If you’re an author looking for a literary agent, your search will most likely have found many in New York City and the West Coast of the United States of America.
But what if you’re a Midwest author looking for an agent closer to you?
If this happens to be you, then we’ve got you covered.
Continue reading to learn about 7 top literary agents in the Midwest, with particular focus on agents in Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Missouri, and Wisconsin.
1. Danielle Egan-Miller
Danielle Egan-Miller is president of Browne & Miller Literary Associates in Chicago, Illinois. Danielle has extensive experience in the selling of books, and her journey in this area began when she worked as an assistant and then as an associate of the late Jane Jordan Browne. Her work experience also includes working as editor at organizations such as McGraw-Hill Trade and Dearborn Trade. As a literary agent, Danielle who has a BA in English from Loyola University of Chicago, has sold books that run into the hundreds, which also include books by authors of New York Times bestsellers and by writers who have won prizes and awards.
Browne & Miller Literary Associates, the agency which Danielle also owns, has represented thousands of fiction and nonfiction books for more than 40 years, and also sells various rights including domestic, subsidiary and foreign for the authors it represents. The agency looks for writing of the highest quality and if you’ve written an excellent adult commercial book, you can email your query to Danielle. If Browne & Miller Literary Associates is interested in your email query, you will be requested to send further material. Take a look at this page to find out exactly what to include your query.
2. Jennifer Flannery
If you’re looking for a literary agent in Chicago, then there is Jennifer Flannery who runs Flannery Literary. Jennifer started this organization way back in 1992, in New York to begin with and then in 1997 moving to Chicago. If you’re a writer of children’s books and books for young adults, then you’re in luck, as Flannery Literary represents authors of books in these genres. In addition, this agency also works with new authors who haven’t been published yet. If you’ve written a book for a young reading audience that is memorable, has an enthralling character with an out of the box viewpoint, you can query Jennifer. If your book is a novel, or nonfiction, then you can also send 5-10 pages as a sample, and paste these into your email query. Take a look here to find out more. This agency aims to respond to queries within 4 weeks.
3. Trace Literary Agency
Tracy Brennan, a literary agent in Indiana, heads up Trace Literary Agency, LLC. Previous to opening this agency, Tracy worked as a teacher for more than eleven years. With a B.A. from Indiana University’s College of Arts and Sciences, Tracy as an agent has represented authors from the US, UK and Ireland. Tracy Literary Agency is currently accepting submissions for both fiction and nonfiction across various genres. Examples of fiction that are of interest to this agency include women’s fiction, chick lit, crime, commercial, literary fiction, romance, while non-fiction that appeals to this agency is business, history, health and wellbeing and true crime. Take a look at this page to find out full details of genres this agency accepts, along with details of how to send in your submission.
4. Dawn Michelle Frederick
Dawn Michelle Frederick has a Bachelor of Science degree in Human Ecology, and a Master of Science degree in Information Sciences. She is an experienced publishing professional who previously has worked as a bookseller and as an agent for Sebastian Literary Agency. In 2008, Dawn founded Red Sofa Literary, which is in Minneapolis–Saint Paul. Dawn heads up a team of literary agents at this organization and genres she is interested in representing include creative nonfiction, biography-historical, political, history, humor, young adult (fiction and nonfiction), middle grade (fiction and nonfiction) and others, which you can find out about here. If you’re interested in querying Dawn or any of the other agents at Red Sofa Literary, it’s best to send an email, a query letter, or both first before submitting a complete book proposal or chapter samples from your manuscript. Take a look at the submission guidance for full details along with information about response time to your submission.
5. Marlene Connor Lynch
Marlene Connor Lynch is both a literary agent, author and founder of Connor Literary Agency. A graduate of Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, Marlene’s previous experience includes working as a former editor for Simon and Schuster and The Literary Guild of America. Marlene started Connor Literary Agency is 1985 in New York City and now also has a presence in Minneapolis. It has helped authors get published by renowned publishers such as HarperCollins, Crown, Random House and others. This agency represents both fiction and nonfiction across varied genres such as mysteries, thrillers, crafts and sewing, comedy books, historical fiction, picture books, sports, anthologies and others that you can find out about here. If you would like to query Marlene and this agency, you can find out further details and complete the form at this page.
6. Stephanie Hansen
Looking for an agent in Missouri? Stephanie Hansen who is owner of Metamorphosis Literary Agency could be just the person for you. Stephanie has represented authors at all levels ranging from debut ones to those who have written New York Times bestselling books. A former editor for the literary magazine entitled Mind’s Eye, Stephanie represents mainly young adult science fiction and fantasy, and also represents other fiction genres such as romance, adult thriller books and picture books for children. If you would like to query Stephanie, email info@metamorphosisliteraryagency.com to request further information about how you can do so. If you would like to find about the authors Stephanie has represented, take a look at this page.
7. Michelle Grajkowski
Michelle Grajkowski founded 3 Seas Literary Agency in Wisconsin in 2000 and has represented New York Times bestselling authors such as Kerrelyn Sparks, C.L. Wilson and Katie MacAlister. Her agency in total has placed nearly 700 books with major book publishers and has also seen its staff number grow from one agent to currently at three. 3 Seas Literary Agency, is a full service agency with a strong focus on helping its clients to develop their careers as authors.
Authors who this agency represents regularly make their way onto bestseller lists on New York Times, Publishers Weekly and USA Today; many have either won or been nominated for celebrated awards. If you would like to query Michelle, it’s worth knowing that the genres she represents are women’s fiction, romance, middle grade fiction, young adult fiction and also a selected amount of outstanding nonfiction. Please read the information at this page carefully before emailing in your submission.
Are you a literary agent in the Midwest? Please introduce yourself, and tell us about the book genres you represent in the comments box below!
7 Top Literary Agents in the Midwest is an article from Writing Tips Oasis.
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