Sheila Fernley

From a very young age, Sheila loved books and oral stories. She wrote and produced neighborhood plays. Sheila now writes and advocates for other kidlit writers in hopes of bringing outstanding fiction and nonfiction books to children and teens – the next generation of classics and stories with universal meaning that fill a void for young readers everywhere.

Sheila began helping writers long before realizing that she wanted to become a literary agent. Realizing her dream by becoming an agent at Storm Literary Agency, Sheila now works tirelessly to champion her clients’ works and bring great books to the world. She loves fresh stories with great characters and strong voices. Writing that pulls her into the story from the first few lines and doesn’t let go until the last word on the last page.

Sheila is seeking stories from heartfelt to humorous from authors and author/illustrators. Unique and quirky characters that feel real and relatable.

Submission Guidelines

Sheila accepts submissions from authors and author/illustrators. She is interested in fiction and nonfiction for children and young adults, ages 4-18. She loves books with heart and/or humor, underrepresented voices, compelling and memorable characters and settings, lyrical language, layered hooks and fresh commercial ideas, cultural and multicultural themes with universal meaning.

She is not a good fit for adult fiction and nonfiction, horror, dark themes, violent content, dragons, science fiction, rhyming picture books, or board books.

Sheila requests that authors only query her with one manuscript at a time. Please allow approximately two months for a query response and four months for a response for a full manuscript request.

Sheila only accepts queries through QueryManager at https://querymanager.com/Sheila_Fernley. (no snail mail or email submissions, please).

Guidelines & Details