Fran Lebowitz

Fran Lebowitz – Editor

Results driven editor, formerWriters House Bridgerton agent, edited major award winners, working from slush pile to success in publishing.

Overview

I'm an expat living in Asia and New York and former successful literary agent from Writers House in New York having represented many bestsellers and award winning writers including Julia Quinn - BRIDGERTON, two Newbery winners, two National Book Award finalist and - fun fact - Dee Dee Ramone of The Ramones and New Line Cinema for licensing. I worked very closely with the company which is now known as Alloy, the producers of Gossip Girl, Pretty Little Liars, Vampire Diaries. That said, I am equally at home with pop, commercial, literary fiction for adults, middle grade and YA and narrative non-fiction.

The client testimonials all point to my customized and approachable style. I stick with a writer until they are confident about their next steps. I am highly observant and have a well trained ear. I'd say that fault finding is my superpower but I do adorn it with encouragement, time and passion.

I keep up with the trends in major publishing by attending conferences, keeping up with associates in the houses and agencies and ...reading!

When the family moved to Asia, I turned my hand to other endeavors. I wrote a book which Bantam Australia published and I am always asked to speak, write pitch letters and edit manuscripts of all kinds. I am also involved in other areas of entertainment including movies and music. I am listed as an approved editor by the Government of Singapore which gives grants to people who want to use my services.

Many of the first time authors I work with move on to find agents and are happily published. I sometimes have a hand in that....

Testimonials:

Fran is an invaluable editor. Her knowledge and experience are beyond compare and any author would benefit from her creative and incisive decisions. On a personal note, she is also a great deal of fun to work with."

-- Alice Clark Platts, Author, Bitter Fruits (Penguin), The Flower Girls (Bloomsbury/Raven), The Cove (Bloomsbury/Raven) , The Taken (Bloomsbury/Raven)


Fran has an incredibly sharp eye and a knack for getting at the heart of the story. She understands instinctively what makes a story work and not work, particularly with children's books. What's more, she's able to articulate this insight in a way that makes sense to the writer. I find her candid comments on my writing refreshing and valuable. She's the real deal!

-- Kelly Yang, Author Front Desk (Scholastic), Three Keys (Scholastic), Room To Dream (Scholastic), Key Player (Scholastic), Parachutes (HarperCollins)





Services
Non-Fiction
Biographies & Memoirs
Fiction
Fantasy Historical Romance Literary Fiction Mystery & Crime Thriller & Suspense Women's Fiction Young Adult
Languages
English (AUS) English (CAN) English (NZ) English (UK) English (US)

Work experience

youbloom music festival

May, 2015 — Present

youbloom is a festival in Dublin, LA and expanding to other cities in the US and Asia.

Writers House

Jan, 1986 — Jan, 2001 (about 15 years)

Prior to Writers House, I worked at Macmillan in the subsidiary rights department, Lowenstein Associates as an assistant to agent, Barbara Lowenstein and The William Morris Agency as assistant to Mel Berger.

Portfolio

Sociopath: A Memoir

Gagne, Ph.D. Patric

Made with Reedsy
Quilt of Souls: A Memoir

Biffle Elmore, Phyllis

"They say I'm wired bad, or wired sad, but there's no doubt about it―I'm wired."Joey Pigza's got heart, he's got a mom who loves him, and he's got "dud meds," which is what he calls the Ritalin pills that are supposed to even out his wild mood swings. Sometime... read more
Front Desk

Kelly Yang

Three starred reviews!* "Many readers will recognize themselves or their neighbors in these pages." -- Kirkus Reviews, starred reviewMia Tang has a lot of secrets.Number 1: She lives in a motel, not a big house. Every day, while her immigrant parents clean the... read more
Made with Reedsy
Oceanworlds

J.P. Landau

If you were in awe of books like The Martian and 2001: A Space Odyssey or movies like Interstellar and Apollo 13, get ready for a story destined to become a Sci-Fi classic – one with the potential to leap from fiction into reality and become the greatest adven... read more
Hollywood, 1962… Raised by an alcoholic, Vegas show-girl, fifteen year old Celine, endowed with her mother’s beauty, struggles to find stability. Determined to take any path away from glamour worship, she seeks genuine love. When the strapping Nick Cody appear... read more
Made with Reedsy
Deprivation

Roy Freirich

After a mysterious, silent child is found abandoned on the beach clutching a handheld video game, residents and tourists alike find themselves utterly unable to sleep. Exhaustion impairs judgment, delusions become hysteria, and mob rule explodes into shocking ... read more
An extraordinary and inspiring chronicle of one woman’s harrowing journey to become the first female to kayak the entire Amazon River.Part memoir, part feminist manifesto, Amazon Woman shows what incredible feats we are capable of and will encourage people, es... read more
Set of 6 books
Thanks to a smash hit Disney Channel movie, we are reissuing the first two books in this popular series with fabulous new covers!The twins are back in this second magical adventure!Twin witches Cam and Alexa couldn't be more different (Cam is a pretty and chee... read more
Identical twins. Separated at birth. For one very good reason . . . Camryn Barnes Smart, upbeat and popular, Cam is all about friends, family, school, and soccer. She¹s best of breed all around. Except for one bone-chilling secret. Cam sees things happening be... read more
Cher's got her Gold Card and she's going to supervise Josh in Paris. Cher's also got cousins in Paris, and they've got love trouble - she'll fix their problems in a snap. Now if only she can fix her own when she spots Josh with a French girl on his arm.
In excellent condition!
Fruit Flies, FIsh & Fortune Cookies

Anne; Anne LeMieux (Author) LeMieux

Humor. Everything you might as well know about being a woman. So true and so funny it's frightening. Full color cover. Includes "The High Cost of Being Cute As A Button," the "Three Great Female Lies," among sixteen chapters; 22 illustrations and a certificate... read more
Struggling with a stale career and a jerk of a landlord, Victoria Bowering is ecstatic when she lands a leading role in a major stage production, a break that is threatened when her landlord is killed and she is named the chief suspect. Reprint. AB.
During the prime tourist season in the seaside village of Dovekey Beach, visitors to the beach are slowly disappearing,and it is up to Elizabeth Will to solve the mystery and find the killer out to destroy the town's tourist industry by eliminating its tourists.
Zip Six: A Novel

Jack Gantos

An "exhilarating prison novel" (says the Boston Globe) by a 1999 National Book Award Nominee
The biography of David Helfott, a gifted young Australian pianist who suffered a severe mental breakdown and was institutionalized. Although brilliant and charismatic, he was insecure and reliant on anti-psychotic medication, but eventually overcame his illnes... read more
Linda McCartney

Danny Fields

Linda McCartney died of breast cancer in April 1998. This biography by a friend of over 30 years offers to bring the whole Linda McCartney into view. In 1969, when Linda Eastman married the world's most eligible bachelor, The Beatles' Paul McCartney people sai... read more
Featuring never before published interviews with Linda and Paul McCartney, Linda McCartney: A Portrait is an insiders look at one of rock music's most enduring marriages, and an intimate portrait of Linda herself and of her over thirty-year friendship with Dan... read more
So you want to be a rock 'n' roll star? Maybe you should listen to what Dee Dee Ramone has to say first. In Legend of a Rock Star the myth of the rock 'n' roll good life is destroyed once and for all. Touring is hell, and Dee Dee should know, after fifteen plu... read more
The wildly popular series by K.A. Applegate is back! The first six books of Animorphs return, with striking new lenticular covers that morph.It all started with the dreams. But Cassie didn't pay much attention to them. She and her friends have been having nigh... read more
The wildly popular series by K.A. Applegate is back! The first six books of Animorphs return, with striking new lenticular covers that morph.When Tobias and his friends were given the power to morph, they were also given an important warning: Never stay in a m... read more
The wildly popular series by K.A. Applegate is back! The first six books of Animorphs return, with striking new lenticular covers that morph.Rachel is still reeling from the news that the Earth is secretly under attack by parasitic aliens known as the Yeerks. ... read more
The wildly popular series by K.A. Applegate is back! The first six books of Animorphs return, with striking new lenticular covers that morph.The Earth is being invaded, but no one knows about it. When Jake, Rachel, Tobias, Cassie, and Marco stumble upon a down... read more
Olivia & Sophia

Rosie Milne

When Raffles sets sail from the cold, damp confines of Georgian London to make his name and fortune in the tropics, he takes with him his new wife, Olivia, a raffish beauty with a scandalous past. She infatuates both his closest friend, a poet, and one of his ... read more
An absorbing account of the record industry's worst nightmare. In the summer of 1969, Great White Wonder, a collection of unreleased Bob Dylan recordings appeared in Los Angeles. It was the first rock bootleg and it spawned an entire industry dedicated to maki... read more
Hoop Dreams

Paul Robert Walker

TRADE PB
Shadow Boxer

Chris Lynch

I was nine years old the first time I hit my father and made him bleed. He was proud.It's now five years after his father's death, and fourteen-year-old George is the man of the family. He knows all too well how brutal the life of a fighter can be. Didn't it k... read more
Meet the SAINTS (Syndicated Alliance of Irregular and Talented Specialists): Song, the master of the mystic Tao of Twelve Winds; Diego, a clairvoyant who can see past events and past lives; Ronny, a man of unparalleled intuition; Audrey, the ultimate exponent ... read more

Fran has 194 reviews

Professionalism

Quality

Value

Responsiveness

William D.

William D.

Sep, 2024

Fran is an exceptional editor. The suggestions she has made, and her thoughtful edits, have been so helpful in my reworking this novel. Her comments on the novel include suggestions involving everything from plot structure and pacing to the overall style of writing. She offered many suggestions to help with the 'holes' in my story and for setting the time and place of my novel. Invaluable.
Britt E.

Britt E.

Sep, 2024

Fran got me out of my head and helped me find my voice that I'd lost by listening to too much "expert advice." She helped me put life and humor back in my submission materials. Highly recommend.
Abhimanyu Gehlot G.

Abhimanyu Gehlot G.

Sep, 2024

Fran Lebowitz is an excellent editor. She will patiently guide you through your project, offering the perfect blend of a literary agent's critical insight and an experienced editor's sharp eye for detail. While she may seem harsh at times, it’s always in your best interest—just like a teacher guiding her students. She reviewed my query letter at least ten times until it was perfected. Few edito...
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Sarah M.

Sarah M.

Sep, 2024

Fran is a friendly, intelligent, and insightful editor.
Fran L.
keep in touch, I want to see how the outline fleshes out
Eliza R.

Eliza R.

Sep, 2024

Fran did a developmental edit for my first draft, and she brought a great mix of motivation, honesty, and constructive feedback to the table. When I realized I couldn’t meet our original deadline, Fran was super understanding and adjusted to my new timeline without any fuss. She was always quick to answer my questions, and even during moments when I felt overwhelmed, she was right there with en...
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Fran L.
I do believe in this work and it was all my pleasure.

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