 |
What Should Be Wild by Julia Fine,
represented by Greenburger Associates |
Sanford J. Greenburger Associates
55 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10003
212 206 5600
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. Also, if you’re not
yet on my newsletter, send me an email, including your locale to: brianhenry@sympatico.ca ~Brian
Greenburger
Associates has been around for more than 80 years. It
brought Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Franz Kafka, and Antoine de
Saint-Exupéry to American audiences. It continues to represent heavyweight
authors, particularly best-selling heavyweights, such as Dan Brown.
Altogether the agency has eleven agents and all but
two of the most senior agents are open to queries. Here are your six best bets:
Abigail Frank, Associate Agent
Abigail
is passionate about stories for young people, especially those that are
hilarious, poetic, quietly heartbreaking, and/or swoon-worthy, and she cares
about voice, above all. She gravitates towards picture books that feel entirely
original, chapter books with big personalities, and novels about unforgettable
teens falling in love.
Like everyone else, she is committed to advocating for
the work of marginalized authors and artists, and she’s actively looking for
stories that allow young readers to recognize themselves in the books they
love. She is also looking for select adult fiction and nonfiction.
{Among
other things}, Abigail is especially seeking:
Big concept and/or offbeat picture books,
preferably (but not exclusively) by author/illustrators
Voice-driven chapter books!
Middle grade that is hilarious (think Better Nate
Than Ever series), poetic (think The Girl Who Drank the Moon or Other Words for
Home), or profound (think Tuck Everlasting)
Swoon-worthy YA rom-coms!!
YA in verse (think The Poet X)
Stories with a drop of magic or set in the
not-so-distant future
Stories that grapple with ideas of masculinity
Sex Education or Booksmart in
novel form
For adults, she’s
particularily looking for: cultural criticism, an analytical look at
healthcare or higher education/campus life (fiction or nonfiction), and contemporary
commercial fiction about people in their 20’s (think Red, White & Royal
Blue)
In
the subject line put “QUERY – project title.” Attach your full manuscript or proposal. If you are a visual artist, please also include a link to your portfolio.
Sami Isman, Associate Agent.
Sami
is seeking adult novels in the literary mystery, psychological
thriller/suspense, and upmarket women’s fiction genres. She is keenly
interested in novels with strong female protagonists and ones involving
contemporary relationships, such as family sagas, friendships, and ensemble
casts. She also loves stories with ethereal moods—a touch of magical realism
and subtle otherworldly traits. She is not looking to represent fantasy,
sci-fi, or strictly romance novels.
Having
grown up around the world, Sami welcomes diverse/international perspectives and
new voices, as well as books in translation, especially from Latin American
authors. She looks forward to developing long-lasting relationships with her authors
and working closely with them to develop their writing careers.
Sami
joined Greenburger Associates in the summer of 2015. She was raised in
Argentina, Brazil, and Singapore before attending Brown University and the
Columbia Publishing Course. Sami has been working under the agency’s president,
Heide Lange, assisting on all matters regarding her authors, including Dan
Brown and Brad Thor, as well as liaising with foreign publishers on her behalf.
She will continue in that role and, under Heide's tutelage, further refine her
editorial and negotiation skills as she builds her own list of clients.
In
the subject line put “QUERY – project title.” Paste the first few chapters of your manuscript into the
body of the email.
Sarah Phair, Agent
Sarah
represents a range of fiction and nonfiction authors writing for the adult
market.
In fiction she focuses on books by women, for women, ranging from
commercial, to upmarket and literary. If you would read it in your book club or
take it on vacation, it might be a good fit for Sarah’s list. She particularly
loves: family sagas, female friendship, complex psychological suspense, campus
novels, anti-heroines, and a good love story.
In nonfiction her areas of
interest include feminist issues, millennial topics, pop culture, and anything
about food. She is especially interested in projects analyzing the future of
media consumption, how and what we eat, agriculture, and housing.
Sarah
joined Greenburger Associates in 2019. Originally from Mississippi, she moved
to New York in 2010 to pursue a career in publishing. She worked at Trident
Media Group for six years, acting as audio agent and foreign rights agent
before building her own list. Sarah also has a M.A. in British and American
Literature.
In
the subject line put “QUERY – project title.” Paste the first 10 pages of your manuscript into the body of
the email.
Ed Maxwell,
Agent
Edjoined
Greenburger Associates in 2011 to work with Faith Hamlin; in 2015 he started
building a roster of authors and artists with whom he is very grateful to work;
and in summer 2019 he became a full-time agent.
A
close reader of nonfiction, Ed is interested in how histories ripple across
contemporary politics and present life. He is also inspired by how visual
storytellers, whether artists or documentary photographers, can captivate the
imaginations of child and adult readers alike, breaking down any fourth walls
that might need toppling. Ed reads literary fiction as well, for adults and
children, especially as a generation of writers rises to build an incorporative
American canon for this new century.
No submission guidelines
specified, so I’d assume he’d like the opening ten pages of your manuscript
pasted into the body of the email.
Wendi Gu, Agent
Wendi represents
fiction and nonfiction children’s books across the spectrum, from board books
all the way up to young adult. She
enjoys lyricism at the line level, sophisticated rhythm, as well as whimsical,
absurdist humor. She does not shy away from heavy, darker subjects related to
mental health, trauma, and displacement, with a special focus on family
stories, and nonfiction books that unearth unexpected corners of history and
science.
For middle grade and young adult novels, she enjoys voice-driven
stories with thoughtful, contemplative, often-flawed characters. She is looking
for authors who value intersectionality.
Wendi also works with illustrators, especially with author/illustrators, with beautiful color
palettes and texture who also have a sense of page turn and nuanced character expression.
Wendi’s clients range from New York Times bestsellers, Pushcart Prize recipients, to various reader’s choice and humor award winners. She grew up in the Chicago suburbs and spent
many of her summers with her grandparents in China. With academics as parents, she has always had a nerdy interest in the humanities. She is a graduate of Northwestern University.
Include QUERY in the subject line and paste a
10-age sample into the body of the the email. Illustrators and
author/illustrators should attach full sketch dummies and portfolios as a PDF
or FTP.
Stephanie
Delma, Agent
Stephanie
represents a spectrum of authors who write for the adult market, with a focus
on fiction: literary/upmarket, psychologically propulsive suspense,
near-historical fiction, and genre-bending, literary narratives that contain
elements of surrealism, magic, or sci-fi (her favorite non-client books in this
space include Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel and Her Body
and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado).
Stephanie also represents a
limited selection of narrative nonfiction projects by authors with established
platforms and unique perspectives.
In
nonfiction, she is looking for longform reportage that reads like fiction, true
crime, and expert accounts of dark and far-flung corners of the world.
In
both fiction and nonfiction, Stephanie favors #ownvoices, diverse perspectives,
and feminist narratives.
Stephanie
has been with Sanford J. Greenburger Associates since early 2012. After working
closely with agency president Heide Lange for several years, handling foreign
rights for Dan Brown, Brad Thor, and other bestselling authors while
simultaneously building her own list, Stephanie transitioned to full-time
agenting in January 2018. A graduate of Johns Hopkins’ Writing Seminars
program, Stephanie considers herself a “hands-on” agent and is eager to work
with debut authors who are serious about their craft.
Please put “Query: [your book’s title] by [your name]” in the subject
line. Include the first few chapters in the body of your email.
See Greenburger Associates' full submission guidelines here.
 |
| Literary agent Stephanie Winter |
If you’re interested in getting
published, now or sometime in the future, don’t miss our upcoming How to Get Published workshop with literary
agent Stephanie Winter of P.S. Literary on Saturday, Nov 23, in Niagara on the
Lake with (see here).
Also, don’t miss Writing for Children and for Young Adults with Kids
Can Press senior editor Yasemin Uçar and
children's author Jennifer Mook-Sang at the Burlington
Central Library, Saturday, Oct 5 (see here), “You
can write great dialogue,” Sunday, Oct 20, in Sudbury (see here)
and How to Write a Bestseller with New York Times #1 bestselling author Kelley
Armstrong, Saturday, Oct 26, in Waterloo (see here).
Also, there’s still room in these classes starting this week:
Oakville: Welcome to Creative Writing, Thursday evenings, Sept 26 – Nov 28 (no class
Oct 31). Details here.
Toronto: Writing Personal Stories, Friday
afternoons, Sept 27 – Nov 29 (no class Nov 1). Details here.
Burlington: Writing
Personal Stories, Thursday
afternoons, Sept 26 – November 28 (no class Oct 31). Details here.
See details of all the
fall courses here.
Then in the winter, a full range of weekly courses
will be on offer:
Oakville: Writing Personal Stories, Thursday
evenings – dates to be announced
Burlington: Exploring
Creative Writing, Thursday afternoons – dates to be
announced
Burlington: Next Step in
Creative Writing, Tuesday afternoons –
dates to be announced
Burlington: Intensive
Creative Writing, Wednesday evenings –
dates to be announced
Toronto: Intensive
Creative Writing, Friday mornings – dates
to be announced
Plus…
November at the Briars Writing Retreat
Friday, November 1 – Monday, November 4.
Four days of creativity in a setting with the warmth of a country estate
steeped in history while providing all the benefits of an extensive, modern
lakeside resort. Details here.
Algonquin Writing Retreat, Friday, June 5 -
Monday, June 8, 2020. Four
days of luxury and writing in one of most beautiful spots in Ontario. This is
the area that inspired the Group of Seven; come and let it inspire you, too. Details here.
To reserve a spot in any upcoming weekly course,
weekend retreat, or Saturday workshop, email Brian at: brianhenry@sympatico.ca
Read reviews of Brian’s courses,
retreats, and workshops here.
See Brian’s complete current
schedule here, including
Saturday writing workshops, weekly writing classes, and weekend
retreats in Algonquin Park, Alliston, Bolton, Barrie, Brampton,
Burlington, Caledon, Collingwood, Georgetown, Georgina, Guelph, Jackson’s
Point, Kitchener-Waterloo, London, Midland, Mississauga, New Tecumseth,
Oakville, Ottawa, St. Catharines, Sudbury, Toronto, Windsor, Woodstock, Halton,
Muskoka, Peel, Simcoe, York Region, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.
Navigation tips: Always
check out the Labels underneath a post; they’ll lead you to various distinct
collections of postings. If you're searching for more interviews with literary
agents or a literary agent who represents a particular type of book, check out this post.
.jpg)
