Recent Deals

SOLD!! Robin Huber's debut duology, A LOVE LIKE YOURS and A STORY LIKE OURS to Lexi Smail at Forever Yours for publication in 2019.
As reported via Deadline Hollywood, Hugh Howey's BEACON 23 TV series adaptation from Zak Penn (Ready Player One, Avengers, X-Man) nears green light at Spectrum. The series will be produced by independent studio Platform One Media.
Sold!! Activist and political science PhD Ehsaneh Sadr's A DOOR BETWEEN US, a humorous and sometimes scary snapshot of a family with clashing political ideologies in Iran in the aftermath of the 2009 election of Ahmadinejad and the ensuing Green Wave protests told in three alternating perspectives in a hopeful narrative demonstrating that life goes on even as the world feels like it is falling apart around us, to Addi Black at Blackstone Publishing, for publication in fall 2019, by Danielle Burby (World English).
SOLD!! Founder of Every Damn Day Writers, Alison Hammer’s YOU & ME & US, a mother-daughter love story pitched as perfect for fans of JoJo Moyes and Marisa de los Santos, about an advertising executive mom and her distant teenage daughter struggling to be a family without the one person who held them together, to Tessa Woodward at William Morrow in a good deal, at auction, in a two-book deal by Joanna MacKenzie.
SOLD!! As announced in The Washington Post: Marie Lu has agreed to a multimillion dollar, three-book deal with Jen Besser, publisher of Roaring Brook Press. The first book is set 10 years after her third “Legend” installment which came out in 2013. Currently untitled and scheduled for Fall 2019, the upcoming novel will again feature such characters as young Eden Bataar Wing and take place in the dystopian Republic of America. Lu’s deal also includes a new series, the science fiction-fantasy “Skyhunter.” Kristin Nelson negotiated the North American deal.
SOLD!! As announced in PW Children's Bookshelf: Emily Easton at Crown has acquired a YA fantasy duology by Scott Reintgen, beginning with ASHLORDS. The story follows three riders—a champion's daughter, a scholarship entrant, and a revolutionary's son as they compete in elite phoenix horse racing. Horses in the breed live for a day, riding impossible distances before bursting into flames at night; to be crowned champion, riders must use alchemy to summon their horse back to life at sunrise. Kristin Nelson negotiated the deal for North American rights.
SOLD!! ENCHANTED, INC., author Shanna Swendson’s new contemporary fantasy, about a tourist who finds herself plunged into a magical New York adventure after she stops to help a little old lady, to Jessica Almon Galland at Audible Originals for publication in 2019, by Kristin Nelson.
SOLD!! RITA-nominated and bestselling author, Shana Galen's WILD IRISH BRIDE, a book in The Royal Saboteurs, a new series about a disparate group of men and women offered an opportunity of a lifetime: to become elite operatives for the Crown, to Sue Grimshaw at Loveswept, for publication in 2019, by Joanna MacKenzie.
SOLD!! Brittney Morris's SLAY, following a black teen video game developer as she battles a real-life troll intent on ruining the Black Panther-inspired video game she created, and the safe community it represents for black gamers, to Jennifer Ung at Simon Pulse, in a significant deal, at auction, in a two-book deal, for publication in fall 2019 and fall 2020, by Quressa Robinson and Kristin Nelson.
Author Brittney Morris featured in Publishers Weekly Children's Bookshelf. Check out the write up here!!!

Submission Guidelines

We will be CLOSED TO SUBMISSIONS for the month of December.

Queries sent after 5:00 pm MST Friday, November 30, 2018, will not be read. Please plan to query us after 8:00 am MST Wednesday, January 2, 2019. Happy Holidays!

Submissions are accepted via email only.

Make sure NLA represents your genre. (See what our agents are looking for below.)
You may query only one agent at the agency. Our first-round readers and agents share and discuss query letters, so a response from one NLA agent is a response from all NLA agents.
Open a new email and address it to the appropriate agent. (See below.)
In the subject line, write QUERY and the title of your project. This will help ensure that your query isn’t accidentally deleted or caught in our spam filter.
In the body of your email, include a one-page query letter and the first ten pages of your manuscript.
No attachments please. Because of virus concerns, emails with attachments are deleted unread.

Currently Seeking…

Kristin is seeking:

Voice and character driven stories well told. How you tell that story doesn’t have to fit into a neat little category.
Young adult & middle grade novels (all genres, #ownvoices, #WNDB, boy adventure, magical, STEM girls are my jam, characters who use brains over brawn.)
Big crossover novels (literary or upmarket level writing) w/one foot squarely in genre for the adult market (Wool, Station 11, Lexicon, Ready Player One)
Literary commercial novels (Hotel on the Corner of Bitter & Sweet, Where’d You Go Bernadette?, A Man Called Ove)
Voice & character-driven upmarket women’s fiction
Select passion projects in thrillers, science fiction & fantasy

Danielle is seeking:

Middle grade and young adult (all genres)
Select passion projects in women’s fiction
A strong voice, nuanced writing, plots with unexpected twists, high concept
Complex female characters, quirky adventures, complicated family dynamics, romantic plotlines that are an element of the narrative but don’t dominate it, seaside novels, girls with swords, stories that take place in the aftermath of disaster (whether personal such as the death of a loved one or bigger picture such as a revolution), magical realism, YA psychological thrillers, sister stories
Social justice themes, own voices authors, a special interest in LGBTQ+ stories
Recent reads I have loved include (in no particular order) The Thing About Jellyfish, It’s Not Like It’s a Secret, We Are Okay, Landline, The Sun Is Also a Star, Uprooted, Salt to the Sea, We Were Liars, A Spool of Blue Thread, When Dimple Met Rishi, Six of Crows, anything Liane Moriarty, anything Kristin Cashore, anything Sarah Dessen

Joanna is seeking:

Character-driven and atmospheric mysteries and thrillers—think Tana French, Blake Crouch, and Heather Gudenkauf.
Literary fiction—fish-out-of-water experiences, immigrant stories, complex families. I cried my way through The Namesake and couldn’t put down The Round House.
Upmarket women’s fiction featuring characters I can’t stop thinking about.
Literary and commercial young-adult fiction—I’ll Give You The Sun and Bone Gap and anything that reminds me of Veronica Mars.

Quressa is seeking:

Modern-day blue stockings, POC fangirls/fanboys, #blackgirlmagic, #carefreeblackgirls, #blackboyjoy, LGBTQ+, neuroatypical/neurodivergent, and disabled POCs as leads
Middle Grade (contemporary and SF/F). Cute, quirky, charming, and fun. Along the lines of Kiki’s Delivery Service and Spirited Away.
Young adult (contemporary, SF/F, historical)
Adult SF/F with strong genre-bending/crossover appeal. (Think the All Souls Trilogy by Deborah Harkness, The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, and The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker. I’m also a fan of Anne Bishop and Naomi Novik.)
Literary fiction that is thoughtful, evocative, page-turning (The Mothers, Behold the Dreamers, Tell The Wolves I’m Home, Station 11)
Upmarket and commercial fiction
Passion projects in narrative nonfiction with a strong literary voice and commercial appeal (Wild by Cheryl Strayed, Hillbilly Elegy by JD Vance, Black Man in a White Coat by Damon Tweedy, When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi). Would love to see non-whitewashed cowboy stories; pop science by women, specifically women of color; and literary, voice-driven memoir with commercial appeal.
#ownvoices and marginalized authors in all genres mentioned above. Inclusive narratives in all genres.

We do not represent:

Nonfiction (except Quressa, who considers select passion projects in narrative nonfiction—see above—but does not represent abuse narratives or political works)
Memoir
Screenplays
Short-story collections
Poetry
Material for the Christian/Inspirational market
Children’s picture books
Early-reader chapter books

How to Email Us…

Query Kristin: querykristin@nelsonagency.com

Query Danielle: querydanielle@nelsonagency.com

Query Joanna: queryjoanna@nelsonagency.com

Query Quressa: queryquressa@nelsonagency.com

Response Time

Queries: We read and respond to each and every query we receive. Expect a response to queries within three weeks, though please understand that, occasionally, it may take longer. If you have not received a response after three weeks, then something might have gone astray in cyber world. Is your email account still active? Are emails to you being spam-filtered? Our reply to you might have bounced or been deleted. You might want to resend your email query.

Full manuscripts: If we have requested your full manuscript and you have uploaded it to our submission database, a response can take up to two months. As with queries, we will email a response, so keep an eye on your spam folder.

Examples of Good Query Letters

Check out Kristin’s blog workshop on query letters. You’ll find it in the right side bar of Pub Rants. You’ll also find several query letters from NLA clients posted there, as well as some of Kristin’s submission pitch letters to editors for various NLA titles. Also check out #NLAquerytip on Twitter for additional useful information.

Several times a year, Kristin and Angie present webinars on how to nail the query pitch paragraph. Definitely worth the enrollment fee if you’re looking to master the art of the query pitch!