Agent Spotlight: Daniel Lazar

This week's Agent Spotlight features Dan Lazar of Writers House.
About: “Daniel Lazar is a senior agent at Writers House, one of the industry's largest and oldest literary agencies. His list includes a variety of commercial and literary fiction for children and adults. For children's books, he represents primarily middle grade and YA.
Status: Open to submissions, actively seeking new clients.


What He's Looking For:
From Publisher’s Marketplace:
“I'm always on the lookout for distinct fiction and great, lively non-fiction. I represent adult and children's books (and for children's books, I focus mainly on middle grade and YA). For fiction, I love stories that introduce me to new worlds -- or even better, recreate the ones I may already know. I also especially love historical fiction of all kinds. For non-fiction, I enjoy memoirs, narrative non-fiction, all stripes and studies of pop-culture, and even small gifty books that strike my fancy and make me smile. I'm a huge fan of graphic novels and memoirs. And as the oldest child of six who has changed many, many diapers in his life, I'm equally intrigued by any book with unique views on parenting and family life.
A great way to judge anyone's taste in books is browse their bookshelf. Check out some of my clients' books: I've listed a sampling below. You can also find me on Instagram @DanLazarAgent, where I post about my authors or what I'm reading (and listening-- I love audiobooks) outside of work.
What He Isn't Looking For:
Mr. Lazar does not rep picture books, cookbooks, and romance and serious how-to titles. (Link)
About the Agency:
"Writers House was founded in 1973 with a vision for a new kind of literary agency, one that would combine a passion for managing a writer's career with an integrated understanding of how storytelling works. With this two-pronged philosophy, Writers House has played a critical role in developing the careers of hundreds of novelists and non-fiction authors. We believe in offering our clients not only our expertise in negotiating contracts, but in contributing to all phases of the editorial and publishing processes. Our goal is to maximize the value of our clients' work by providing hands-on editorial and marketing advice, as well as leading the way in branding, licensing, and selling film/TV, foreign, audio, dramatic and serial rights." (Link)
You can find many of the authors that Writers House represents on their website.
His Advice to Writers:
“Resist the temptation to finish your manuscript, raise a glass of champagne, and hit ‘Send.’ Force yourself to close the document. File it away in your computer or put it in the back of your closet under the old jeans, and don't look at it for 2 weeks minimum. As the World's Most Impatient Guy, I know how very hard this can be, but I find that some time away from a project always sheds new light on what more can be improved. Don't send that manuscript out until you're so sick of looking at it, you'd rather give away one of your children than bear the prospect of changing even a comma.” (Link)
Editorial Agent?
Yes.
Web Presence:
Writers House website.
Publisher's Marketplace page.
Instagram
Twitter.
AgentQuery, QueryTracker, AuthorAdvance.AAR.
Clients:
You can find some of the authors that Mr. Lazar represents on his Publisher Marketplace and AgentQuery pages.
Query Methods:

E-mail: Yes (preferred & faster response).
Snail-Mail: Yes.
Online-Form: No.
Submission Guidelines (always verify):
E-mail: Send a query letter and the first 5 pages of your manuscript in the body of the e-mail. No attachments.
Snail-mail: Send a query letter and the first 5 pages of your manuscript with a SASE.
Do not query more than one agent within Writers House at a time. For complete, up-to-date submission guidelines see the agency website and Mr. Lazar's Publisher's Marketplace page.
Query Tips:
“It's all about specifics. Too many queries default to broad strokes or to the "What if, what if, what if" series of questions. A good query doesn't have to cover every point of a book's plot. But it needs to give a sense of atmosphere and sensibility, and the best way to do that is with specific details.” (Link)
There’s also a great post of Query Dos and Don’ts by Mr. Lazar at The Guide To Literary Agents blog.
Response Times:
“We respond to every query -- you'll hear from me or my assistant. And our response time is 1 minute to several weeks.” (Link)
What's the Buzz?
Daniel Lazar is a highly respected, successful agent at one of the largest and most prominent literary agencies around. He has an amazing client list, impressive history of sales, and is popular among aspiring authors. You can follow him on Instagram to see what he and his clients are up to.
Worth Your Time:
Interviews:
7 Questions For: Literary Agent Dan Lazar at Middle Grade Ninja (07/2010).
Q&A With Daniel Lazar at Scripts & Scribes (08/2015)
Contact:
Please see the Writers House website and Mr. Lazar's Publisher's Marketplace page for contact and query information.
Profile Details:
Last updated: 4/23/2020
Agent Contacted For Review? Yes.
Reviewed By Agent?  5/2/2020
Comments: N/A
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Have any experience with this agent? See something that needs updating? Please leave a comment or e-mail me at natalieiaguirre7(at)gmail(dot)com

Note: These agent profiles presently focus on agents who accept children's fiction. They are not interviews. Please take the time to verify anything you might use here before querying an agent. The information found herein is subject to change.