January 2009 Ballantine

Kristin Nelson established the Nelson Literary Agency in 2002.

I am Sara and I have been with the Nelson Literary Agency since 2006. Recently I was promoted to Associate Literary Agent and am now in the process of working with my very first clients! As the literary assistant for the past 3 years, I read all query letters, sample pages and full manuscripts that were submitted to the agency. I helped Kristin in the process of accepting authors such as Sherry Thomas (PRIVATE ARRANGEMENTS, March 2008) and Jamie Ford (HOTEL ON THE CORNER OF BITTER AND SWEET, January 2009).

Our agency specializes in representing romance, science fiction, fantasy, young adult, middle grade, commercial fiction, women's fiction and literary fiction with a commercial bent. In general, we do not handle nonfiction with the exception of memoir.

Personally, I would love to work on more science fiction and fantasy projects. I love complex world building that is tightly woven with intense characters and an exciting story. I loved John Scalzi's OLD MAN'S WAR and Scott Lynch's THE LIES OF LOCKE LAMORA as well as everything by Robin McKinley, Carol Berg and Stephen Lawhead. I am also a huge romance fan - especially if the work is super sexy and intelligen like books by Pamela Clare and Sherry Thomas. Finally, in terms of commercial fiction (both for adults and younger), I would love to work on more multicultural or historical projects like MISTRESS OF THE ART OF DEATH by Ariana Franklin.

For more information about the Nelson Literary Agency or about our President and Senior Literary Agent Kristin Nelson, please feel free to see our website (www.nelsonagency.com) or Kristin's site here at Publishers Marketplace (www.publishersmarketplace.com/members/knelson/).

The Nelson Literary Agency is a Member of:

Association of Authors' Representatives (AAR)
Romance Writers of America (RWA)
Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA)
Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators (SCBWI)

Sara Megibow is:
Associate Member of the Association of Authors' Representatives (AAR)

These are clients of Kristin's whose projects I helped in the process of accepting:

Gail Carriger
Megan Crewe
Jamie Ford
Janice Hardy
Courtney Milan
Sarah Rees Brennan
Kristina Riggle
Helen Stringer
Brooke Taylor
Sherry Thomas

Again, these are books represented by the Nelson Literary Agency; I helped accept these works, but Kristin Nelson represents them:

THE DEMON'S LEXICON by Sarah Rees Brennan
HOTEL ON THE CORNER OF BITTER & SWEET by Jamie Ford
REAL LIFE & LIARS by Kristina Riggle
UNDONE by Brooke Taylor
PRIVATE ARRANGEMENTS and DELICIOUS by Sherry Thomas

My very first projects will soon be submitted to editors - how exciting!

Nelson Literary Agency 2006-present

Graduate of Northwestern University

Foreign Rights: Whitney Lee, The Fielding Agency, wlee@fieldingagency.com

Dramatic/Film Rights: We work with a variety of co-agents depending on the project. We have worked with Amy Schiffman, Intellectual Property Group; Sarah Self, Gersh Agency; Kassie Evashevski, United Talent Agency; Gotham Group; Lynn Pleshette Agency; and Shari Smiley, Creative Artists Agency.

Kristin Nelson, President and Senior Literary Agent
Lindsay Mergens, Marketing Director (NY Office)
Julie Kerlin, Literary Assistant

Please visit our website www.nelsonagency.com for submission guidelines.

Query by email only (no attachments, headshots, sample pages or weblinks please). We do not accept snail mail queries or submissions or queries by phone or in person. Please send email to query@nelsonagency.com.

Please note that we do not currently accept horror, thrillers, mysteries (except Chick Lit), Christian, screenplays, short story collections, self-help books, gift or coffee table books or picture books.