Agents and Editors Wish Lists

Click if you wish to buy Wicked Wonderland my erotic  menage novel about bisexual  half-fae who fly around the world in Santa’s sleigh delivering sex toys while being pursued by an evil force bent on their destruction.  🙂

Today I’m posting some agents and editors wish lists that I’ve hunted up, but please realize, just because your idea isn’t on an agent or editor’s wish list certainly doesn’t mean the agent or editor might not LOVE to have it.  Agents say they are constantly surprised by what they fall in love with. That being said, reading editors and agents wish lists is pure fun.

They are fun because they give us an idea of the kind of topics that people in the publishing industry think might sell. They also might give any of us ideas for a future book!

Kate Schafer Testerman with KT Literary is looking for

brilliant, funny, original middle grade and young adult fiction.

Both literary and commercial; witty women’s fiction. Quirky is good.

Alicia Condon ekensington‘s Editorial Director  is looking for 60,000-word contemporary romance with Alpha heroes or small town settings and high concept single title contemporary romance. She will also look at paranormal and fantasy romance, romantic suspense, historical romance, young adult paranormal romance of 80,000 – 100,000 words).(Click on her name for guidelines and contact email.) Do not send full manuscript.

Lucia Macro is crying out for contemporary romances of approximately 50-60,000 words. for Avon Impulse both funny novels and intense and dramatic ones. She’d love military men, cowboys, billionaires and other tropes.

Rochelle French of Entangled’s Dead Sexy Romantic Suspense catagory romance line wants to see:

• A caper with quirky characters and a strong romance
• A cozy romantic mystery that starts with a bang
• A small town romantic thriller
• 
• A category length romantic suspense with a strong winter holiday theme for next winter.
• Traditional tropes (best friends to lovers, reunion romance, marriage of convenience, intimate strangers), while exploring the depths of the human condition as the suspense and romance build.
• 
• Plotlines outside the usual realm of category romance, such as amateur sleuth, hard-boiled detective, cozy mystery, medical/science, contemporary gothics, super-sensual thrillers—as long as the story has a strong, committed DEAD SEXY romance

Submissions for the Dead Sexy editors can be sent directly to deadsexy-submissions (at) entangledpublishing (dot) com ATTN: Rochelle. Check out the Dead Sexy submission guidelines for specific instructions!

Who’s looking for YA? (Agents and Editors looking for Young Adult Fiction)

A strange fact of the current publishing market is that teenagers on the whole are considered reluctant to embrace ebooks. Much more reluctant than adults. A number of digital first publishers that tried having a line for teenagers have closed that line and no longer accept young adult fiction. Samhain stopped accepting Young Adult Fiction. The Wild Rose Press closed their “Climbing Rose” young adult line. Harlequin’s Digital first imprint Carina takes almost every kind of romance BUT Young Adult Romance.

(These bookcovers are for illustrative purposes only and do not indicate that the authors are clients of the aforementioned agents.)

So I’ll start with a couple of agents and then look at which digital first lines ARE still open to Young Adult Fiction.

Francis Collin accepts queries for YA. This agency prefers Young Adult Fiction, literary fiction, memoir, narrative nonfiction, and travel narratives. They accept email queries as long as there are no attachments. http://www.francescollin.com/

Why would Lisa Whitefern recommend Book Ends Literary Agency? This is another agency with a solid reputation and I  met one of their agents (Jessica Faust)  at a Romance Writers of New Zealand conference and she was extremely professional in every way.

Kim Lionetti has extensive experience in editing as she was formerly  Senior Editor at  Berkley Publishing for eight years before joining bookends

In Digital First Publishing the up and coming digital first publisher Entangled is looking for Young Adult Fiction.

Entangled appears to have a growing reputation among authors interested in digital first publishing. Some of their adult contemporary novels are best sellers on Amazon. While I must be honest and say I have heard some complaints from authors about Entangled (editors quitting suddenly and leaving them in the lurch) many  other authors are  happy and Entangled seems to have developed a surprisingly good reputation in a small amount of time

Entangled Teen is described as a high-concept, engaging line of books geared to the Young Adult audience. Thanks to a more traditional editorial calendar of twelve to eighteen months between acquisition and publication, Entangled Teen will be distributed by Publisher’s Group West, one of the largest print distributors in the world. Emphasis is placed on shelving Entangled Teen titles in brick and mortar stores in an effort to maximize visibility and availability to the target audience.

Royalty rates for Entangled Teen are 20% of cover for digital, and 9% of cover for print.

Entangled Teen is seeking

• Upper YA (16-21 year old protags) that will appeal to crossover audiences
• Younger YA/MG (13-15 year old protags) that will appeal to crossover audiences
• YA novels should be 50k to 100k words in length.

Harlequin Digital First

NEW! Digital First Series from Harlequin

I’ve said before that I am quite unsure  how these new Digital First lines created by the BIG publishers will do in terms of sales but one hopes the Harlequin name might sell ebook Teen Romance to teenage girls.

As far as Young Adult Fiction goes Harlequin is most interested in your Teen Romance but may also take on other good quality fiction geared at Young Adults.

For Harlequin Teen print imprint most people still need an agent.

Harlequin Escape —– Harlequin’s really getting into that Digital First Market

If you’re an Australian or a New Zealander or perhaps even in a country nearby us you might be interested in Harlequin Escape especially if you have a teen romance set in Australia or another country around this part of the globe.

They don’t appear to have a strong focus on YA, but I believe if you sent them a great YA New Zealand or Australian romance they’d be keen since they take all heat levels of romance including sweet, and are really really keen to acquire Australian set romances in particular.

The fact remains that the majority of the top digital first publishers are still rejecting YA however a February Publishers’ Weekly article denies teens are still reluctant to embrace YA so perhaps we will see a change in this soon.
I also found this nice site for writers who love YA.YAtopia

 

 

To read the blurb and an excerpt from my sexy paranormal menage Samhain Publishing click here  http://store.samhainpublishing.com/wicked-wonderland-p-7081.html

What is HOT right now according to editors and agents?

What’s hot right now according to agents and editors?

The following are some of the genres that Nelson Literary Agency are actively acquiring.

• Middle grade with a new unusual fantasy or magical element. Not psychics or wizards, but how about inventors or  or dragon tamers?
• Sara Megibow Associate Literary Agent of Nelson Literary Agency is actively hunting for  Historical romance, especially Regency and Victorian.
• Creative science fiction that’s heavy on the fiction and lighter on the science.
• And any  story in any genre for any age reader that deals with best friends and sweet first love.

Why would Lisa Whitefern recommend the Nelson Literary Agency?

This agency appears to have a solid reputation. To quote a little from their about page “Nelson Literary Agency was founded in 2002. In such a short time, the Nelson Agency has sold more than 150 books, landed several film deals, and has contracted foreign rights on behalf of our clients in all the major territories, including Germany, France, Holland, Japan, and even Russia and Indonesia. Nelson Agency authors have become national bestsellers, RITA-award winners, and have appeared on bestseller lists.”

Nelson Literary Agency are also looking for currently HOT genre New Adult Romance.

What else is HOT right now? — New Adult Romance

(Sexting the Limits is an Erotic New Adult Romance available at Ellora’s Cave.)

The publishing industry seems to be all a buzz about New Adult Fiction and New Adult Romance. What is New Adult Romance? It’s romance with  characters in their college years. The target audience is women age 18 to 25 who are looking for books with heroines they can relate to. Dialogue should be very current and casual, often sarcastic.

Carina Press is actively acquiring  New Adult Romance novels 50,000 words and up. They are most interested in contemporary but will consider paranormal, post apocalyptic, dystopian, etc . These stories must have a strong plot and “very definable protagonists”, 18 and above (or at an age eligible to enter college), in their early to mid-20s. While at least one protagonist should fall in this age range, it is possible the other protagonist may fall in their upper 20s.

Story elements should be targeted to an adult, not teen audience, and should contain adult contemporary themes, frank, modern language, high relationship drama and intense conflict. Characters actions, dress and dialogue should all be age-appropriate. Think of the relationship drama of the college years and run with that!

Other elements that work in this genre (but are not required to be considered for publication) include increased sensuality, love triangles, protagonists with traumatic events in their background.

What is HOT right now? Multicultural Romance for the Digital First Market

Ellora’s Cave has been actively looking to expand their range of Multicultural Erotic Romances.

This line is called FUSION
 
Fusion is about multicultural and interracial relationships. Their readers love African American/Caucasian, but in addition to more of these they want variety. Ellora’s Cave are actively acquiring stories that not only explore the trials and tribulations caused by cultural differences, but that celebrate those differences! They would especially like to see Latin and Arabian lovers in erotic romances with story lengths from 7K to 120K.

What else is HOT right now?–Contemporary Romance

For some reason plain contemporary romance without suspense or paranormal elements is topping all the best seller lists at places like Amazon, and Digital First Publisher’s websites right now.

LUCIA MACRO of Avon Impulse would like to see more contemporary romance featuring very good looking heroes and classic tropes especially bachelors, ranchers, and billionaires.

 What is HOT right now? Gay Werewolf Romance for the Digital First Market

Can you write a super explicit X rated male/male werewolf romance between 18,000 and 39,999 words before December 1^st? Ambure Allure is actively acquiring these stories although I’m sure this genre would be just as hot at Loose ID Ellora’s Cave,, Dreamspinner, Carina, Liquid Silver, Resplendence, Samhain  Siren or any other of the best digital first publishers.

All the agents, editors and digital first publishers I have mentioned in this blog currently have good reputations and/or a solid history in the industry.

To read the blurb and an excerpt from my sexy paranormal menage Samhain Publishing click here  http://store.samhainpublishing.com/wicked-wonderland-p-7081.html

Manic Readers review of Wicked Wonderland
http://www.manicreaders.com/index.cfm?disp=reviews&bookid=31987

 

Please note—-A publisher or agency who has to use Google ads to solicit your novel probably isn’t anyone you’d want to write for.
Please read this for more information on protecting yourself as an author. You should never pay anyone anything to produce your book for you. http://www.thepassivevoice.com/05/2013/the-author-exploitation-business/
Manic Readers review of Wicked Wonderland
http://www.manicreaders.com/index.cfm?disp=reviews&bookid=31987