New Literary Agent Alert: Mary Kole of Andrea Brown Literary
Literary agent alerts (like this one with Mary Kole of Andrea Brown Literary) are golden opportunities for new writers because each one is a literary agent who is likely building their client list.
Summer 2013 Update: Mary Kole has stopped agenting.
Do not query her.
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About Mary: She is a new associate agent at the Andrea Brown Literary Agency and runs the KidLit blog. In her quest to learn all sides of publishing, she has also worked in the children's editorial department at Chronicle Books and is currently earning her MFA in creative writing at the University of San Francisco. Mary's passion is editorial work. When she's not reading manuscripts and queries, she's devouring books by some of her favorite authors, like Laurie Halse Anderson, Libba Bray, Sara Zarr, Jake Wizner, M.T. Anderson, Scott Westerfeld, Frank Portman, Neil Gaiman, Rick Riordan, Elizabeth Scott, Lauren Myracle, E. Lockhart and others.
Seeking: "young adult and middle grade novels and truly exceptional picturebooks. She's seeking fresh, unique voices and idiosyncratic characters who, by book's end, she knows like a friend. Her favorite stories are character-driven but well-plotted—a mix of fast pacing, emotional resonance and beautiful writing. Boy books, girl books, first person, third person, it doesn't matter. She's looking for a literary spark with commercial appeal. While she's not interested in high fantasy, science fiction, thrillers or horror, she would love to consider realistic/contemporary, urban fantasy and fantasy/adventure, historical, paranormal and mystery manuscripts. One of her favorite genres is magical realism: a story set firmly in our world, only with a twist—magic, danger or something that turns "reality" on its ear—to make things more interesting. Favorite themes include: family, home, unlikely heroes, discovering one's voice, finding one's equilibrium after a big life event."
How to submit: E-queries only to Mary@andreabrownlit.com. If you haven't heard anything in 8 weeks, please assume that she is passing on your project. For picture books, include query and full ms. For fiction, include query and first 10 pages pasted in e-mail. No phone calls please.
Chuck Sambuchino is a former editor with the Writer's Digest writing community and author of several books, including How to Survive a Garden Gnome Attack and Create Your Writer Platform.
