Submission Guidelines

Queries

Please note that we are currently closed to unsolicited queries.

Requested Material

If we have requested your material, please note that we require a two-week period of exclusivity on all submissions.

Please include the following in your submission:

  • A brief introduction about yourself and your interest in our agency, as well as any prior publications. If we have ever requested your material in the past, please ensure that you reference our previous correspondence in your letter.

  • A one-page synopsis, tracking the plot of your story to its conclusion

  • The first fifty pages of your manuscript

As a note, we pride ourselves on discovering and developing new talent—we will rarely pursue queries from authors with commercially- or self-published novels.

We pride ourselves on our quick response time, but please allow up one month for us to review your material.

A few tips:

Novels

We handle only adult trade books, particularly thrillers, crime, and literary fiction. We are not looking for young adult, picture books, fantasy, westerns, or romances. As mentioned above, we pride ourselves on our ability to develop new talent—we prefer not to work with authors with published novels.

General Nonfiction

Nearly all nonfiction is sold on the basis of a proposal rather than a completed manuscript. In general, what publishers need to see is an introduction or overview of the work, an outline or annotated table of contents and a sample chapter or two. Also important is a brief biography of the author, including the author's particular qualifications for writing this book and what he or she may be able to do to help sell the book. We have rarely sold a collection of essays or a self-help book.

Cookbooks

No matter how good a cook you are, it is unlikely that publishers will be interested in a general collection of your recipes - unless you are a widely known celebrity or chef. Publishers will be as concerned about your visibility and ability to help promote a book as they are about the content of your proposed book. Do you teach cooking classes or publish articles in magazines? Do you have a popular blog? Have you appeared on television? As in the case of general nonfiction, most cookbooks are sold on proposal. Instead of a sample chapter, you'll need to include sample recipes - and make sure they are thoroughly tested! An interested editor may try a recipe or two.