Agent Spotlight: Laurie McLean

This week's Agent Spotlight features Laurie McLean of Fuse Literary.
Status: Ms. McLean is currently open to submissions during May and November each year.
About: “Laurie is a founding partner at Fuse Literary representing New York Times and international bestselling authors, as well as indie published authors who want to also publish traditionally, and debut authors with promise. She spent 20 years as the CEO of a publicity and marketing agency, and 8 years as an agent and senior agent at Larsen Pomada Literary Agents in San Francisco before co-founding Fuse Literary in 2013 with Gordon Warnock.

"Laurie was well known in the early days of the Apple Macintosh phenomenon as the CEO of the successful Silicon Valley public relations agency bearing her name. After 20 years there, she switched gears to immerse herself in her personal writing. Laurie had been writing professionally since high school–first as a journalist, then as a public relations agent–but now she could finally spread her wings as a novelist. She penned three manuscripts before deciding that she missed using the shark part of her brain and that the life of a literary agent was her perfect match. Prior to all this, she earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism from the State University of New York and a Master’s Degree at Syracuse University’s prestigious Newhouse School of Journalism.” (From agency website)

About the Agency:
"Fuse manages a wide variety of clients, from bestsellers to debut authors, working with fiction and non-fiction for children and adults worldwide. We combine technical efficiency with outside-the-covers creative thinking so that each individual client’s career is specifically fine-tuned for them.
"We blend the tried-and-true methods of traditional publishing with the brash, new opportunities of emerging technologies and an evolving author-agent relationship to actively meet the client’s unique needs."(From agency website)

Web Presence:
Fuse Literary Website.

Publisher’s Marketplace page.
Agent Savant (Her old blog).
Fuse Literary Blog.
Twitter.
Tumblr.
Facebook.   
QueryTracker.
AgentQuery.
What She's Looking For:
Genres / Specialties:
Middle grade, young adult, and adult genre fiction (romance, fantasy, science fiction, mystery, thrillers, suspense, horror, etc.)
See her Manuscript Wish List and her agency bio to learn more about what she's looking for.
What She Isn't Looking For:
Non-fiction, or commercial, literary or women’s fiction, children’s picture books, graphic novels, poetry, or screenplays
Editorial Agent?
Yes.
Clients:
A list of current clients is available the Fuse Literary Website.
Ms McLean's clients include Julie Kagawa, Brian Anderson, Melissa Savage, Douglas Rees, Heather Petty, Pip Ballantine, Heather Hiestand/Heather Redmond, T.J. Nicholas, Kimberly Unger, O.G. Rev, Carol Wolf, Julia Vee and Ken Bebelle, Amanda Traylor, Katharine Kerr, B. Sharise Moore, NoNieqa Ramos, and Penny Warner, among others.

Query Methods: 

E-mail: No.
Snail-Mail: No.
Online-Form: Yes: https://querytracker.net/query/LaurieMcLeanIsAgentSavant

Submission Guidelines (always verify):
Please see the submissions page at the agency website for complete, up-to-date submission guidelines.
Response Policy:
Unknown
What's the Buzz?
Anyone who reads even a fraction of the interviews and posts listed below can see that Ms. McLean is an extremely knowledgeable, passionate, and proactive literary agent. Her clients seem happy with her representation and she is actively making deals with a variety of large, midsize, and e-publishers.  She has proven mindful of conflicts of interest in the structuring of her two epub companies and is keeping a careful eye on the evolving publishing landscape.
Worth Your Time:
Interviews:
Q&A with Agent Laurie McLean at Jane Friedman (02/2016).
7 Questions for Literary Agent Laurie McLean at Middle Grade Ninja (06/2013).
Blog Stuff:
Read the archives and subscribe to Ms. McLean’s blog, Agent Savant.
Laurie McClean's Crystal Ball, guest post at Anne R. Allen's blog (01/2020)
Why You Don't Need a Literary Agent (but You Might Want One) guest post at Anne R. Allen's blog (01/2015)
Agent Secrets–Do Writers Need an Agent in the New Publishing Paradigm? at Kristen Lamb’s blog (01/2013).
Podcast / Video:
Friday Interview with Laurie McLean via YARebels (04/2012).
Laurie McLean - Young Adult Fiction: Breaking Down the Market via Author Learning Center (11/2011).
Laurie McLean - Agent Communication via Author Learning Center (09/2011).
Literary Agent Laurie McLean Tells All! (08/2010).
Poscast Interview with Agent Laurie McLean at Tale Chasing (12/2009).
Contact:
Please see the Fuse Literary website for contact and query information.
Profile Details:
Last updated: 1/4/2025
Agent Contacted for Review? Yes
Last Reviewed By Agent? 1/18/2024
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Have any experience with this agent? See something that needs updating? Please leave a comment or e-mail me at natalieiguirre7(at)gmail(dot)com

Note: These agent profiles presently focus on agents who accept children's and/or teen 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.