Marlo Berliner
Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency
My Manuscript Wish List®
Marlo Berliner has been actively building her list as an Associate Agent with The Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency since 2018. She joined JDLA as an editorial intern after having completed a previous internship at The Bent Agency. Marlo has been involved in publishing in various capacities since 2007, first as a writer, then an award-winning young adult author, then a freelance editor, and finally a children’s lead bookseller at Barnes & Noble. She is a member of SCBWI, RWA, and YA-RWA. Prior to her career in the publishing world, Marlo was an accounting manager for a Fortune 500 company and holds B.S. degrees in Economics and Industrial Management from Carnegie Mellon University. Marlo lives in Northern New Jersey with her husband, two sons, and one rambunctious puppy named Max (who doubles as her puplicist).
I believe the best stories have both compelling characters and tight, emotionally involving plotlines. If your writing can translate emotion to the page and give me a visceral reaction of humor, fear, joy, sadness, intrigue, or romance, then I will keep turning pages.
Across the board, I’m always looking for stories by traditionally underrepresented authors. BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, neurodiverse, and disabled, #ownvoices authors are highly encouraged to query me.
Middle-Grade and Young Adult: I am interested in ALL genres of MG and YA fiction, with particular emphasis on adventure, fantasy, mystery, thriller, suspense, paranormal, urban fantasy, horror, speculative, sci-fi, contemporary, and romance. I enjoy ghosts, witches, magic, magical realism, unusual settings, dark elements, gothic stories, secrets or secretive characters, treasure hunts, puzzle-solving, and unreliable narrators. Basically, my tastes are varied, so even if you have something not mentioned on this list, try me! Also, if you can take a story or intellectual property (in TV or books) that is popular with the adult crowd and give me its MG or YA version, then I will give it a look because I believe these types of stories may have strong potential for the market. I am also open to coming-of-age stories set in college that walk the line between upper YA and new adult. While I do like contemporary tales, I may not be the best fit for “issue” books where the central conflict revolves primarily around rape/rape-culture, drugs, or illness. I will also consider some select non-fiction projects in MG and YA, particularly if they involve pop-culture, current events, or social awareness/commentary.
Picture book: Seeking submissions primarily from author-illustrators, though I will consider select text-only submissions. Please submit your query with a link to your portfolio and the entire text of the PB manuscript. Also, query only one PB at a time! I am more drawn toward character-driven stories that are cute, funny, or heartwarming. I love twists on familiar characters or story lines, and unlikely friendship stories.
Adult: I am particularly interested in horror, mystery, thriller, and suspense, especially psychological suspense, supernatural suspense, and domestic thriller. I am also seeking women’s fiction with some heft and heart, and all genres of Romance, except inspirational and erotic. As far as historical romance, I prefer 1900’s and forward.
What I’m not looking for:
- Political, true crime, or military/espionage thrillers
- Short stories
- Poetry
- Screenplays
- Books involving rape/rape-culture, drugs, or illness
- Previously self-published books
My recent deals include:
Fun facts about me:
I’m also the award-winning, best-selling author of THE GHOST CHRONICLES series.
Submission Guidelines
Submissions should be emailed to http://QueryMe.Online/marloberliner
Please submit your query and the first 20 pages of your finished and polished manuscript via my Query Manager: http://QueryMe.Online/marloberliner
You will receive an automatic response from Query Manager, which lets you know your submission is in my inbox, and you can track your query’s progress. I usually respond to queries within six weeks. Requested full manuscripts may take longer than six weeks to read, so please be patient. All queries and requested material will get a response.
PLEASE NOTE: I only accept Query Manager submissions. Emailed queries will be deleted unread, as will queries sent through Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. Any queries sent by regular postal mail will also not be considered.
Thanks for adhering to this!
Vital Info
I’d like the next…
Don’t Tell A Soul, Inheritance Games, House of Salt and Sorrows, Mexican Gothic
My favorites include…
Some favorite titles on my reading shelf include One of Us Is Lying, Caraval, The Ocean at the End of the Lane, City of Ghosts, Nevermoor – The Trials of Morrigan Crow, The Death of Mrs. Westaway, The Kiss Quotient, The Inheritance Games, Wilder Girls, and The Widow of Rose House.
As for TV, I tend to binge watch an entire season or series at once. Some of my favorites are Stranger Things, Game of Thrones, Black Mirror, You, Bird Box, The Passage, Arrow, Bridgerton, His Dark Materials, Supernatural, and Ghost Adventures (as fodder for my own series, The Ghost Chronicles).
I’m also a huge movie buff, so I could list hundreds as my favorites, but here are just a few old and new – Practical Magic, Titanic, Avatar, The Woman in Black, La La Land, The Greatest Showman, and The Ballad of Buster Scruggs.
