Junior agent Emily Keyes of the L. Perkins Agency is now "avidly seeking middle grade and YA" and "aggressively" seeking new clients.
As per their Agent in the Middle blog, here is what she is looking for:
"I’m tired of getting queries from authors who don’t currently read YA, never read YA, say books published today are terrible, but they heard that Harry Potter lady made more than the Queen, and hey, they can do that! Writing for kids is easy, right?
"I love YA books. I loved them when I was a kid and I still love them now. I want to see manuscripts from people who love it as much as I do. I want to find the books that kids are going to remember with fondness. I inhaled Lois Duncan, LJ Smith, Babysitter’s Club, Sweet Valley, etc, etc. These days I’m excited by the writing done by Suzanne Collins, Kristin Cashore, Claudia Gray. I’m also into the teen novels by people like Sarah Dessen, Deb Caletti, Barry Lyga and others. I’m looking for smart middle grade and teen novels. (No picture books, please.) I like fantasy and paranormal, and other odd things. Zombies are pretty big at the moment, and I’d also like to see witches, psychics, time travel and superheroes. As far as non-genre, I like strong, female heroines and books with fresh voices and a quirky sense of humor. I’m really sick of knock-off 'Harry Potters’ and Twilights.'"
A list of Ms. Keyes favorite TV shows and her e-mail is available on the original post.
Great opportunity. Best to those who query!
8 comments:
You are always on the ball! This is one I will definitly be adding to my list.
Good luck when/if you query, Beth!
Thanks for this info, Casey! Sounds like a great agent - she knows what she wants and she tells it! Fab stuff!
Hi Casey. Since you are the queen of agent news, I thought you might want to post something about this:
http://theswivet.blogspot.com/2009/08/opening-to-submissions-but-theres-catch.html
You're welcome, Anna!
Thanks Corey! I saw it a bit ago but hadn't gotten around to putting it up. I appreciate you letting me know!
I actually queried her, but noticed she is not on their new site. I got an out-of-office reply. Is she still there?
Hi SM Johnston,
I didn't look into it very much, but QueryTracker notes that she is formerly with L. Perkins and her whereabouts are currently unknown.
http://querytracker.net/agent.php?agent=2755
That is fantastic to know. I guess I will send a new query to someone else at the agency.
Thanks so much!
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