I am currently closed to submissions while I catch up on queries. I’ll remove this notice when I reopen. Thanks everyone!
I represent mostly adult fiction, and the occasional adult nonfiction or YA fiction project. (All of the things on my fiction wishlist apply to adult and YA.) I’m passionate about #OwnVoices books that celebrate all kinds of diversity. I want strong characters and rich emotions.
I gravitate more towards upmarket and literary fiction, though I also enjoy commercial fiction with a strong voice (especially if it’s funny!). I like serious fiction and weird/quirky/funny fiction.
I love all kinds of mysteries—from hilarious cozies to dark literary suspense to psychological thrillers to locked room mysteries.
I love literary, psychological horror, folk horror, and horror mashups (horror mysteries, horror historical, horror romance, horror comedy, horror westerns).
I love all manner of speculative fiction, including magical realism, surrealism, fabulism, and grounded speculative fiction, but I’m not the right agent for straight up fantasy or sci-fi. I like myth/folklore retellings.
I love contemporary fiction and historical fiction of the 19th and 20th century (especially centered around diverse characters).
More specific fiction wants:
-a novel about the dancing plague of 1518
-doppelgangers
-creepy dolls
-Twin Peaks/David Lynch vibes
-evil children (ala The Bad Seed)
I’m looking for prescriptive (business, self-help, health) and narrative nonfiction (memoir, hybrid memoirs, current events, psychology) with a strong platform.
More specifically for nonfiction, I’m looking for books on animal or plant psychology/behavior (such as The Hidden Life of Trees or Inside of a Dog), behavioral economics (such as The Secret Language of Money or Predictably Irrational), the connection between mind and body/between emotion and biology, narrative nonfiction about the history of something universal (like Rain: A Natural and Cultural History), American cultural studies that won’t be irrelevant in a few years, (such as studies on race (like The Color of Success or Pushout) and gender, Islamophobia, white supremacy/white extremists/the alt-right, Black Lives Matter, rape culture and the treatment of rape victims/rape accusers, cat-calling, the dark side of social media (like So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed), and any other topics that are culturally relevant).
Submission Guidelines
Submissions should be emailed to submissions@abliterary.com
Submission guidelines for fiction:
For all fiction submissions, please send a query letter, synopsis, and the first 20 pages of your manuscript pasted in the body of the email.
Submission guidelines for nonfiction:
For all nonfiction submissions, please send a query letter and proposal pasted in the body of the email.
Guidelines & Details
Fiction:
BIPOC Literature, Commercial, Crime, Family Saga, Historical, Horror, Humor, LGBTQ, Literary, Magical Realism, Mystery, New Adult, Thriller, Women’s Fiction, Young Adult
Non-Fiction:
Crafts/DIY, Health, Journalism, LGBTQ, Memoir, Pop Culture, Psychology, Science, Self-help, True Crime, Wellness
Favorite sub-genres:
#ownvoices, #wndb, 1800s+ historical, AAPI Horror, Accessible Literary Fiction, Adult Horror, African Diaspora, Amateur Sleuth Mysteries, Asian American Literature, Asian Diaspora, Asian Horror, BIPOC, BIPOC Horror, BIPOC Mystery, Book Club, Character-Driven Horror, Classic retellings with BIPOC characters, Contemporary YA, Cozy Mystery, Crime Fiction, Dark Female Friendships, East Asian Literature, Fabulism, Feminist Horror, Folklore, Gothic, Gothic Horror, High-Concept Literary Commercial Fiction, Horror Comedy, Immigrant Experiences, LGBT YA, LGBTQ Contemporary, Latine Diaspora, Latinx Horror, Literary Crossover, Literary Fiction, Literary Horror, Literary Noir, Literary Thriller, Literary YA, Magical Realism, Mental Health, Mystery / Crime, Narrative Nonfiction, Noir, Psychological Horror, Psychological Thrillers, Southern Gothic, Speculative Fiction, Suspense, Upmarket Fiction, YA Mystery, YA horror, alternate history, body horror, diverse and own voices, historical mystery, horror, literary mystery, locked room, psychology, queer horror, queer narratives
I’d like the next…
- And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
- The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
- The Wild Inside by Jamey Bradbury
- Bunny by Mona Awad
- Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin
- Allegedly by Tiffany Jackson
- Night Film by Marisha Pessl
- The Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami
- The October Country by Ray Bradbury
- Surfacing by Margaret Atwood
- The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
- City of Glass by Paul Auster
- Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli
- The Likeness by Tana French
- Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
- In the House Upon the Dirt Between the Lake and the Woods by Matt Bell
- We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver
- Please Look After Mom by Kyung-Sook Shin
- We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
- We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
- Smoke Gets in Your Eyes by Caitlin Doughty
- So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson
- The Five by Hallie Rubenhold
- Drood by Dan Simmons
- Bittersweet by Miranda Beverly-Whittemore
- One of Us Is Lying by Karen McManus
- The Secret History by Donna Tartt
- Out by Natsuo Kirino
- How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water by Angie Cruz
- The Fortunes of Jaded Women by Carolyn Huynh
- In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado
- Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson
- In the House in the Dark of the Woods by Laird Hunt
- The Odyssey by Lara Williams
- Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto
- It’s Elementary by Elise Bryant
- Detective Aunty by Uzma Jalaluddin
- The Midnight Knock by John Fram
- The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami
- Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield
- State of Paradise by Laura van den Berg
- Grief Is for People by Sloane Crosley
