Aliza Li
Holiday House
My Manuscript Wish List®
I’m an editorial assistant at Holiday House, acquiring mostly YA and MG, in both prose and graphic novel form. I’m interested in fantasy, mystery, horror, sci-fi, romance, and contemporary submissions.
DISCLAIMER: I AM NOT AN AGENT. I cannot help if you’re looking for representation.
YA & MG fiction
I’m looking for high concept hooks, original worldbuilding, and thematic depth. I like both literary and commercial writing. My favorite submissions have both immediately “gettable” commercial concepts and sophisticated, tight prose.
My humor leans towards the absurd and surreal. I’m a hard sell on anything overly feel good or sentimental. Bonus points if your submission has folklore & myth, tarot, and Southern gothic aesthetics.
Graphic novels
My tastes are wide; I’m open to a lot, as long as the art pulls me in! I prefer submissions from author-illustrators.
I’m NOT the best fit for:
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Novels in verse
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Picture books or early readers
Submission Guidelines
Please email full manuscripts to al******@**********se.com
Vital Info
Favorite sub-genres:
AAPI Fantasy, Author-Illustrators, Cozy Mystery, Fairytale Retellings, Graphic Novels, High-Concept Literary Commercial Fiction, Magical Realism, Modern Retellings of Fairy Tales, Modernized Mythologies, Mythology, New Adult, Occult, RomCom, Shakespeare Retellings, Southern Gothic, Space Opera, Tarot, Whodunit, crossover appeal, dark academia, dark fantasy, locked room, rivals to lovers, romantasy, spooky mg, tropes tropes tropes, weird fiction, witchcraft
I’d like the next…
The Song of Achilles, Six of Crows, Garlic and the Vampire, The Magic Fish
My favorites include…
Books: Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim, Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo, Yolk by Mary H.K. Choi, Garlic and the Vampire by Bree Paulsen, Bone by Jeff Smith, The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen, Elizabeth and Zenobia by Jessica Miller, Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar, The Secret Series by Pseudonymous Bosch
Movies: The Silence of the Lambs, Past Lives, True Detective, Fargo, Arrival, Frances Ha, When Harry Met Sally
