Laura Zats of Red Sofa Literary Looking for Submissions

The above illustration was sent in and illustrated by Susan Detwiler. Bet you didn’t notice all the fun going on in your yard this winter. I didn’t , but I am going to check mine out today. Susan was featured on Illustrator Saturday last March 9th. Here is the link. You may know Susan because she is the Illustrator Coordinator for the SCBWI MD/DE/WV region.

Laura Zats graduated from Grinnell College with degrees in English and anthropology. While completing her studies, she took advantage of her love of Young Adult (YA) literature and wrote a thesis on identity formation in YA. She’s been working as an editor since 2011 and has held positions at companies in both the US and the UK. In 2013, Laura joined Team Red Sofa as an intern but quickly became more of an apprentice, leveling up to Associate Agent in the same year.

She is seeking: Young adult and middle grade (especially contemporary for both), romance, new adult, contemporary women’s fiction, sci-fi, fantasy, and erotica.

Even though she loved YA books first, titles that are Middle Grade, romance, and Sci-fi/Fantasy have been slowly taking hold. Picking a favorite genre now would be like choosing between puppies and kittens. In her free time, Laura likes to craft, swing dance, bake, and binge on Netflix marathons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Doctor Who.

How to submit: To query Laura use laura [at] redsofaliterary.com. Put “Query” in the e-mail subject line.

Preferred Submission Guidelines (for Red Sofa Literary):

We highly encourage everyone to send an email and/or query letter initially, before attempting to send a full book proposal or sample chapters. If there is an interest, we will directly contact the author. Once these materials are received, there is usually response time of 4-6 weeks, sometimes sooner.

If querying via email, please only put the contents of your query IN the email. We will not open attachments unless they have been requested in advance.
Materials to have ready:

1. The full ms (should we request a partial or the full ms)

2. A full book proposal with Author Bio, Competition, Market (WHO will read the book), Promotion (HOW readers will learn about the book), Chapter Summaries (for non-fiction), and a Synopsis/Overview.

3. Sample chapters (if nonfiction)

4. Sample artwork (if a graphic novel)

Dawn’s email: dawn@redsofaliterary.com Jennie’s email: jennie@redsofaliterary.com Laura’s email: laura@redsofaliterary.com

Please send your queries via email, clearly explaining the project, who you are, and why you are passionately pursuing it. Remember to always avoid including any type of email attachment (unless we’ve requested it in advance). Regarding queries by phone, these phone calls will NOT be returned, except in circumstances where the author has been referred by a current author or client.

What we’d like to see in your FULL book proposal (if requested):  an Overview/Synopsis, a Bio,  Market (WHO will read your book), Competition, Promotion (HOW readers will learn about your book), Chapter Summaries, and any other pertinent info, i.e. endorsements, estimated date of completion, etc.

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy