Liv Ivanov

Creative Media Agency

My Manuscript Wish List®

I’ve always had a passion for reading wildly immersive, character-driven novels and am absolutely ecstatic that I now have a chance to champion new voices in the industry who have the potential to make an impact on other people’s lives.

Overall, I’m looking for character-driven stories, compelling premises, fantastically immersive settings, and most of all — I want to find that next unputdownable story I can’t stop raving to my friends and family about! I’m particularly interested in:

  • Stories written by authors who identify with a marginalized or traditionally underrepresented group
  • A strong voice — this is especially important to me; I want to be fully immersed in the mind and world of the main character
  • Well-developed, complex, and/or flawed main characters
  • Enthralling, robustly-structured plots that are full of twists and tension
  • Witty banter, and well-written dialogue
  • Prose that makes me want to laugh, cry, or think about life more deeply (I want to feel ALL the feelings)
  • For SFF — creative, well-thought-out magic systems, as well as unique sci-fi elements that really make a story stand out in the genre

MSWL

I’m especially on the lookout for a well-constructed heist, a sapphic fantasy full of messy, morally-gray characters, a bone-chilling psychological thriller, a hilarious queer rom-com, and stories where nature/settings are sentient. If your story has a music-related or computer science-influenced magic system, I want to see it! I’m also really interested in representing stories that focus on and/or are written by underrepresented voices and authors from a diverse set of cultures and backgrounds, such as BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, neurodivergent, disability, and mental health issues.

Right now, I am only open to Adult queries, but will be opening back up to YA and Middle Grade in the near future!

Adult

All genres can include romance, but I like when the story is multi-faceted

  • Coming-of-age (the coming-of-age can happen at any age!)

  • Horror/Paranormal

    • All things eerie and atmospheric, paranormal, monsters 

    • Not a huge fan of gore

  • Mystery/Thriller (Bring on the twists & turns!)

    • Small-town settings and eerie atmospheres (think Sharp Objects)

    • Innovative whodunits (think Glass Onion, Knives out, and The White Lotus)

    • Psychological or domestic thrillers with a close first person POV (think Never Lie by Frieda McFadden)

  • Dark Academia 

  • LGBTQIA+

    • Would love a funny queer rom-com!

  • Sci-Fi 

    • Anything from a light touch of sci-fi, to dystopian (upmarket only), to space-based settings

    • Multiple timelines

    • Sci-Fantasy (Gideon the Ninth and The Fifth Season are my all time favorite books)

    • Sci-Fi Thrillers (think Project Hail Mary or Recursion)

  • Fantasy

    • Light, Whimsical, or Humorous Fantasy (Assistant to the Villain)

    • Urban and Paranormal Fantasy

    • Gothic

    • Romantasy

      • Would love a sapphic fantasy with messy, morally gray characters

    • Secondary worlds and high fantasy (think Foundryside or Mistborn)

(Currently Closed In This Age Category) YA

All genres can include romance, but I like when the story is multi-faceted

  • LGBTQIA+

    • Similar to Adult — would love a hilarious queer rom-com

  • Mystery/Thriller/Horror

    • Small-town settings and eerie atmospheres

    • Whodunits and character unraveling conspiracies

  • Fantasy 

    • Secondary worlds and High Fantasy only (Six of Crows and Strange the Dreamer are some favorites of mine)

      • Not looking for Urban Fantasies or Fantasies set in our world
    • Dark Academia in a Fantasy setting

(Currently Closed In This Age Category) Middle Grade

  • LGBTQIA+ (The Language of Seabirds)

  • Sci-Fi — more of a light touch

  • Huge fan of puzzle, conspiracy, and adventure stories (The York series, The Outlaws Scarlett and Browne)

  • Mystery/Thriller/Horror

Not Looking For

  • Children’s picture or chapter books
  • Military thrillers
  • Nonfiction projects 

Submission Guidelines

Liv only accepts queries via Query Manager 

Vital Info

@livivanov

Website

Agent, Associate Literary Agent

Fiction:

Action/Adventure, Fantasy, Gothic, Horror, LGBTQ, Mystery, New Adult, Psychological Thriller, Science Fiction, Speculative, Thriller

Favorite sub-genres:

#Dis, #ownvoices, AAPI Fantasy, AAPI Horror, AAPI Sci-Fi, Adult, Adult Horror, Adult Romantasy, Adult SFF, Adventure, African Fantasy, African Sci-Fi, Africanfuturism, Asian Fantasy, Asian Horror, Asian Sci-Fi, BIPOC, BIPOC Fantasy, BIPOC Horror, BIPOC Mystery, BIPOC Sci-Fi, Disability, Epic Fantasy, Fantasy, Fantasy YA, Folklore, Gothic, Gothic Fantasy, Gothic Horror, Hard Science Fiction, High Concept, Historical Fantasy, LGBT YA, LGBTQ+, LGBTQ+ Fantasy, LGBTQ+ Sci-Fi, Latinx Fantasy, Latinx Horror, Latinx Sci-Fi, Neurodiversity, Paranormal, Paranormal Horror, Paranormal Thriller, Psychological Horror, Psychological Thrillers, Sci-fi Thriller, Thriller, Underrepresented Voices, Whodunit, alternate history, coming of age, crossover, dark academia, dark fantasy, romantasy, sci-fi, science fantasy

I’d like the next…

My favorites include…

Favorite Books (there’s so many more that I love, but these are some at the top of my list)

  • The Fifth Season (& the entire Broken Earth trilogy)
  • Gideon the Ninth & Harrow the Ninth
  • Foundryside series
  • Strange the Dreamer
  • The Way of Kings, Mistborn — and pretty much anything by Brandon Sanderson
  • This Is How You Lose The Time War
  • Six of Crows
  • Cemetery Boys
  • Sharp Objects
  • Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow
  • Project Hail Mary
  • Ninth House
  • No Country For Old Men
  • Fahrenheit 451

Favorite Movies, TV & Anime

  • Mad Max: Fury Road
  • Inception
  • Interstellar
  • Dune
  • Parasite
  • Breaking Bad
  • Attack on Titan
  • Oppenheimer
  • Knives Out
  • Shutter Island
  • Arcane
  • The Good Place
  • The Last Of Us (the game & the show)
  • Black Mirror
  • Chernobyl
  • Severance
  • Death Note
  • The Mandalorian
  • Mr. Robot