Tuesday, January 19, 2016

3 Established Agents Actively Seeking YA, Memoir, Literary & Commercial Fiction, Nonfiction, Cookbooks and more

Updated 3/15/23

Here are three agents seeking clients. Alexa Stark’s interests are wide-ranging, but she is particularly drawn to literary fiction, upmarket commercial fiction, young adult, memoir, narrative nonfiction, popular science, cultural criticism and women’s issues. Leigh Eisenman seeks submissions in the areas of literary and commercial fiction for adults, and foodie/cookbooks, health and fitness, lifestyle, and select narrative nonfiction. Mitch Hoffman is actively building a client list of authors writing across the spectrum of fiction and nonfiction, including thrillers, suspense, crime fiction, and literary fiction, as well as narrative nonfiction, politics, popular science, history, memoir, current events, and pop culture.

ALWAYS check the agency website before submitting. Agents may switch agencies or close their lists, and submission requirements may change.

If these agents do not suit your needs, you can find a comprehensive list of new and established agents seeking clients here: Agents Seeking Clients.




Alexa Stark of Writers House

About Alexa Raised in New York City, Alexa earned her BA in comparative literature and society at Columbia University. Prior to joining Writers House, she worked at Curtis Brown and Trident Media Group, spending the first few years working with Ellen Levine before building her own list. She lives in Brooklyn. Stark joined Writers House in 2022, after ten years at Trident Media Group. She represents a range of literary and upmarket fiction and select nonfiction. Alexa also has experience helping authors place stories, essays and book excerpts in a range of publications including the New Yorker, Harper’s, Paris Review, the Atlantic, Tin House, N+1, Playboy, McSweeney’s, and the New York Times, among others. Her authors have appeared on the New York Times Bestseller list and have won or been listed for the PEN/Faulkner Award, the National Book Foundation's 5 under 35, the Rona Jaffe Award, the Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence, The Young Lions Fiction Award, the Scotiabank Giller Prize, Lambda Literary Award, and the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize.

What she is seeking: She represents a range of literary and upmarket fiction and select nonfiction. On the fiction side, she is particularly drawn to literary debuts with a unique voice and perspective, stories about dysfunctional friendships and families, novels that engage with social issues, underrepresented voices, and fiction that delves into the surreal or plays with genre in fresh or subversive ways. She also enjoys edgy coming-of-age tales and character-driven suspense and thrillers. She gravitates towards the humorous, the bold, the psychologically probing and the tender. On the nonfiction side, she is seeking narrative nonfiction, cultural criticism, voice-driven essay collections, popular science, psychology, and women’s issues. She is currently looking for:
  • Literary fiction
  • Upmarket commercial fiction
  • General fiction
  • Speculative fiction
  • Suspense
  • Thrillers
  • Narrative Non-fiction
  • Memoir
  • Science

How to submit: Please send your query letter to astark@writershouse.com along with the first 5 pages of the manuscript in the body of your email.

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Leigh Eisenman of Wolf Literary Services

About Leigh: Leigh Eisenman is an experienced lawyer who has been practicing in New York since 2003. After ten years of practicing in the New York offices of several international law firms, Leigh shifted her focus to the publishing industry. Since then, she has handled publishing and publishing-adjacent agreements and matters on behalf of several agencies and law firms. From 2003 until 2014 she specialized in commercial, white collar, and securities litigation. Leigh received her juris doctorate from the University of Virginia School of Law and graduated magna cum laude from Dartmouth College. She serves on the Contracts Committee of the Association of Authors’ Representatives (AAR). She is admitted to practice in New York.

What she is seeking: Leigh represents primarily adult nonfiction and select literary and commercial fiction.  On the nonfiction side, she loves working on illustrated books of all stripes—including cookbooks, lifestyle, the arts, pop culture, travel, humor/gift, health and wellness, and self-care, as well as personal finance, personal/professional development, and memoir.  In fiction, she's drawn to present day (not historical), realistic (no sci fi or fantasy) stories that transport her through a vivid, well-defined sense of place and explorations of relationships (including journeys of self-discovery). Across both, she's drawn to fresh voices and perspectives.

On the nonfiction side, Leigh is interested in foodie/cookbooks (especially baking and – maybe conversely – healthy cooking), health and fitness, lifestyle, and select narrative nonfiction.

How to Submit: Please send a query letter along with a 50-page writing sample (for fiction) or a detailed proposal (for nonfiction) to queries@mwlit.com. Samples may be submitted as an attachment or embedded in the body of the email.”

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Mitch Hoffman of Aaron Priest Literary Agency 

About Mitch: Mitch Hoffman joined the Aaron Priest Literary Agency as a Senior Agent in 2015. A 20-year veteran of the publishing industry, he was most recently Vice-President, Executive Editor at Grand Central Publishing. As an editor, Mitch published over 200 books, more than 60 of which were New York Times bestsellers. He has nurtured the careers of debut novelists as well as global #1 bestselling authors, and has worked with journalists, memoirists, scientists, historians, and members of the military and intelligence services. His list of authors included David Baldacci, Sara Blaedel, Harlan Coben, Jeffery Deaver, Roger Ebert, Senator Al Franken, Linda Grant, Dr. David Grinspoon, Raymond Khoury, John Lescroart, Brad Meltzer, Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child, Tom Rob Smith, Daniel Stashower, and Don Winslow. Their books have won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the Orange Prize for Fiction, the Edgar Award, the Anthony Award, ITW’s Thriller Award, The Barnes & Noble Discover Award, and have been longlisted for the Man Booker Prize, among many other honors.

What he is seeking: Mitch is actively building a client list of authors writing across the spectrum of fiction and nonfiction, including thrillers, suspense, crime fiction, and literary fiction, as well as narrative nonfiction, politics, popular science, history, memoir, current events, and pop culture.

How to submit: “Please submit a one page query to queryhoffman [at] aaronpriest.com. The query letter should describe your work as well as your background. Please do not send attachments. However a first chapter pasted into the body of an e-mail query is acceptable. Please do not submit to more than one agent at this agency. Due to the tremendous number of queries we receive, we are not able to respond to everyone. We will get back to you within four weeks, but only if interested.”

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