Kristin Nelson

My goal as an agent is simple: I want every client of mine to make a living solely from writing and 90% of my authors do without help from any other source of income. I established NLA in 2002 and over the last two decades of my career, I’ve represented over fifty-five New York Times bestselling titles and many USA Today bestsellers. Although I’m a very nice Midwesterner, I’ve heard through the grapevine that editors call me “a hard-working bulldog agent that will fight for you.” What a compliment!

When not busy selling books, I’m quite sporty. I enjoy tennis, pickle ball, and golf. I also love playing Bridge (where surprisingly I’m not the youngest person in the club). On weekends my husband Brian and I can be found hiking in the Mountains.

You can also read about my latest sales at Publishers Marketplace.

#MSWL

Literary/commercial novels that tackle timely issues and uncomfortable or complicated relationship dynamics and leave the reader grappling long after the last page is read (Little Fires Everywhere, Such a Fun Age)
High-concept, character-driven novels with one foot squarely in genre (Wool, Bird Box, Station 11)
Absolutely delightful and emotionally engaging novels that can be read over and over again because experiencing that world and those characters is a joy (Remarkably Bright Creatures, Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand, Less, Lessons in Chemistry)
Character-driven novels in the thriller, speculative, or science fiction and fantasy realm that illuminate the world we live in through the lens of an imagined world (The Fifth Season, Ancillary Justice, Gone Girl)
Historical novels that feature a narrative voice and story that is under-represented in history or a story never before told (Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, The Downstairs Girl, The Ventriloquists)
Young-adult novels that pack a serious or a delightful emotional punch delivered in a contemporary setting, #ownvoices, or in a past, future, or imagined world
I am not currently looking at submissions for middle-grade novels.

Query Kristin

Kristin’s Recent News

Ed Schlesinger at Gallery, in an exclusive submission, bought Widow’s Point: The Complete Haunting by Richard Chizmar and W.H. Chizmar for publication in 2025.

Ally Carter‘s The Blonde Identity hits #17 on the USA Today Bestseller list.

Stephanie Pitts at Putnam bought North American rights for Kill Her Twice by Stacey Lee, NYT-bestselling author of The Downstairs Girl.

Kate Prosswimmer at Margaret K. McElderry Books bought book two, A Whisper in the Walls, and book three in NYT-bestselling author Scott Reintgen‘s Waxways Trilogy.

Tricia Narwani at Del Rey has bought in a two-book deal Incidents Around the House by NYT-bestselling author of Bird Box Josh Malerman.

Regan Winter at Disney-Hyperion has bought author-illustrator Primo Gallanosa‘s The Pet Placement Society middle grade graphic novel series for the Melissa de la Cruz Studio.

Anna Parsons at Aladdin has bought North American rights to the middle grade novel The Last Dragon on Mars by Scott Reintgen.