April Agent of the Month – Daniele Hunter

APRIL AGENT OF THE MONTH

Daniele Hunter – McIntosh & Otis

DANIELE HUNTER has a BA in English from Drew University, with concentrations in literary criticism, poetry, and creative writing. graduated from Binghamton University with a major in English and a minor in Anthropology. She is a member of the AALA and their DEI committee, and co-directs their fellowship program through Literary Agents of Change.

She has been with the children’s department at McIntosh & Otis since a 2016 internship, and is thrilled to now be acquiring! I’m looking for (in order of priority) young adult, middle grade, and picture books. Her top priority is contemporary, but she’s also open to contemporary fantasy, and sparingly considers genre fantasy/speculative, suspense, romance, and historical.

While her heart lives in contemporary stories, she also loves contemporary fantasy (as well as ghost stories) and is sparingly open to other genres.

Daniele says, “As an agent, I’ll be an author’s biggest cheerleader, and value open communication above all. I strive to be a safe space for marginalized identities/experiences but don’t force authors to disclose those to me. I’m always open to any accommodations authors need.

“I’ll be a mentor for my clients, helping them navigate the publishing industry even after an editor signs their books. I’m also extremely hands-on editorially! And though publishing is a business, I know that writing books (especially the dark, raw ones I fall for) is a very intimate endeavor, so I strive to connect with my clients not just on a professional level, but a personal one.

“Books saved me as a young reader, and now, my biggest goal as an agent is to help tell the “hard” stories, the off-the-beaten-track stories, that kids/teens who experience hardships or have underrepresented identities deeply need.”

YA and MG – Contemporary

This is my top priority. My favorite published books I’ve worked on are TOGETHER WE CAUGHT FIRE by Eva V. Gibson (YA) and THANKS A LOT, UNIVERSE by Chad Lucas (MG).

-Literary, lyrical writing. Prose or novels-in-verse welcome!

-“Dark and gritty”, “issue-driven”

-I also always appreciate moments of triumph and joy, especially for marginalized characters!

-Slice-of-life and coming-of-age

-Protagonist ages: 11-12 and upward (love college-aged protagonists, on the opposite end!)

-Voice-driven, character-focused

-BIPOC and/or LGBTQIA+ experiences

-Chronic illness and/or disability

-Mental health, neurodivergence

-Multiple POV or mixed-perspective

-Mixed media or multiple timelines

-Romance as a subplot

-Non-romantic relationship focus—friendship and found family, “friend break-up”, complicated family dynamics 

YA and MG – Genre

–Fantasy/speculative: Foremost, contemporary fantasy with lyrical writing and character focus. I’m open to near-future dystopian (but not post-apocalyptic) involving social critique and/or magic. Sparingly open to higher fantasy, if the world-building is detailed, atmospheric, and accessible. And though I’m not a fit for most supernatural or fantastical characters, I love ghost stories!

-Historical: Sparingly open; I prefer stories set in the nearer past. Lesser-told times in history, with a human-interest element alongside the historical education. 

-Thriller/suspense: Must be character- and voice-driven–I like more focus on character and lyricism than is most common for these genres. I like murder mysteries, especially with unconventional formats.

-Anthology: Sparingly interested, in both fiction and nonfiction.  

Picture books

 This will be the smallest part of my list. My favorite (soon-t0-be) published picture book I’ve worked on is THE HOLE by Lindsay Bonilla.

-Grief – Honest about the heavy parts; hopeful but not saccharine

-BIPOC and/or LGBTQIA+ – Anything from slice-of-life, to celebratory, to informative, to issue-based!

-Disability, in both fiction and nonfiction

-Diverse cultures, holidays, traditions, identities

-Sparingly open to bios; women, LGBTQIA+, and/or BIPOC subjects preferred

-Author-illustrators/teams!

-I prefer human narrators over animal narrators, but I’m not totally close to the latter.

Daniele is looking for lyrical, literary, voice-driven writing, and strongly prefers books in first-person (though she’s more open to third-person in picture books). Her top priorities are dark, issue-based books, and diverse authors and stories. For YA and MG, some areas of interest for her are LGBTQIA+, BIPOC, and disabled and/or chronically ill authors and stories, grief topics, novels-in-verse, relationship-based stories, mental health topics and neurodivergence, ghost stories, and multiple-POV or mixed-media stories. In picture books, she is also interested in these topics from fiction or nonfiction perspectives and is sparingly open to biography as well.

Daniele is not interested in any discriminatory topics, adult work, chapter books, early readers, lower MG, graphic novels/comics, Christian religious work, or rhyming picture books.

Query Daniele via Query Manager at this link: https://QueryManager.com/ddhunter/

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BELOW ARE THE SUBMISSION GUIDELINES FOR MARCH FIRST PAGES:

IF YOU WOULD LIKE A CHANCE TO HAVE  YOUR FIRST PAGE, HERE ARE THE FIRST-PAGE CRITIQUE SUBMISSION GUIDELINES :

PLEASE name the Word document file using 2024 APRIL FIRST PAGE  – Your Name – Title of first page. 

1. You must include at the top of the page your name, the title, and the genre. Do not use a header for this.
2. Make sure you include the genre. This will help the agent give you a better critique.
3. This is not an anonymous submission. So please include your name at the top of the page.
4. I still need everyone to use their name, title, and genre in the file name of the attachment.

REMEMBER: I DO NOT OPEN ATTACHMENTS WITHOUT HAVING THE FIRST PAGE PASTED DIRECTLY INTO THE EMAIL THEN THE WORD DOCUMENT ATTACHED. PLEASE PUT 2024 APRIL FIRST PAGE IN THE SUBJECT BOX AND SEND IT TO: kathy(dot)temean(at)gmail(dot)com.

Your First Page Word document should be formatted using one-inch margins and 12-point New Times Roman font – double space – no more than 23 lines – only one page. Remember to indent your paragraphs. When Dialog is used “Quotation marks” should be used. When a new person speaks a new line should be used.

PLEASE DO NOT USE A HEADER. Place everything directly on the page. Remember a first Page should have a title, your name, and the genre on the first line. Thanks!

USE WORD OR A PDF – I CAN’T OPEN PAGES

Send to: kathy(dot)temean(at)gmail(dot)com.

DEADLINE APRIL 19th – noon EST

RESULTS: APRIL 26th

CHECK BACK NEXT FRIDAY FOR PART TWO OF DANIELE’S INTERVIEW.

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy