New Agent Alert: Stephen Barr of Writers House
Reminder: New literary agents (with this spotlight featuring Stephen Barr of Writers House) are golden opportunities for new writers because each one is a literary agent who is likely building his or her client list.
About Stephen: Stephen landed at Writers House in 2008, became its biggest fan about four seconds later, started taking on his own clients in 2010. He spent the first 21 years of his life in Southern California and was inspired to become involved in publishing after seeing Robert Downey Jr’s portrayal of Terry Crabtree in Wonder Boys. He loves working with writers and editing their manuscripts to get them ready for submission. He was recently profiled in the New York Times.
He is seeking: "I'm a pretty omnivorous agent—I've got a permanent hankering for unexpected memoirs with itchy voices, narrative nonfiction that tackles hard-to-tackle issues, wry and rarely paranormal YA, laugh-until-you-squirt-milk-out-of-your-nose middle grade, sweet and wacky (but still logical) picture books from author/illustrators, and fiction that rewards the reader line-by-line and gets to know at least one character really, really well (recent favorites include Jeff In Venice, The Lazarus Project, Diary of a Bad Year, and Horns, which was awesome). I'm also willing to be a sucker for smart, unconventional thrillers, mysteries that bend reality, ghost stories that blow reality to hell, fictional or not-so-fictional portrayals of abnormal psychology, and humor that's more than just an infinitely repeated gag in sheep's clothing."
How to contact: Send a friendly, honest e-query, anchored by the first five or ten pages of the manuscript. Send submissions to sbarr[at]writershouse.com with the word "Query" in the subject line.
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- Oct. 28–30, 2016: Writer's Digest Novel Writing Conference (Los Angeles, CA)
- Nov. 19, 2016: Las Vegas Writing Workshop (Las Vegas, NV)
- Feb. 11, 2017: Writers Conference of Minnesota (St. Paul, MN)
- Feb. 16–19, 2017: San Francisco Writers Conference (San Francisco, CA)
- Feb. 25, 2017: Atlanta Writing Workshop (Atlanta, GA)
- Feb. 26–March 3, 2017: Writers Winter Escape Cruise (conference/cruise departing Miami)
- March 25, 2017: Michigan Writers Conference (Detroit, MI)
- April 8, 2017: Philadelphia Writing Workshop (Philadelphia, PA)
- May 6, 2017: Seattle Writers Conference (Seattle, WA)
- July 22, 2017: Tennessee Writers Workshop (Nashville, TN)
- Aug. 18–20, 2017: Writer's Digest Conference (New York, NY)
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Other writing/publishing articles & links for you:
- It's Not a Bad Thing to Write Your Ending First
- Romance vs. Women's Fiction: The Differences.
- Agent Suzie Townsend Is Seeking Adult Fiction Clients.
- Sell More Books by Building Your Writer Platform.
- If You're a Debut Author, Word Count Matters.
- Follow Chuck Sambuchino on Twitter or find him on Facebook. Learn all about his writing guides on how to get published, how to find a literary agent, and how to write a query letter.
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