Mark Ryan
Backlist Literary Rights & Management
My Manuscript Wish List®
Mark is a publishing strategist and the Founder of Backlist Literary Rights & Management, , leveraging years of contract negotiation, data analysis, and an educator’s clarity to fight for indie author rights and backlist revenue. He has run high-impact advertising campaigns for large and mid-size traditional publishers. He’s a father of two, an animal lover, the child of a Cuban immigrant, and he plays multiple instruments.
The agency has a singular mission: to serve as a fierce advocate for independent authors. Mark specializes in demystifying complex contract terms and helping writers retain, monetize, and maximize the long-term value of the rights they own—ensuring no author ever signs away their hard-earned work without complete clarity and control.
Fun facts about me:
I am a musician and have played in metal, punk, and post hardcore bands.
I am a black belt in Tae Kwon Do and used to train with a few people who competed in the Olympics.
I have two dogs, two braincells, not evenly divided.
Submission Guidelines
Submissions should be emailed to query@backlistliterary.com
We currently accept submissions from self-published authors only.
Your book must already be published or scheduled for publication under your own name, publishing imprint, or a publishing entity you control. Authors who have previously self-published a title but have since assigned or licensed its subsidiary rights to another party should not submit unless those rights have formally reverted.
We do not currently accept submissions from:
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Traditionally published authors submitting publisher-controlled titles
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Unpublished authors or manuscripts seeking primary literary representation
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Publishers submitting on behalf of their authors
At this time, we welcome submissions across commercial and genre fiction, including, but not limited to:
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Romance
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Mystery, thriller, and suspense
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Science fiction, fantasy, and speculative
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Horror
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Historical fiction
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Women’s fiction
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Young adult fiction
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Other categories with a clear readership and market position
At this time, we do not consider nonfiction, poetry, short-story collections, academic works, textbooks, or screenplays.
Please send your submissions to query[at]backlistliterary[dot]com
Subject Line: QUERY: [Book Title] — [Author Name] — [Genre]
For a series, submit the first book and include sales and publication information for the series as a whole. Please do not send separate submissions for every title in the same series unless requested.
Please include:
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A brief query letter
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Publication details:
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Author/Pen name
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Approx. word count
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Genre
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Publication date
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Series information, where applicable
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Sales/performance details
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KU reads and approx. lifetime sales
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Reviews counts
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# of followers or email list subscribers
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If you have received an offer for subsidiary rights, please also include:
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The exact date and time by which a response is required
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The name of the offering company and your primary contact
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The specific rights, formats, languages, and territories
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Whether you have already accepted, signed, or agreed to any portion of the offer
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Please include “OFFER IN HAND” within the subject line
We will make reasonable efforts to review time-sensitive submissions promptly, but we cannot guarantee that we will be able to respond before every deadline. Authors should not allow an offer to expire while waiting for a response from us.
Simultaneous Submissions
Simultaneous submissions are welcome. Please notify us promptly if you accept representation elsewhere or enter into an agreement affecting any of the rights included in your submission.
Vital Info
Favorite sub-genres:
Adult Horror, Adult Rom Com, Adult Romantasy, Adult SFF, Adventure, African Diaspora, African Fantasy, African Sci-Fi, Africanfuturism, Amateur Sleuth Mysteries, Apocalyptic, Asian American Literature, Asian Diaspora, Asian Fantasy, Asian Horror, Asian Sci-Fi, BIPOC, BIPOC Fantasy, BIPOC Horror, BIPOC Mystery, BIPOC Sci-Fi, Book Club, Caribbean Literature, Category Romance, Character -Driven History, Character-Driven Horror, Character-driven SciFi, Chick Lit, Chicklit, Commercial Women's Fiction, Commercial YA, Commercial adult fiction, Commercial and Literary, Complicated Relationships, Contemporary Fantasy, Contemporary Inspirational Romance, Contemporary Romance, Contemporary YA, Contemporary Young Adult, Cozy Fantasy, Cozy Mystery, Cozy mysteries, Crime & Thriller, Crime Fiction, Cyberpunk, Dark Female Friendships, Dark Humor, Dark topics with a light touch, Detective, Diaspora Narratives, Disability, Diverse Protagonists, Diversity, Domestic Fiction, Domestic Suspense, Domestic Suspense/Thriller, Dystopia, Dystopian, East Asian Literature, Epic Fantasy, Fantasy, Fantasy Grounded in Reality, Fantasy Romance, Fantasy YA, Female Friendships, Feminism, Feminist, Feminist Horror, Feminist SF/F, First Person, Found Families, Gaming, Geek Culture, Gothic, Gothic Fantasy, Gothic Horror, Grounded fantasy, Hard Science Fiction, High Concept, High Fantasy, High-Concept Literary Commercial Fiction, High-concept YA, High-concept YA/MG, Horror Comedy, Humor, Humor YA, Immigrant Experiences, Immigrant Voices, Indigenous Futurism, Indigenous Sciences, Inspirational Fiction, LGBT YA, LGBTQ Contemporary, LGBTQ Romance, LGBTQ+, LGBTQ+ Fantasy, LGBTQ+ Sci-Fi, LGBTQ+ rom coms, LGBTQIA, LGBTQIAP, Latine Diaspora, Latinx Fantasy, Latinx Horror, Latinx Sci-Fi, Latinx stories, Magic, Magic Realism, Magical Realism, Magical Realism YA, Marginalized Voices, Military Sci-Fi, Monsters, Mysteries, Mystery / Crime, Mythic, Mythic Horror, Mythology, Near future, Near-future SF, New Adult, Noir, Occult, Occult Horror, Paranormal, Paranormal Horror, Paranormal Romance, Paranormal Thriller, Political Thriller, Post-apocalyptic, Relationships, Robots, Robots/A.I., Rom-com, RomCom, Romance, Romantic Comedy, Romantic Drama, Romantic Suspense, Romantic Thriller, SWANA Fantasy, SWANA Horror, SWANA Sci-Fi, Same-Sex Romance, Sci-fi Thriller, SciFi Romance, Science Fiction YA, Science Fiction and Fantasy Favorite sub-genres: Absolutely all of them!, Second World SF, Slice of life, South Asian, South East Asian Literature, Southern Fiction, Southern Gothic, Southern Literary, Space Opera, Speculative, Speculative Fiction, Speculative Thriller, Steampunk, Steamy RomComs, Strong Females, Supernatural, Supernatural Elements, Supernatural Horror, Suspense, Tech Thrillers, Techno-Horror, Thriller, Thrillers, Trauma, True Crime, Underrepresented Voices, Upmarket Commercial Fiction, Upmarket Fiction, Upmarket Women's Fiction, Upmarket YA, Urban Fantasy, West African Literature, Western Romance, Whodunit, Women's Fiction, YA Contemporary, YA Contemporary Romance, YA Contemporary Romance with layers, YA Crossover, YA Fantasy, YA Mystery, YA Rom-Coms, YA RomCom, YA Romance, YA Romantasy, YA SF/F, YA Sci-fi, YA Science Fiction, YA Thrillers, YA fantasy/light sci-fi, YA horror, YA rom com, YA thriller/mystery, Young Adult, Zombies, afrofuturism, aliens, anti-capitalist sci fi, campus novel, character-focused fiction, character-focused stories, comics, coming of age, commercial, commerical, commerical women's fiction, contemporary women's fiction, court intrigue, crime, dark fantasy, diverse, diverse and own voices, diverse heroines, diverse voices, domestic thrillers, dramedy, enemies to lovers, epic, erotic romance, feminine narratives, found family, friendship, friendship stories, fun SF/F, ghost story, gothic romance, high concept fiction, high-concept science fiction, horror, immigration, inclusive sf/f, indigenous futurisms, inspirational romance, light Sci-Fi, light fantasy, military science fiction, mystery, mythpunk, near-future science fiction, non-Western fantasy, non-Western historical fiction, non-western settings, queer, queer horror, queer narratives, quirky, realistic fiction, rivals to lovers, rom-coms, romantacy, romantasy, romantic New Adult, romantic fantasy, romantic suspense/mystery, sci-fi, science fantasy, science fiction, science fiction epic, science fiction horror, scifi thriller, slow burn romance, small-town romance, space adventure, space horror, speculative slice of life, sweet romance, traditional fantasy, traditional mysteries, tropes tropes tropes, upmarket genre fiction, whodunnit, witchcraft, witches, witty
I’d like the next…
My favorites include…
Books and authors: Murder Bot Diaries, Jennifer L. Armentrout, Andy Weir, Sable Sorensen, Green Bone Saga, Chris Wooding, Demi Winters, Brandon Sanderson, Seanan McGuire, Becky Chambers, Who Fears Death, LJ Andrews, Dungeon Crawler Carl, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Tracy Deonn, Isabel Cañas, H.M. Wolfe, Empire of Silence, and Darcy Coates
TV shows: Parks and Recreation, Survivor, Spy X Family, The Twilight Zone, Stella, The Wire, Dragon Ball (and Z), Breaking Bad, It’s Always Sunny, Assassination Classroom, Last Week Tonight, Schitt’s Creek, The Sopranos, Veep, Avatar: The Last Airbender (the original cartoon), Ted Lasso, Andor, White Collar, Fringe, The Office, and as a guilty pleasure I love trashy reality shows.
Movies: Knives Out, Everything Everywhere All at Once, The original Star Wars trilogy, The Mummy (1999), Stardust, The Fifth Element, Enter the Dragon, Step Brothers, Galaxy Quest, What We Do in the Shadows, Crazy Rich Asians, Ready or Not, Interstellar, The Cabin in the Woods, Scream, Nope, The Baxter, Get Out, Purple Rain, The Menu, Coco, Sorry to Bother You, Love, Simon, Parasite, Wet Hot American Summer, Ocean’s 11, The Handmaiden, The Green Knight, Crimson Peak, Equilibrium, The Shape of Water, Pan’s Labyrinth, The Host, Don’t Look Up, Coraline, Kubo and the Two Strings, The Princess Bride, Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Tremors, Pacific Rim, The Intern, and Mystery Science Theater
