Friday, May 24, 2013

May 2013 Mystery Agent Revealed!

*drumroll* Mystery Agent for May 2013 is...

Sara D'Emic of Talcott Notch Literary
(photo and bio from agency about page)

"I'm excited to be starting my career with Talcott Notch and am actively extending my client base. I'm looking for adult and YA fantasy, sci-fi, horror, mystery, and mainstream fiction (plus all the sub genres those encompass). I'll also gladly look at non-fiction science and technology. I graduated from Emerson College with a BA in Writing, Literature, and Publishing. I've been an editorial/PR intern for Last Light Studio and an editorial intern for Hanging Loose Press."
Her chosen winner, also the recipient of a full manuscript request is...

1st Place:
Name: Sarah Turnbull

Title: AND WE ARE ALL DAMNED

Genre: YA gothic horror



Pitch: On an isolated island, beneath a lush canopy of resurrection ferns and prickly palmettos, a preternatural plague is unleashed across a grotesquely insular Victorian colony when orphans Haeden and Veanne unearth the dark legacy of their bloodline.


2nd Place: (Query & 50 pages)
Name: Leiann Bynum

Genre: YA Mystery

Title: Brothas Torn


Pitch: To prove his father is innocent of second-degree murder,sixteen-year-old Dhamell tries to find out who the real killer is by deceiving someone who believes his dad is guilty--his own half-brother, Tyrik.


3rd Place: (Query & 10 pages)
Name: Sophie Morton

Twitter: @_SophieMorton

Genre: YA Contemporary

Title: Mouse Trap


Pitch: Sixteen-year-old Marnie is concerned by her parents' disapproval of her unexpected reunion with her absent uncle, but she has little time to worry about the reasons why when her father fails to return home from work one night.


Woot for our winners!! We had the chance to get to know our Mystery Agent a little better in this mini-interview:

Katrina: What's your favorite thing about being a literary agent?
Sara: Getting a good deal for a client-- it's immensely satisfying when that happens.

Katrina: In your accepted genres, you list Mainstream. How would you define that genre? Is it more commercial? Contemporary?
Sara: I say mainstream to incorporate commercial/literary/general fiction. a.k.a, not in a particular genre.

Katrina: What would you say is a hallmark work of YA Horror (one that every horror fan should read)?
Sara: A good question; I have trouble thinking of a book that is the defining YA horror. I like the works of Marcus Sedgwick (especially White Crow) and Margo Lanagan.

Katrina: Not that we would bribe you to read our queries, but what's your favorite sweet treat?
Sara: I've gotten into salted caramel brownies.
Katrina: Mmmm.... good choice!


Sara D'Emic also shared some exciting new-book news (our favorite kind)! Recently she sold a New Adult sci-fi: Elected by Rori Shay, to Entranced Publishing.

Congratulations, Sara and Rori Shay! And congrats to all our winners and entrants! Thanks all for sharing your work.

Winners can send their queries and requested pages to Sara at the address listed here. Put "Mystery Agent Winner" in the subject line of your email.

Find more of Sara D'Emic around the web:

Twitter
Writer's Digest Interview
YA Stands Interview
All The Right Stuff Interview
President's Blog Interview
GUTGAA Agent Panel Q&A

3 comments:

Karen Baldwin said...

Nice to meet you, Sara, and congrats to all the winners. And thanks for your definition of mainstream. The water gets muddied trying to figure out what that genre means to agents.

Angelica R. Jackson said...

Congratulations to the winners, yay!

And if you didn't win this time, keep working on your pitches and you can try again with the next mystery agent.

Meradeth Houston said...

Congrats to the winners! And nice to get to know a bit more about Sara!