The Foolproof Guide to Submitting to BookEnds

  • By: Jessica Faust | Date: Mar 17 2015
One of the best things about having an agent is that she usually knows the little details about editors and what they like. An agent knows that Editor Jane has a thing for firefighters and Editor Fran is so claustrophobic she can’t even read about tight spaces. She also knows that Editor Brad loves anything to do with the Civil War, especially from a Northern perspective, while Editor Lois is conservative politically and not interested in anything from the “other side.”
It’s hard for authors to do know these things though. While agents might give some insight into their interests through Twitter or agency guidelines, most don’t usually get into the nitty-gritty of what makes a book stand out in their particular genres of interest. So we thought we’d change that. Here is some of the nitty gritty on BookEnds. These are the types of themes that stand out, as long as they fit the genres on our submission guidelines.
If you’re writing…..                                                                                                                           Submit to…..
   dark, creepy and very nasty serial killers                                                                                                    Jessica F
   billionaires/sheikhs/princes/CEOS                                                                                                              Jessica A   
   shy, awkward girl who ends up with tattooed, motorcycle-riding, misunderstood badass                           Kim
   dark & gritty with tough, unusual female leads                                                                                    Jessica A/F
   LGBT                                                                                                                                                           Beth
   military or secret agent heroes                                                                                                                    Jessica A
   spaceships, teleports, and/or cybernetics                                                                                                   Beth
   suspense or mystery set in LA Bayou                                                                                                     Jessica F
   blind/scarred/crippled, bitter, reclusive heroes                                                                                            Kim/Jessica A
   gory or macabre                                                                                                                                          Jessica A/Beth
   siblings or old friends with a deep, dark secret                                                                                           Kim
   medical examiners or forensic anthropologists                                                                                           Jessica A/Beth
   cabin romances (hero/heroine stranded together)                                                                                      Kim
   international romantic suspense aka Homeland M1-6 or Mossad agents                                                  Jessica A
   voyeurs                                                                                                                                                       Jessica A/F
   female-driven books about bibliophiles                                                                                                      Kim/Jessica F
   protagonists with memory loss                                                                                                                    Beth
   four Weddings and a Funeral style romance                                                                                              Jessica A
   psychological mysteries                                                                                                                              Beth/Jessica F
   curmudgeonly Mr. Rochester-type hero                                                                                                     Kim/Jessica A 

And keep in mind, we keep an eye out for everyone at BookEnds which means we’re always passing queries and manuscripts back and forth. If I feel something I receive might be better for someone else I’m going to happily pass it to her.

Looking forward to seeing what you’ve got!


4 responses to “The Foolproof Guide to Submitting to BookEnds”

  1. Rose Phillips says:
    March 17, 2015 at 1:15 pm

    What, no historical era/setting breakdown? Perhaps, as a follow-up post? :0)

  2. LD Masterson says:
    March 18, 2015 at 5:09 pm

    Okay, now that I've got that part settled, I just need to finish polishing my query letter. Thanks!

  3. jan springer says:
    March 24, 2015 at 8:24 pm

    Great info! Thanks!!

    jan

  4. Alexis McCutcheon says:
    March 30, 2015 at 1:47 pm

    I feel that as a new writer we have all the confidence in the world until we submit our queries. Great fear overwhelms us and then we begin to think "what if." What if we chose the wrong person to query? What if this person will take my concept for another more established writer? What if the person keeps my query from someone at their agency that would be better suited for me? Many thoughts flood our brains but at the end of the day we have calm in the literary force that everything will be okay. I feel that calm in this blog. Thank you 🙂