Tia Ikemoto
ICM Partners
My Manuscript Wish List®
Literary Assistant at ICM Partners. Building my own list. Originally from the Bay Area, I graduated from UC San Diego, and joined ICM in 2019. I’m looking for middle grade, young adult, adult fiction and select nonfiction that speaks to a wide audience.
Middle Grade: Contemporary, historical, or fantasy that feel like an instant classic or takes us on a voice-driven adventure. I love nostalgia, and I prefer witty over silly humor.
Examples: The Girl Who Drank the Moon; Catherine, Called Birdy; The Royal Diaries Series; The Ice Cream Machine
Young Adult: Contemporary young adult that captures the unique stage of life of its readers, cinematic commercial storylines, thrillers, high concept and grounded YA Fantasy.
Examples: Speak; The Perks of Being a Wallflower; The Sun is Also a Star; One of Us is Lying; Love, Simon; The Raven Cycle; Elsewhere; Grown; David Arnold; Leigh Bardugo
Fiction: Upmarket & book club fiction, psychological and literary thrillers, women’s fiction, updated rom coms, blockbuster or high concept commercial fiction, and historical fiction that takes us somewhere else or teaches us something new. I’m a huge fan of Reese Witherspoon’s book club picks, and I would love to find stories set outside of NYC that bring to life less published settings, especially California.
Examples: Who is Maud Dixon?; Lisa Jewell; Gillian Flynn; When No One is Watching; The Guest List; Sweetbitter; Everything I Never Told You; Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine; This is How it Always is; My Dark Vanessa; Britt Bennett; The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo; One to Watch; The Unsinkable Greta James; The Hating Game; Ready Player One; Snow Falling in Cedars; The Shadow of the Wind; The Power; The Farm by Joanne Ramos
Nonfiction: Probably my most selective genre, I love pop culture, narrative nonfiction, journalism, of-the-moment essay collections, and the occasional experience-driven memoir.
Examples: Bachelor Nation; Catch and Kill; Ghettoside; Wild; Kitchen Confidential; Know my Name; Dear Girls; So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed; Three Women; My Body; Charlie Warzel; Anne Helen Peterson
Submission Guidelines
Submissions should be emailed to tia.ikemoto@icmpartners.com
Please email me your query and first 10 pages of the manuscript pasted into the body of the email.
Vital Info
Favorite sub-genres:
Contemporary YA, Literary Middle Grade, Middle Grade Fantasy, Narrative Nonfiction, Pop Psychology, Psychological Thrillers, Upmarket Fiction
I’d like the next…
- Fiction or nonfiction that explores parasocial relationships, fandoms, fame, and internet culture/citizenship. I’m a huge reality TV and YouTube junkie, and would love to find books that reckon with who we are on and offline. I’d especially love a narrative NF book that is less about diagnosing the problems of social media and is more focused on offering prescriptive solutions for how we as a society can move forward with it.
- Fiction or nonfiction centered around work/the work place/the future of work.
- College coming-of-age novel (YA or adult)
- Adult or children’s fiction centered around Japanese American internment, and life after
