New Literary Agency: The Origin of Superheroes

So you may or may not know this but I love superheroes. I would never call myself a geek or a nerd (in this subject) but I love the comics and I watch all the movies and I am more of a DC girl than a Marvel girl but really I just love superheroes. And I love origin stories - how they became heroes - because no matter where they come from they are the heroes; they are the ones we look up to and admire and while they always don't get the recognition they deserve they never cease to do their job and save the world.

The same can be said for people in the literary world. There are some writers and publisher and editors and agents out their who have a great talent and are just very good at what they do but they don't always get the recognition they deserve.

Meet Jordy Albert (right) and Brittany Booker (left) of the Booker Albert Agency. They recently started their own agency; in fact they are officially opening their doors for submissions on December 1st 2012 (that's Saturday - tomorrow) and when I came across them recently I just had to get their origin story.

Brittany Booker:

First off, I want to thank Vicki Trask for inviting Jordy and I to be guests on her blog. I love opportunities like these, to talk about our jobs. It’s such a great job.

Firstly, I can say I previously worked at the Lori Perkins Agency and the Corvisiero Literary Agency, where I was a Jr. Literary Agent under Marisa Corvisiero. Jordy and I have been working closely together for the last two years; we’ve become very good friends as well as colleagues. Recently, Jordy and I got together and decided we wanted to venture off and start our own agency. It’s all about starting a new chapter in your life, doing the things you want and love while you still can. So, we started The Booker Albert Literary Agency. We won’t start taking submission until December 1^st. Now that I say that date, it seems like it has come so quickly.

However, I’m anxiously waiting for Dec. 1^st. Just so you guys know what I’m interested in, I have a list of my favorite books below.

1.       Perfect You - Elizabeth Scott

2.       Catching Jordan - Miranda Keneally

3.       The Fault in Our Stars - John Green

4.       When You Reach Me - Rebecca Stead

5.       The Hush Hush Series - Becca Fitzpatrick

6.       The Shadow Falls Series - C.C. Hunteer 

Those are just a few voices I really admire in YA literature today.  I do represent more than YA literature. My interests are in Fiction:

1.      Contemporary Romances

2.      Historical Fiction

3.      Fantasy

4.      New Adult

5.      YA

In YA I am specifically looking for a page-turning time travel novel.  I like heroine’s that are quirky, goofy and dramatic. I also love novels set in the south, since I am a southern girl myself. I also am a big sucker for happy endings.

I’m looking for New Adult novels in all the genre’s listed above. New Adult is making itself known nowadays and I would really like to see some well-written college-aged stories.

Something important all authors need to know is our submission guidelines when submitting your material.

Guidelines: When sending, first read over each agent’s profile under the agents tab on our website. We would like to see your query letter with the first ten pages of your completed manuscript pasted into the email, along with a 1-2 page synopsis. All sample pages must be properly formatted into 1-inch margins, double-spaced lines, and Time New Roman black font size.

Please do not send the entire manuscript without an agent requesting it. Do not send a “Dear Agent,” email. Do not send to multiple agents in the same email.

We only take email queries. You can reach me at brittany@thebookeralbertagen.com

Jordy Albert:

Because of my love of literature, I've always been interested in a career in publishing. However, it is a very competitive field, and I decided that I would like to help authors achieve their publishing goals. Since I began working as an agent, it's always been my ambition to start an agency. After two years working with Marisa Corvisiero, I felt that I was ready to move forward. My co-founder and fellow agent Brittany Booker had recently left the Corvisiero Agency; we had become good friends and had talked about eventually teaming up, and it just felt like the right time. Marisa provided us with wonderful guidance, and we are very lucky to have had her as our mentor.

I'm seeking contemporary or historical romance, especially Regency romance. I'm also looking for women's fiction with humor and heart, but I'm not really looking for stories that focus on post-marriage/divorce/children. I'm also looking for YA historical or contemporary, or dystopian. I'm particularly interested in plots involving time travel, competitions and travel. I would love to see stories and characters that are well-developed, characters that I would love to be friends with, and settings that I want to get lost in.

Some of my favorite YA titles are The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare, Hunger Games series, Divergent by Veronica Roth.

I also love the Highlander series by Karen Marie Moning, the Immortals After Dark series by Kresley Cole, and Lords of the Underworld series by Gena Showalter. Other authors I love are Teresa Medeiros, Sabrina Jeffires, and Lisa Kleypas, J. R. Ward, and Larissa Ione.

I can't thank these two ladies enough for popping in. Submission for The Booker Albert Agency open on December 1st. Check out their website for submission guidelines and agent information. READ SUBMISSION GUIDLINES if you are going to query any agency. That can't be said enough. Good luck to you ladies and happy querying to any future writers!