Rachelle Gardner is a literary agent with Books & Such Literary Agency.
For adult fiction, she seeks submissions in both the general and Christian markets — for women’s fiction, mystery, suspense, thriller, family saga, historical, legal, literary fiction, mainstream fiction, and romance.
Fiction projects should be 75,000 to 110,000 words.
For nonfiction,she seeks both Christian market and general market projects: memoirs, home life, current affairs, health & diet, narrative nonfiction, popular culture, self-help, women’s and issues. Platform is important, so be sure to highlight it in your pitch.
She occasionally looks at devotionals
She is not looking for: fantasy, sci-fi, children’s picture books, middle grade, young adult books, poetry, cookbooks, screenplays, novellas, short stories, or graphic novels.
“As a literary agent, I’ve negotiated 200+ contracts with more than 20 publishers, and worked with more than 100 authors to bring their books to publication and build their careers. I’ve been in publishing since 1995, worked in-house at two publishing companies, and edited books published by Harper Collins, Simon & Schuster, Penguin Random House, and many more. Nowadays I’m lucky to do my work at the foot of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado.
“Besides publishing: Just out of college, I spent five years at Fox Broadcasting Company in Los Angeles. My bachelor’s degree is in Communications, and I later did graduate studies in Psychology at Pepperdine University in Malibu. When I’m not working, you can usually find me out hiking the local trails, riding my bike, haunting bookstores, or having coffee at Starbucks.”