How to Hook an Agent - Feb 2025

Louise Buckley has worked in publishing for well over a decade. She was inspired to enter the publishing industry after completing an MA in Creative Writing and then spent a hugely enjoyable year working as a bookseller for Waterstones, wishing that she could have a hand in publishing books.

After a year working at Dorling Kindersley, she then spent almost five years working in the commercial fiction division at Pan Macmillan, where she published a mix of commercial bestsellers and award-winning authors.

Most recently, she was an Associate Literary Agent at Zeno Agency Ltd. As an agent she represented a roster of commercial and literary fiction, including Anne Griffin’s When All is Said, which spent five weeks at number one in Ireland and sold into 17 territories.

She is delighted to be working with Hannah at Hannah Sheppard Literary Agency.

What Louise is looking for:

Adult fiction 

I would very much welcome submissions from Irish, Welsh and Scottish authors writing upmarket fiction featuring characters that I can’t help but root for. Think Claire Keegan, Louise Kennedy or Jenni Fagan. I am also looking for literary and book-club novels that focus on the underdog, the repressed, the suppressed, especially novels that represent working-class people or children going through difficult circumstances (think Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart, My Name is Leon by Kit de Waal or Boys Don’t Cry by FÍona Scarlett).

In commercial women’s fiction: I’d love to see some sagas (for example Lizzie Lane, Rosie Clarke or Rita Bradshaw), rom-coms (favourite authors include Emily Henry, Kirsty Greenwood and the inimitable Mhairi McFarlane), cosy romance in the vein of The Pumpkin Spice Café or with a stunning location like The Riviera House Swap by Gillian Harvey or The Start of Something Wonderful by Jessica Redland, and cosy rom-coms with a Christmas slant along the lines of One Christmas Eve by Shari Low or Christmas at the Village Sewing Shop by Helen Rolfe.

I recently read and loved The Last List of Mabel Beaumont by Laura Pearson and would love to see anything in the same ‘older person going on a journey’ category, a more recent The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. In a somewhat more niche request, I had a lot of fun publishing a ‘pet fiction’ novel when I was an editor (Molly and the Cat Café) and would love to find an author who can write an Alfie the Doorstep Cat/Dog.

I would LOVE to see some cosy fantasy. Think witches, magical bookshops, talking cats. I really enjoyed Legends and Lattes and The House in the Cerulean Sea. I also enjoy novels set in the real world but featuring a hefty dose of magic or the supernatural. They can be commercial or literary, present-day or historical. Think Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch, Threadneedle by Cari Thomas, A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness or The Gifts by Liz Hyder.

In crime fiction, I am especially enjoying reading cosy or humorous crime. Recently, I absolutely loved Over My Dead Body by Maz Evans, which had me laughing out loud, utterly gripped and yet with a tear in my eye at the end. If your cosy crime novel features Christmas, then extra bonus points.

When I was an editor I published the hit Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll and I’d love to represent incisive, intelligent suspense written by authors such as Jessica Knoll and Gillian Flynn, or something a little more subversive and blackly comic like My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite. I am not currently looking for police procedurals.

I would love to see some dark academia. Think If We Were Villains or In My Dreams I Hold a Knife. I am also a huge fan of gothic horror, so would love to see something that’s a modern-day Shirley Jackson or Rebecca.

More generally, I would also love to see novels with a disabled protagonist or someone (like myself) who is living with an invisible disability.

Adult non-fiction

In non-fiction, I would love to see any submissions that focus on motherhood, especially through the lens of a scientific or neurological perspective. I am also interested in books in the following areas: health and well-being, cookery and food writing, human and social behaviour and psychology, climate change, gardening and permaculture and nature writing.

I joined Greene & Heaton in 2018. Before joining the agency, I studied for a BA in English Literature at KCL and a MSt in Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies at Oxford. As well as handling the agency’s contracts, I’m actively building a list of fiction and non-fiction authors.

In non-fiction, I’m looking for proposals about history, culture, food, art, nature, the environment, politics, identity, usually with a strong narrative or personal element.

In fiction, I’m looking for literary/upmarket fiction, historical fiction and fresh takes on genre writing (be it a thriller, horror, crime, or speculative novel). I love books that centre an edgy or surprising voice, are totally immersive or richly plotted, and socially or politically engaged. I’m always drawn to queer stories, set now and in the past, so please do send them my way.
 

Imogen's Manuscript Wishlist

I'm currently on the look-out for novels that play with genre writing or span different genres, perhaps using the twist of a suspense, the slow dread of a horror, the thrill of a mystery. I always want to read historical fiction centring stories that aren't represented in book publishing enough. I love a literary novel or short story brought to life by an off-beat voice, whatever the time period or place (from BRIEFLY, A DELICIOUS LIFE by Nell Stevens to THE DANGERS OF SMOKING IN BED by Mariana Enriquez). Queer joy and romance are always welcome!

On the non-fiction side of things, I represent academics, journalists and essayists who are writing books about a huge range of subjects e.g. heat, love, the future, bothies, AI... I’m interested in books that bring people, culture, places and time periods to life in surprising ways. I don’t shy away from memoir or narrative-led writing in this department, or an investigative angle.

I’m currently particularly looking for histories of all stripes (cultural histories, object histories, revisionist histories) that explode the way we think about a space or time. I also love non-fiction that uses real-life, seemingly smaller stories to welcome us into big topics, and books that have a beating political heart.

https://greeneheaton.co.uk/agents/imogen-morrell

I am proud to represent a list of intriguing, clever, conversation-starting writers, across both fiction and non-fiction. Most of my authors write contemporary stories, often led by themes of love, identity, and coming-of-age; for me, vital qualities to a great story include emotional depth, authenticity, a warm, engaging voice and irrepressible energy. I want to be surprised, and to read everyday experiences and relationships told with nuance and colour. Our lives are rich and varied, and I like my books to reflect that too.

Favourite authors include Kate Atkinson, Claire Keegan, Curtis Sittenfeld, Elizabeth Strout, Shirley Jackson, Zora Neale Hurston, and Nora Ephron. I’m drawn to rich and multi-layered stories of women, families, friendships and relationships, and love small communities with lots going on beneath the surface; I prefer the small and intimate to the epic and world-affecting.

I want to bring under-published experiences to both editors and readers, and to broaden the books we’re publishing to include everyone. I’m a feminist and celebrate books that empower us, or that make us feel recognised and heard.

Alongside literary, book club and commercial fiction, I represent non-fiction writers including narrative writing on relationships, pop culture, social history and food, and a small number of cookery and other illustrated books. Please note that I am not currently considering memoir; I love memoir writing but unfortunately it’s a very difficult time to find space for new voices, and I’m working with enough memoir for now.

In case it’s helpful to know what I don’t represent, I do not work with the following genres: poetry, Young Adult or children’s, fantasy, supernatural, dystopian, sci-fi, thriller, horror or crime fiction, business, diet or health books.

I worked for Waterstones before joining the agency A P Watt in 2003. I moved to Blake Friedmann in 2013, becoming Vice Head of the Book Department and a Bookseller ‘Rising Star’ in 2017, and a Director in 2020. In 2021, I was delighted to win the Romantic Novelists’ Association Agent of the Year Award. I regularly visit literary festivals, courses and events, and enjoy giving talks and holding workshops for writers. I have been a judge for the Bristol Short Story Prize and Manchester Fiction Prize, and I’m on the board of the Working Class Writers’ Festival. 

https://blakefriedmann.co.uk/juliet-pickering

Julie Gourinchas (she/they) works across the agents’ various lists and provides editorial and administrative support where needed. Prior to her time at BLM, she was managing editor for a transcontinental literary consultancy, and later transferred into freelance editorial work where she worked closely with a number of agents and their clients. Recently, she has begun slowly building a small, selective list focused on upmarket and literary adult fiction.

Julie is drawn to a uncommon voices, and striking, intelligent writing—whether it be vibrant and floral or tense, quick, and sparse—as well as texture in both tone and setting (particularly anything with a strong sense of aesthetic). While the literary-speculative is her sweet spot, she considers herself genre agnostic within literary fiction, and remains open to compelling and well-executed genre overlap. These include:

• gothic fiction (specifically regional gothic with a strong sense of place);
• dynamic-led (e.g. friendships, family, etc) dramas with high emotional stakes;
• searing contemporary fiction centred on themes of identity and belonging;
• speculative science fiction addressing the relationship between humanity and technology;
• dark westerns;
• magical realism;
• anything -punk (such as steampunk, solarpunk, silkpunk, clockpunk, dieselpunk, cyberpunk, etc – see more definitions here!);
• historical fiction, particularly in the 19th and 20th centuries (also including and indeed encouraging alternate history);
• female-led horror, especially featuring mangled nature or cosmic, Lovecraftian vibes;
• dark academia;
• speculative, grounded fantasy, preferably set in the real/human world.

Julie is also very much looking for her first romantasy – especially one that approaches this exciting new genre from a fresh, bold perspective.

Stylistically, she loves uncommon, thought-provoking experimentation with both prose and form, and loves anything spiky, toothy, and dark. Happy endings, to her, should feel earned. In all things, compelling character development should come first. First person narration is a very hard sell for her, but not impossible. (Please do bear in mind that, despite a deep and abiding love for all things Tolkien and Star Wars, she is not typically the right fit for epic or high fantasy, nor space-faring science fiction. She would also prefer to avoid pulpy crime and straightforward romance/romcoms.)

She is keenly interested in hearing from authors traditionally underrepresented in the industry, including but not restricted to writers of colour; queer, trans, and nonbinary writers; working class writers; disabled writers; etc. Her enduring favourite books include All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeleine Thien, The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton, and Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials series. More recent favourites include the masterful Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin, Babel by R.F. Kuang, Detransition Baby by Torrey Peters, Matrix by Lauren Groff, Tell Me I’m Worthless by Alison Rumfitt, Brother Alive by Zain Khalid, and Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield.

If you’ve made it this far and would like further specifics: folkloric, literary, and mythological retellings are a special favourite, particularly when approached from a fresh, imaginative perspective; she’d also love to see a sharp, literary story exploring humanity’s relationship to technology in the vein of Black Mirror. Likewise, a New Weird story exploring the effects of climate change on humanity and society, in the vein of Jeff VanderMeer or China Miéville, would not go remiss. On rare occasion, a moody psychological suspense story, where a heady sense of atmosphere reigns, is welcome. Also, more terrible women please.

In non-fiction, Julie is keen to read in the narrative and “big ideas” spaces, particularly in the realms of politics, history, and the social sciences.

Julie is not looking for young adult, middle grade, and children’s books.