendship stories but with something fresh and not  NOT QUIET. 

Middle Grade adventure that is not episodic and where the main character is as imperative to the story as the action. A character who readers will want to follow into the clutches of death and back again.

MYSTERY!

Picture Books: I am so, so very picky that I don't even have an actual want list on this. I would say very short...max 700 words, prefer 500 or less.

Query Jill at: QueryJillCorcoran@gmail.com

Include the first 10 pages of your manuscript pasted into the body of your email.

Do not query Jill at her Herman Agency email address; they’ll be deleted.

Full submission guidelines here.

Brian Henry will lead a “Writing for Children and for Young Adults” workshop in Newmarket on Saturday, September 22 (see here), and he'll lead a "How to Get Published" workshop on Saturday, October 13, in Toronto with Monica Pacheco of The Anne McDermid literary agency (see here).

See Brian's full schedule here, including writing workshops and creative writing courses in Kingston, Peterborough, Toronto, Mississauga, Brampton, Georgetown, Milton, Oakville, Burlington, St. Catharines, Hamilton, Dundas, Kitchener, Guelph, London, Woodstock, Orangeville, Newmarket, Barrie, Gravenhurst, Sudbury, Muskoka, Peel, Halton, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.