Amanda Bernardi

I came to publishing after twelve years in publicity and branding for purpose-driven organizations focused on environmental, fair labor, and health care initiatives. As a book developer and writer, I have worked on a variety of projects ranging from cookbooks, design, art, wellness, lifestyle and narrative non-fiction. I look for opportunities where my experience can help elevate the author’s expertise to find the best editorial home for their work, as well as a strong publicity and launch plan to help their book succeed long after it is sold. I look forward to establishing long-lasting, multi-book relationships with my authors.

What I’m looking for:

In non-fiction, I am looking to work with platform- or expertise-driven authors in food, drink, home & design, wellness, pop culture, social justice, art, humor, parenting, activism, social science, psychology, pop history, nature, investigative journalism, environmentalism, sports, pop science, women’s health or any subject that elevates the social discourse. I champion books with practical elements and actionable takeaways, those that inform as much as they inspire.

Specific proposals I’d love to see right now:

• Wellness, relationships, and self-improvement specifically aimed at millennials
• Girlhood, the power of young women/teenagers (economic, social, cultural)
• Politics, science, or history from the 1980s to today
• Gut-brain connection, whether as a cookbook or scientific deep dive
• Water shortage and the future of the West
• Anthropological deep dives into contemporary subjects: social media, entertainment, politics, language, and more.

In fiction, I’ll consider all adult genres (but Romance and Fantasy), that are character-forward, strong in style and sentence-level construction. I’m particularly focused now on Horror and Upmarket/Literary Fiction. I am most drawn to fiction about bodies, mothers, and women coming apart. If you were to review my long history on Goodreads here is what you’d see:

• Motherhood as horror, not sentiment: what institutions do to mothers.
• Weird-girl literary fiction/body horror: transformation, appetite, and the female body doing something it has been told not to.
• Sylvia Plath fixation
• Woman-unraveling autofiction: I’m a millennial so this seems a given.
• Diaspora fiction and books in Translation: particularly Caribbean, Central America, Western Africa, Southeast Asia, and East Asia.

Across fiction and nonfiction alike: intimate, first-person-feeling, concerned with family, place, inheritance, and structural harm landing on individual lives.

Submission Guidelines

For nonfiction, I welcome full proposal submissions. If you do not have a full proposal, please submit the following: a query letter explaining the hook of your idea, your author bio with specifics about your platform and audience, as well as sample excerpts from your book. If your project has a visual element, please try to include samples of your artwork, photography or design vision.

For fiction, please attach at least two full chapters with your query.

Please submit through Query Manager here.  If I request material, please send it along as a word document or PDF attachment.

At this time, do not represent YA, picture books, poetry or screenplays. I do not take on many memoirs and prefer not to work on issues of sexual or domestic violence.

I consider all submissions thoughtfully, and if I am interested in your project, I will get back to you within twelve weeks. If you do not hear from me, please know I appreciate you thinking of me and wish you the best of luck with your work.