Here are 14 agents currently seeking science fiction manuscripts. All are from reputable agencies.
If you want to know more about a particular agent, you can check him or her out at Absolute Write, a great site where writers freely discuss their experiences with agents and publishers. (To avoid jumping through hoops, just type the name of the agent and "absolute write" into a google search.)
Make sure you read the agency's website before you query an agent.
If you want to know more about a particular agent, you can check him or her out at Absolute Write, a great site where writers freely discuss their experiences with agents and publishers. (To avoid jumping through hoops, just type the name of the agent and "absolute write" into a google search.)
Make sure you read the agency's website before you query an agent.
1. Paula Munier (Talcott Notch Literary)
About Paula: She began as a journalist and has authored/co-authored more than a dozen books, SHe has also worked as an editor, acquisitions specialist, digital content manager, and publishing executive.
What she is looking for: “High concept only.” ("High concept" means literary.)
How to submit: E-query editorial [at] talcottnotch.net with “Query for Paula: [title]” in the subject line
About Paula: She began as a journalist and has authored/co-authored more than a dozen books, SHe has also worked as an editor, acquisitions specialist, digital content manager, and publishing executive.
What she is looking for: “High concept only.” ("High concept" means literary.)
How to submit: E-query editorial [at] talcottnotch.net with “Query for Paula: [title]” in the subject line
2. Kaylee Davis (Dee Mura Literary)
About Kaylee: Kaylee received a B.A. in English Literature and a B.A. in Sociology from Miami University, and she is certified in Copyediting from Emerson College. Kaylee joined the agency as a professional copyeditor, proofreader, and administrative assistant. She has recently been promoted to Associate Literary Agent.
What she is looking for: “Word count under 120,000.”
How to submit: Send query, synopsis, and first 25 pages to query [at] deemuraliterary.com. No attachments please.
About Kaylee: Kaylee received a B.A. in English Literature and a B.A. in Sociology from Miami University, and she is certified in Copyediting from Emerson College. Kaylee joined the agency as a professional copyeditor, proofreader, and administrative assistant. She has recently been promoted to Associate Literary Agent.
What she is looking for: “Word count under 120,000.”
How to submit: Send query, synopsis, and first 25 pages to query [at] deemuraliterary.com. No attachments please.
3. Carlie Webber (CK Webber Associates)
About Carlie: She has a Master of Library and Information Science. For ten years, she worked as a public librarian serving teens and adults, served on book awards committees, and reviewed books professionally for journals including Kirkus Reviews and VOYA. Wishing to pursue her interest in the business side of books, she then enrolled in the Columbia Publishing Course. Her professional publishing experience includes an internship at Writers House and work with the Publish or Perish Agency/New England Publishing Associates and the Jane Rotrosen Agency.
What she is looking for: "I am looking specifically for science fiction that has elements of the world we live in now. Books set centuries in the future or a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away are probably not for me.”
How to submit: To submit your work for consideration, please send a query letter, synopsis, and the first 30 pages or three chapters of your work, whichever is more, to carlie [at] ckwebber.com and put the word “Query” in the subject line of your email. You may include your materials either in the body of your email or as a Word or PDF attachment. Blank emails that include an attachment will be deleted unread. E-mail queries only.
About Carlie: She has a Master of Library and Information Science. For ten years, she worked as a public librarian serving teens and adults, served on book awards committees, and reviewed books professionally for journals including Kirkus Reviews and VOYA. Wishing to pursue her interest in the business side of books, she then enrolled in the Columbia Publishing Course. Her professional publishing experience includes an internship at Writers House and work with the Publish or Perish Agency/New England Publishing Associates and the Jane Rotrosen Agency.
What she is looking for: "I am looking specifically for science fiction that has elements of the world we live in now. Books set centuries in the future or a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away are probably not for me.”
How to submit: To submit your work for consideration, please send a query letter, synopsis, and the first 30 pages or three chapters of your work, whichever is more, to carlie [at] ckwebber.com and put the word “Query” in the subject line of your email. You may include your materials either in the body of your email or as a Word or PDF attachment. Blank emails that include an attachment will be deleted unread. E-mail queries only.
4. Laura Biagi (Jean V. Naggar Literary)
About Laura: Laura Biagi joined JVNLA in 2009. Laura's writing background has honed her editorial eye and has driven her enthusiasm for discovering and developing literary talent. She studied creative writing and anthropology at Northwestern University. As a writer, she has participated in workshops at the Squaw Valley Community of Writers, the Juniper Summer Writing Institute, and the New York State Summer Writers Institute. She is the recipient of a Kentucky Emerging Artist Award for fiction writing.
What she is looking for: “Only in a literary or mainstream vein”
How to submit: Follow the instructions on the agency’s submissions page.
About Laura: Laura Biagi joined JVNLA in 2009. Laura's writing background has honed her editorial eye and has driven her enthusiasm for discovering and developing literary talent. She studied creative writing and anthropology at Northwestern University. As a writer, she has participated in workshops at the Squaw Valley Community of Writers, the Juniper Summer Writing Institute, and the New York State Summer Writers Institute. She is the recipient of a Kentucky Emerging Artist Award for fiction writing.
What she is looking for: “Only in a literary or mainstream vein”
How to submit: Follow the instructions on the agency’s submissions page.
5. Sam Morgan (Jabberwocky Literary)
About Sam: He is a native of Shelby, North Carolina and graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a B.A. in Communications – Media Studies and Production. Before joining Jabberwocky in late 2012, Sam worked in New York City as a television critic.
How to submit: querysam [at] awfulagent.com. Send the query and your first five pages pasted into the email. No attachments.
About Sam: He is a native of Shelby, North Carolina and graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a B.A. in Communications – Media Studies and Production. Before joining Jabberwocky in late 2012, Sam worked in New York City as a television critic.
How to submit: querysam [at] awfulagent.com. Send the query and your first five pages pasted into the email. No attachments.
6. Mark Gottlieb (Trident Media)
About Mark: From an early age, Mark showed a passionate interest in his father’s work, his founding of Trident with Dan Strone, and the growth of the company. This focus on publishing continued at Emerson College, where Mark was a founding member of the Publishing Club, subsequently overseeing its first publication under the Wilde Press imprint. After graduating Emerson with a degree in writing, literature and publishing, Mark began his career as an assistant to the Vice President of the Berkley imprint at Penguin, working with leading editors at the firm.
Mark’s first position at Trident was in the foreign rights department, assisting the department’s agents in selling the books of clients around the world. Mark next became audio rights agent. Since Mark has managed the audio rights business, the annual sales volume has doubled. Now while continuing to head up audio rights, Mark is building his own client list of writers. "I am excited to work directly with authors that I bring to Trident, helping to manage and grow their careers with all of the unique resources that are available to me at Trident."
How to submit: Use the online submission form here. Make sure you direct your inquiry to Mark.
About Mark: From an early age, Mark showed a passionate interest in his father’s work, his founding of Trident with Dan Strone, and the growth of the company. This focus on publishing continued at Emerson College, where Mark was a founding member of the Publishing Club, subsequently overseeing its first publication under the Wilde Press imprint. After graduating Emerson with a degree in writing, literature and publishing, Mark began his career as an assistant to the Vice President of the Berkley imprint at Penguin, working with leading editors at the firm.
Mark’s first position at Trident was in the foreign rights department, assisting the department’s agents in selling the books of clients around the world. Mark next became audio rights agent. Since Mark has managed the audio rights business, the annual sales volume has doubled. Now while continuing to head up audio rights, Mark is building his own client list of writers. "I am excited to work directly with authors that I bring to Trident, helping to manage and grow their careers with all of the unique resources that are available to me at Trident."
How to submit: Use the online submission form here. Make sure you direct your inquiry to Mark.
7. Evan Gregory (Ethan Ellenberg Literary)
"I will not respond to your email unless interested. If you do not hear back from me after two weeks from sending your submission, you can safely assume that I am not interested in that project. You may submit to me again if you have a new project you think might interest me or the agency, but please do not submit the same project to the agency multiple times, and please do not submit more than one project at a time."
What he is looking for: “Action-oriented SF, military SF, space opera, but also looking for that weird stuff which really pushes the envelope.”
How to submit: Please send submissions to agent [at] ethanellenberg.com to the attention of Evan. “For email submissions, we ask that you paste all materials into the body of the email in the order mentioned below. For example, if you were submitting fiction you would begin with a brief query letter, followed by your synopsis, followed by the first 50 pages of your manuscript. We will not open attachments.”
"I will not respond to your email unless interested. If you do not hear back from me after two weeks from sending your submission, you can safely assume that I am not interested in that project. You may submit to me again if you have a new project you think might interest me or the agency, but please do not submit the same project to the agency multiple times, and please do not submit more than one project at a time."
What he is looking for: “Action-oriented SF, military SF, space opera, but also looking for that weird stuff which really pushes the envelope.”
How to submit: Please send submissions to agent [at] ethanellenberg.com to the attention of Evan. “For email submissions, we ask that you paste all materials into the body of the email in the order mentioned below. For example, if you were submitting fiction you would begin with a brief query letter, followed by your synopsis, followed by the first 50 pages of your manuscript. We will not open attachments.”
8. Sara Megibow (kt literary)
About Sara: Sara is a literary agent with nine years of experience in publishing. She specializes in working with authors in middle grade, young adult, romance, erotica, science fiction and fantasy and represents New York Times bestselling authors Roni Loren and Jason Hough and international bestselling authors Stefan Bachmann and Tiffany Reisz. Sara is LGBTQ-friendly and presents regularly at SCBWI and RWA events around the country.
How to submit: ”Please e-mail your query letter and the first three pages of your manuscript in the body of the email to saraquery [at] ktliterary.com. The subject line of your email should include the word ‘Query’ along with the title of your manuscript. No attachments. We aim to reply to all queries within two weeks of receipt. In addition, if you’re an author who is sending a new query, but who previously submitted a novel to us for which we requested chapters but ultimately declined, please do say so in your query letter. If we like your query, we’ll ask for the first five chapters and a complete synopsis. For our purposes, the synopsis should include the full plot of the book, including the conclusion. Don’t tease us.
About Sara: Sara is a literary agent with nine years of experience in publishing. She specializes in working with authors in middle grade, young adult, romance, erotica, science fiction and fantasy and represents New York Times bestselling authors Roni Loren and Jason Hough and international bestselling authors Stefan Bachmann and Tiffany Reisz. Sara is LGBTQ-friendly and presents regularly at SCBWI and RWA events around the country.
How to submit: ”Please e-mail your query letter and the first three pages of your manuscript in the body of the email to saraquery [at] ktliterary.com. The subject line of your email should include the word ‘Query’ along with the title of your manuscript. No attachments. We aim to reply to all queries within two weeks of receipt. In addition, if you’re an author who is sending a new query, but who previously submitted a novel to us for which we requested chapters but ultimately declined, please do say so in your query letter. If we like your query, we’ll ask for the first five chapters and a complete synopsis. For our purposes, the synopsis should include the full plot of the book, including the conclusion. Don’t tease us.
9. Lane Heymont (The Seymour Agency)
About Lane: Serving as a literary assistant for the past two years at The Seymour Agency, Lane Heymont has led the marketing efforts for their authors and enjoyed connecting clients with readers. As a lover of literature since childhood, he decided to pursue his passion as a literary agent to bring more well written books to the masses. With a bachelor’s degree in Psychology, business and literature, Lane continued his education in Creative Writing and English, attending Harvard. Lane is a member of HWA, ITW, and AAR membership is pending. He believes what John Gregory Dunne said: “Writing is manual labor of the mind.”
What he is looking for: “Military sci-fi, keep it fresh.”
How to submit: How to connect: Send all queries to lane [at] theseymouragency.com. The subject line should be “QUERY: (Title)”. Please past the first five pages in the body of the e-mail. Please do not query Nicole Resciniti (also on this list) if querying Lane.
About Lane: Serving as a literary assistant for the past two years at The Seymour Agency, Lane Heymont has led the marketing efforts for their authors and enjoyed connecting clients with readers. As a lover of literature since childhood, he decided to pursue his passion as a literary agent to bring more well written books to the masses. With a bachelor’s degree in Psychology, business and literature, Lane continued his education in Creative Writing and English, attending Harvard. Lane is a member of HWA, ITW, and AAR membership is pending. He believes what John Gregory Dunne said: “Writing is manual labor of the mind.”
What he is looking for: “Military sci-fi, keep it fresh.”
How to submit: How to connect: Send all queries to lane [at] theseymouragency.com. The subject line should be “QUERY: (Title)”. Please past the first five pages in the body of the e-mail. Please do not query Nicole Resciniti (also on this list) if querying Lane.
10. Beth Campbell (BookEnds, Inc.)
About Beth: After an academic career filled with publishing internships, Beth joined BookEnds as a literary assistant in September 2012 and was promoted to Assistant Literary Agent in 2015.
What she is looking for: “I will look at hard sci-fi but prefer soft.”
How to submit: E-query bcsubmissions [at] bookendsliterary.com. No attachments. “If you haven’t received a response to a query after 8 weeks, we ask that you simply resend the query. It’s possible that it was eaten by a spam filter on either our end or yours.”
About Beth: After an academic career filled with publishing internships, Beth joined BookEnds as a literary assistant in September 2012 and was promoted to Assistant Literary Agent in 2015.
What she is looking for: “I will look at hard sci-fi but prefer soft.”
How to submit: E-query bcsubmissions [at] bookendsliterary.com. No attachments. “If you haven’t received a response to a query after 8 weeks, we ask that you simply resend the query. It’s possible that it was eaten by a spam filter on either our end or yours.”
11. Heather Flaherty (The Bent Agency)
About Heather: “I grew up in Massachusetts, between Boston and the Cape, and started working in New York City as a playwright during college. This pushed me towards English as a focus, and after a lot of country-hopping in my early twenties, I wound up finally beginning my publishing career in editorial, specifically at Random House in the UK. That’s also where I became a YA and children’s literary scout, which finally landed me back in NYC, consulting with foreign publishers and Hollywood regarding what the next big book will be. Now as an agent, I’m thrilled to turn my focus on growing authors for that same success.”
What she is looking for: “Soft sci-fi only.”
How to submit: flahertyqueries [at] the bentagency.com. Please do not query Heather if you are also querying Beth Phelan of The Bent Agency, who is also on this list. Paste the first ten pages of your book in the body of your email.
About Heather: “I grew up in Massachusetts, between Boston and the Cape, and started working in New York City as a playwright during college. This pushed me towards English as a focus, and after a lot of country-hopping in my early twenties, I wound up finally beginning my publishing career in editorial, specifically at Random House in the UK. That’s also where I became a YA and children’s literary scout, which finally landed me back in NYC, consulting with foreign publishers and Hollywood regarding what the next big book will be. Now as an agent, I’m thrilled to turn my focus on growing authors for that same success.”
What she is looking for: “Soft sci-fi only.”
How to submit: flahertyqueries [at] the bentagency.com. Please do not query Heather if you are also querying Beth Phelan of The Bent Agency, who is also on this list. Paste the first ten pages of your book in the body of your email.
12. Monica Odom (Bradford Literary)
About Monica: Monica Odom joined Bradford Literary Agency in 2015. Prior to joining Team Bradford, she worked for five years managing finance, subrights and social media at Liza Dawson Associates, and became an associate agent there in 2013. Monica earned her Masters in Publishing: Digital & Print Media from New York University in 2014, and has a B.A. in English from Montclair State University.
What she is looking for: “Ideally something that would also be picked up by non-genre readers (think The Martian).”
How to submit: E-query monica [at] bradfordlit.com. Put “Query: [title]” in your subject line. Please email a query letter along with the first chapter of your manuscript and a synopsis. Please be sure to include the genre and word count in your cover letter.”
About Monica: Monica Odom joined Bradford Literary Agency in 2015. Prior to joining Team Bradford, she worked for five years managing finance, subrights and social media at Liza Dawson Associates, and became an associate agent there in 2013. Monica earned her Masters in Publishing: Digital & Print Media from New York University in 2014, and has a B.A. in English from Montclair State University.
What she is looking for: “Ideally something that would also be picked up by non-genre readers (think The Martian).”
How to submit: E-query monica [at] bradfordlit.com. Put “Query: [title]” in your subject line. Please email a query letter along with the first chapter of your manuscript and a synopsis. Please be sure to include the genre and word count in your cover letter.”
13. Mary C. Moore (Kimberley Cameron & Associates)
About Mary: Mary C. Moore has been with Kimberley Cameron since 2012. Mary specializes in science fiction and fantasy, although she does appreciate a wide breadth of the literary cannon.
What she is looking for: “No dystopian.”
How to submit: Query Mary [at] kimberleycameron.com. Include “Author Submission” in the subject line. Attach a one-page synopsis and the first fifty pages of your manuscript as separate Word or PDF documents.
About Mary: Mary C. Moore has been with Kimberley Cameron since 2012. Mary specializes in science fiction and fantasy, although she does appreciate a wide breadth of the literary cannon.
What she is looking for: “No dystopian.”
How to submit: Query Mary [at] kimberleycameron.com. Include “Author Submission” in the subject line. Attach a one-page synopsis and the first fifty pages of your manuscript as separate Word or PDF documents.
14. Nicole Resciniti (The Seymour Agency)
About Nicole: Nicole has been listed by Publisher's Marketplace as a top dealmaker in the country, and named ACFW's 2012 Agent of the Year. She loves discovering new talent and helping established authors to take their career to the next level.
How to submit: Send all queries to nicole [at] theseymouragency.com. The subject line should be “QUERY: (Title).” Please past the first five pages in the body of the e-mail. [If you query Nicole, do not query Lane Heymont, who is also featured on this list.)
About Nicole: Nicole has been listed by Publisher's Marketplace as a top dealmaker in the country, and named ACFW's 2012 Agent of the Year. She loves discovering new talent and helping established authors to take their career to the next level.
How to submit: Send all queries to nicole [at] theseymouragency.com. The subject line should be “QUERY: (Title).” Please past the first five pages in the body of the e-mail. [If you query Nicole, do not query Lane Heymont, who is also featured on this list.)
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