Greenhouse Literary Agency seeks picture books, chapter books, middle grade, and young adult fuction

The Greenhouse Literary Agency (http://www.greenhouseliterary.com/) specializes in fiction for children: picture book texts of less than 1000 words; high-concept, character-led young series; middle grade novels; young-adult/crossover novels. Very occasionally, a nonfiction proposal will be considered

Sarah Davies founded the Greenhouse and is head of the agency.  She created the business after moving to the USA from England in 2007, following a long career as a senior UK children’s publisher.

As a publisher, Sarah worked with many high-profile writers on both sides of the Atlantic. As an agent she has shepherded many debut authors to success.

Sarah is seeking fiction by North America authors, from Middle Grade through Young Adult and across all genres (note: she is currently closed to debut Picture books but does rep PBs by clients whom she’s initially taken on for older fiction). She loves strong, hooky plots, writing that has literary quality but is also commercial, a strong or special voice, emotional heart. She loves both adventurous and classic Middle Grade, especially for girls. Currently, she is particularly keen to see unique contemporary Young Adult, sexy historical (French Revolution?!), and voice-driven or exciting Middle Grade, maybe with potential for illustrative components.

John Cusick joined Greenhouse in January 2013 after several years with a small New York agency, where he began as an assistant and rose to be an agent with a fast-developing client list. John is a Young Adult author in his own right.

John is seeking fiction by North American authors, from Picture books and Middle Grade through Young Adult.  Particularly keen to see Middle Grade (and maybe Young Adult) for boys. He wants fast-paced/thrilling/heart-breaking stories, contemporary realism, historicals, speculative fiction, sci-fi and fresh fantasy, villains with vulnerability, bad decisions with best intentions, boldly imagined worlds, striking imagery, characters with histories, stories about siblings and about middle America.

Polly Nolan joined Greenhouse in June 2013 and is based in the UK. Polly began in children’s publishing in the 1990s and has worked at a number of major London houses, including several years as Editorial Director of Fiction at Scholastic and latterly as Associate Publishing Director (Fiction) at Macmillan Children’s Books.

Polly is seeking fiction by UK, Irish, and Commonwealth authors (including Australia, NZ and India – if you’re in Canada, query Sarah or John, not Polly). She’s looking at everything from picture books to young fiction series, through Middle Grade and Young Adult. She is open to all genres, but is particularly looking for an arresting voice, strong concepts, and stories that have heart and engage the emotions – in short, stories with true child and teen appeal.

Submissions

Email your query to: submissions@greenhouseliterary.com

Include the name of the agent you’re querying in the subject line. For a novel, paste the first five pages into the query; for a picture book, paste the entire manuscript into the query.

Full submission guidelines here.

Brian Henry will lead a “How to Get Published" workshop with guest speaker Martha Magor Webb of the Anne McDermid literary agency in Oakville on Feb 22, 2014 (see here).

Also, Brian will lead a “Writing for Children & for Young Adults” workshop in Caledon at the Bolton Library on Jan 18 (here).

Martha Magor Webb of  the
Anne McDermid literary agency

He’ll lead “How to make your stories dramatic" workshop in Brampton on Dec 7 (here).

Brian also has a number of weekly courses coming up in January. He'll lead a “Writing your life & other true stories” on Tuesday afternoons in Burlington (see here) and a “Welcome to Creative Writing” course on Tuesday evenings in Burlington (here).

Brian will lead “Next Step” courses on Tuesday mornings in Burlington (see here), Thursday afternoons in Mississauga (here) and Thursday evenings in Georgetown (here); and he'll lead “Intensive” courses for more experienced writers on Wednesday afternoons in Burlington (here) and Wednesday evenings in Mississauga (see here).

To register or for more details of any course or workshop, email brianhenry@sympatico.ca

See Brian’s full schedule here, including writing workshops and creative writing courses in Ottawa, Kingston, Peterborough, Toronto, Mississauga, Brampton, Bolton, Caledon, Georgetown, Oakville, Burlington, St. Catharines, Hamilton, Cambridge, Guelph, London, Newmarket, Stouffville, Barrie, Midland, Orillia, Sudbury, Thessalon, Algoma, Kitchener-Waterloo, Muskoka, Peel, Halton, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.