The Seymour Agency has six agents looking for new authors

The Ninja's Oath by Tori Eldridge
represented by The Seymour Agency

The Seymour Agency

475 Miner Street Rd,
Canton, New York

https://www.theseymouragency.com/

The Seymour Agency is a well-established agency representing everything from picture books to adult fiction and nonfiction. Several of their agents are also published authors.

“Our literary agents firmly believe in exploring every opportunity for our authors. From foreign and audio rights to film, television, and other multimedia and digital prospects such as gaming and apps, we strive to provide hands-on emotional, professional, promotional, and editorial counsel to each one of our authors.”

Seymour has about eleven agents on staff. Six of them are open to queries:

Lynette Novak spent 17 years freelance editing before joining the agency. She earned a Bachelor of Education degree from the University of Manitoba. She excelled in Advanced Creative Writing in university and studied writing for children and teens through the Institute of Children’s Literature. She was a Pitch Wars mentor in 2015 and 2016. Both her mentees acquired an agent.

Although Lynnette was born and raised in Manitoba, Canada, she now lives in Minnesota with her husband, twin girls, and many pets. Her personal interests include reading, writing, exercising at the gym (okay, that’s a love/hate relationship), working on an assortment of crafts, all things having to do with animals (if she could own a farm, zoo, and animal shelter, she would), and enjoying time with family and friends.

Lynette represents both children’s books and adult fiction and nonfiction. She loves dark and suspenseful, mysterious twists, unique worlds, light and funny, a good love story, and lots of voice. Lynnette is always looking for diverse and LGBTQ+ authors and wants to share more of these marginalized voices with the world.

Picture books: fiction and nonfiction picture books (non-rhyming preferred). 

MG genres: horror, contemporary, mystery, magical realism, contemporary/grounded fantasy

YA genres: horror, rom-com, thriller, romantic fantasy, fantasy, magical realism

 Adult fiction genres: thriller, psychological suspense, horror, mystery (traditional and amateur sleuth)

 Adult nonfiction genres: memoirs, spirituality/New Age, self-help, health/fitness, parenting/family, motivational/inspirational, business, celebrity, lifestyle, pets, psychology, relationships & dating, and true crime. You must be an expert in the field and have a platform.

 Query Lynette through her Query Manager here.

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Note: If you’re interested in getting published, come to our in-person “How to Get Published” workshop in Niagara on the Lake, Ontario. Learn how it all works and get some help with your query letter. Details here.

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Cole Lanahan is a published author of eight novels. Her past experiences include lobbying the United States congress for better mental health initiatives, leading a multimillion-dollar mental health nonprofit, creating strategic corporate partnerships, and implementing large-scale marketing campaigns.

When she’s not traveling, Cole lives in the Midwest with her husband, daughter, four dogs, and twenty chickens. Her personal interests include reading, quilting, and performing with her acoustic band.

Cole represents all genres of YA, all genres of adult romance, psychological suspense and thrillers. Currently, though, she’s only accepting queries for nonfiction, specifically, humor, business, self-help, lifestyle, and arts and crafts books.

Query Cole through her query manager here.

Lissa Woodson is an assistant agent, and as a relatively new agent, she needs authors.

Before becoming an agent, Lissa a publishing and marketing consultant, developmental editor, and literary event planner for nearly 25 years. In addition to successfully cracking the code of landing a deal for herself and many others with traditional publishing houses, she continues to "pay it forward" by organizing the annual Cavalcade of Authors which gives readers intimate access to the most accomplished writing talent today.

Writing under the pen name of Naleighna Kai, she is a contributor to a New York Times bestseller, the USA TODAY, Essence®, and national bestselling and award-winning author of several controversial novels.

Lissa is looking for unique and engaging stories in thrillers, romantic suspense, romantic comedies, and cozy mysteries.

In nonfiction, she wants inspirational, and body, mind & spirit.   ​

Query Lissa through her Query Manager here. Note she’s only open to queries two days a month, so you’ll have to check her query manager to see when she’s open.

Elisa Houot is a literary agent at The Seymour Agency and is enthusiastic about discovering new voices. She’s the author of five published Young Adult novels. She lives in France with her adorable and barking companion, Muffin.

Elisa joined The Seymour Agency after earning an MA in publishing. Reader, reviewer, book blogger, short story writer, published author, foreign rights agent, literary agent, Elisa has had many roles in the publishing industry. Beyond anything, she thrives on helping authors build their careers. 

 Elisa is looking for middle grade, young adult, and adult fiction.

In middle grade, she particularly wants action/adventure, mystery, contemporaries, humour, magical realism, and fantasy. 

In young adult, she’s seeking romance, contemporaries, magical realism, mystery, thrillers, and fantasy.

And in adult fiction, she’s looking for cozy mysteries, thrillers, and romance.

Query Elisa through her query manager here.

Jennifer Wills has five years’ experience in some of the publishing industry’s leading literary agencies. She worked with publishers around the world as an assistant in Trident Media Group’s huge foreign rights department and with domestic publishers as an assistant at Writers House (where, incidentally, she began her career as an intern).

She joined the Seymour Agency in April 2016, where she has quickly moved up the ranks to Literary Agent. Jennifer has always loved helping fledgling authors become NYT bestsellers, and she’s ready to be a relentless champion for her own clients’ work.

Jennifer is particularly interested in a wide range of picture books and has a particular soft spot for author/illustrators of sweet and wacky picture books,

She also especially wants cookbooks with mouth-watering recipes of the health-conscious, budget-friendly, or celebrity chef variety.

For fiction, she’s also interested in middle grade and YA with a sci-fi/fantasy, horror/suspense, or contemporary bent, and upmarket women’s fiction with a sense of humor.  

On the nonfiction side, she welcomes narrative nonfiction.

If your manuscript has a great hook, a distinct voice, and can make her laugh out loud or ugly cry (or even better, both), she’d love to see it.

​ Query Jennifer through her query manager here.

Joyce Sweeney is the Director of Kid Lit at Seymour and is also an Agent. Joyce has been working in the Kid lit industry for four decades. First as an award-winning novelist, and soon after, leading invitation-only workshops for aspiring writers.

At the Seymour Agency, Joyce coached other agents who wanted to move into the kid lit space, and continues to represent authors and illustrators of picture books, middle grades and graphic novels. 

What they're looking for:

In Picture Books: Fiction or nonfiction. “I am drawn to lyrical voices, fun syntax and offbeat concepts. I like unusual characters, and plots that make me cry or laugh out loud. Illustrator/authors welcome and rhyme (if you REALLY know how to do it) is fine. Diversity, please. Most of all, be unique. “

In Middle Grade: “I am especially drawn to humor, fantasy and sci-fi, but a realistic novel that makes me cry will work too. Advocate of books for boys. Would love to see more LGBTQ as well.”

Query Joyce at: joyce@theseymouragency.com

See The Seymour Agency’s full submission guidelines here.

See all our upcoming weekly writing classes, one-day workshops, and four-day writing retreats here.

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