Four literary agents at powerhouse agency Writers House seek new authors

Writers House 
21 West 26th Street
New York, NY 10010
http://writershouse.com/content/home.asp

Note: Don't ever miss a post on Quick Brown Fox. Fill in your email in the box to the right under my bio, and get each post delivered to your Inbox.  ~ Brian

Writers House was founded by Al Zuckerman in 1973.  It has since grown to be one of the world's most successful literary agencies, with offices also in London, England, and La Jolla, California.

Writers House represents fiction and nonfiction, for both adult and juvenile books. Their agents work with literary and commercial fiction, women's fiction, science fiction/fantasy, narrative nonfiction, history, memoirs, biographies, books on psychology, science, parenting, cookbooks, how-to, self-help, business, finance, young adult and juvenile fiction and nonfiction, and picture books. 

Writers’ House has four junior agents, and these are you best bets for getting represented by  this powerhouse agency:

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, where he worked under Jodi Reamer and Amy Berkower on a large number of YA and Adult titles. Twitter handle: @alecdshane

Alec 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. “Getting boys to read again is especially important to me,” says Alec, “and thus I'm particularly on the lookout for a fun middle-grade adventure series, ghost story, or anything else geared toward younger male readers.”

He doesn’t want Romance, straight sci-fi, high fantasy, picture books, self-help, women’s fiction, food, or travel memoir. More about what Alec’s looking for here.

Query Alec at: ashane@writershouse.com

Your subject line should read: “Query for Alec Shane: TITLE.” Include the first 10 pages of your manuscript. No attachments.

Soumeya Bendimerad Roberts joined Writers House in 2015 and represents a diverse list of nonfiction, memoir, literary fiction, upmarket/book club fiction, and select realistic young-adult. Prior to joining Writers House, she was director of foreign rights at the Susan Golomb Literary Agency, handling translation rights for award-winning authors such as Jonathan Franzen, Rachel Kushner, William T. Vollmann, as well as representing her own clients.

Sourmeya brings ten years of experience to the position; she was a literary scout at Sanford Greenburg Associates and began her career in editorial, at an independent literary publishing house, where she launched a lifelong commitment to shepherding quality fiction and nonfiction to publication. She is from the San Francisco Bay Area and lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Sourmeya is looking for General fiction, Juvenile fiction, Biography, Business / investing / finance, Mind / body / spirit, Health, Travel, Lifestyle, Cookbooks, and Children's books

Query Sourmeya at: sroberts@writershouse.com

She doesn’t specify her preferences, so I suggest you include a synopsis and a few sample pages. ~ Brian

Stacy Testa is a junior agent at Writers House and is actively looking for new authors. She joined Writers House in 2011 as an assistant to senior agent Susan Ginsburg and has been actively building her own client list since 2013. Previously, she interned at Farrar, Straus & Giroux and Whimsy Literary. Stacy graduated cum laude with a BA in English from Princeton University. Follow her on Twitter:@stacy_testa

Stacy is looking for literary fiction and upmarket commercial women’s fiction, particularly character-driven stories with an international setting, historical bent, or focus on a unique subculture. She also represents realistic young adult (no dystopian or paranormal, please!).

For nonfiction, Stacy is particularly interested in young “millennial” voices with a great sense of humor and a strong platform, startling and unique memoirs, and voice-driven narratives about little-known historical moments.

Read an interview with Stacy here.

Query Stacy at: stesta@writershouse.com

Include the first five pages of your manuscript pasted into the body of the email (no attachments)

Beth Miller has worked with Robin Rue at Writers House since 2007.  As Robin’s assistant, she has the pleasure of working with many talented and bestselling authors in a variety of genres.  As a Junior Agent, she is building her list, working primarily with authors of romance, women’s fiction, and young adult.

Beth has a Bachelor’s degree in Biology and a Master’s degree in Literature.  In her other life, she was a DNA sequencing technician at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory on Long Island.  She much prefers books to E. coli, and enjoys scuba diving and road trips in her spare time.  She also has a fascination for all things Scottish (including, but not limited to, men in kilts).

Query Beth at: bmiller@writershouse.com

Monica Pacheco

Brian Henry will lead a Writing for Children & for Young Adults workshop on Saturday, March 5, in Burlington, with Monica Pacheco, literary agent with The McDermid Agency (see here).

Other upcoming workshops, include , and How to Make Yourself Write, Saturday, Oct 24, in Guelph (see here) and Saturday, Nov 28, in Mississauga (see here), You can write great dialogue, Saturday, Nov 7, in Oakville (see here) and Saturday, Nov 21, in Ingersoll (see here), How to Build Your Story, Sunday, Nov 22, in Windsor (see here), and Writing Your Life, Saturday, Dec 5, in Burlington (see  here).   

For more information or to register, email: brianhenry@sympatico.ca

But the best way to grow as a writer or to get your manuscript ready for publication may be with a weekly class. Starting in the new year, Brian will be offering a full range of courses for both beginning writers and more experienced writers. (Details of all five classes here.)

Welcome to Creative Writing, Thursday afternoons, Jan 28 – March 31, (no class March 17), in Burlington. (Details of this class here.)

Writing Personal Stories, Tuesday afternoons, Feb 2 – March 29, (no class March 15) in Burlington (Details of this class here.)

The Next Step in Creative Writing, Wednesday evenings, Jan 20 – March 30 (no class March 16), in Burlington

Intermediate Creative Writing, Thurs evenings, Jan 21 – March 31, (no class March 17), in Georgetown

Intensive Creative Writing, Wednesday afternoons, Jan 20 – March 9, in Burlington

See details of all five classes here.

To register or for more information, email: brianhenry@sympatico.ca

Read reviews of Brian’s courses and workshops here.

See Brian's full schedule here, including writing workshops and creative writing courses in Algonquin Park, Barrie, Bracebridge, Brampton, Burlington, Caledon, Collingwood, Georgetown, Guelph, Hamilton, Ingersoll, Kingston, Kitchener, London, Midland, Mississauga, Newmarket, Orillia, Oakville, Ottawa, Peterborough, St. Catharines, Saint John, NB, Sudbury, Thessalon, Toronto, Windsor, Halton, Kitchener-Waterloo, Muskoka, Peel, Simcoe, York, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.