Elisa Saphier is a literary agent at MacGregor & Luedeke.
She is open to most fiction and memoir except for high fantasy & science fiction, series writing (she like standalones), picture books, and probably chapter books
“I am always most excited to find great writing and full characters, regardless of genre. I am focused on uplifting marginalized voices and want to be a part of seeing publishing become more equitable and less unbalanced of underrepresented writers. I gravitate more strongly toward stories of identity and self discovery in literary fiction, psychological thrillers and mysteries, memoir, and queer romance.
“In all genres I prefer standalone books over series. I am not actively looking for science fiction and fantasy, although do keep reading queries that excite me so I’ll say that in spec fic I strongly prefer ‘SFF lite,’ and am turned off by vampires/aliens/shapeshifters etc.
“I do have a significant soft spot no matter the genre for stories that reflect back our world, that challenge the status quo, that show the truth of white supremacy/patriarchy/oppression/trauma. I love character-heavy books that start conversations about race, class, gender, etc. But I do read almost anything and I’ve been a bookseller for many years and so have a good feeling for what people are looking for, even if it’s not my go-to. What I’m most looking for in my inbox, in no particular order:”
In adult fiction, she seeks: literary psychological thrillers/mystery; queer romance (especially but not exclusively friends to lovers and forced proximity); literary fiction; literary memoir; stories of marginalized people where the marginalization isn’t the story; dark academia; suburban malaise.
In young adult fiction, she loves: found family; queer coming of age; emerging awareness of identity; amateur theater
In middle grade, she enjoys: true to life fiction; questioning of self and belonging; amateur theater.
A few themes/genres she is not a good fit for: pop-culture/fashion; religion (don’t be fooled if you’ve found me because my agency has lots of Christian authors, I am the anomaly there); hard SFF or horror; shape-shifting/vampires/zombies/etc; picture books; technology; power dynamic relationships in romance; romance where they fall in love super fast; espionage.
When Elisa was home sick from school in third grade, her mom gave her two Nancy Drew books to read, and while she’d loved books before, now there was no looking back. She thought maybe she’d be a writer (and tried publishing some pretty bad poetry) but knew that no matter what, she wanted to be around books, words, and writing.
From her first job in a library, to being the editor-in-chief of her high school literary magazine, to working in four bookstores (and owning one), Elisa has always managed to surround herself with books and writers.
Elisa long dreamed of opening her own bookstore and in 2012, after her wife decreed that no more bookshelves were allowed in their house, she took the leap. Elisa and her bookstore, Another Read Through, quickly became known as champions of local writers and local small publishers, and as community builders. She works toward equity in publishing and in writers’ career development with the nonprofit she is co-launching in 2022, Amplify Writers. She believes that books and writers have important things to say, and she wants to help writers get their work out there, and for readers to find them.
As a reader and as an agent, she is open to most genres, as long as the novel or memoir is well-written, but she is partial to character-heavy stories that tell her something about herself or the world around her. She is almost never interested in religious or experimental writing, but is otherwise open to being won over by just about any piece of excellent writing.