Overview
BFA in English & Textual Studies from Syracuse University (2000), MA in Publishing & Writing from Emerson College (2009).I came up working on literary journals in the early 2000s and ran my own independent publishing house after that. Worked in academic publishing editorial, followed by three years at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt's trade division. Currently a literary agent specializing in voicey fiction and research-oriented nonfiction.Topics of interest include but are not limited to weird science, music, history, sports, politics, food, pop/alternative culture, and video games.DISCLAIMER: My agency is not pay-to-play. If we work together, I won't be able to represent you. But if I edit your project, I'm happy to consult on a list of possible agents to query.
Services
Non-Fiction
Biographies & Memoirs
Earth, Space, & Environmental Sciences
History
Music
Sports & Outdoors
Fiction
Literary Fiction
Science Fiction
Short Story
Languages
English (US)
Work experience
Bresnick Weil Literary Agency
Apr, 2015 —
Present
• Evaluating solicited and unsolicited manuscript submissions for quality of writing and market appropriateness.
• Developing manuscripts for flow, plotting, voice, logic, and consistency.
• Editing manuscripts for grammar and style in anticipation of editor presentations.
• Presenting project pitches to acquisition editors at all “Big Five” publishing houses, as well as all large independent publishers.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Jun, 2011 —
Jun, 2015
(about 4 years)
• Drafted acquisition contracts for upcoming frontlist titles, coordinating negotiations between agents and editors.
• Drafted and vetted subrights agreements for foreign publishers and audiobook rights.
• Researched and cleared necessary permissions items for backlist titles.
• Evaluated third-party material for fair use application.
Self-employed
Jun, 2010 —
Apr, 2015
(almost 5 years)
• Developed manuscripts for flow, plotting, voice, logic, and consistency.
• Edited manuscripts for grammar and style.
• Worked with large independent trade houses like Bloomsbury, as well as large academic publishers like Cengage Learning.
Thieves Jargon Literary Journal
Jun, 2004 —
Jun, 2009
(about 5 years)
Developed and delivered digital content daily for an online literary journal.
• Correspondence with authors and artists regarding acceptance, rejection, and editorial advice.
• Online community organizer (message board and blog), with focus toward SEO.
Portfolio
The first novel by Delphine Lecompte. Set against the dreary Belgian coast, the book is about a young woman and the company she keeps, both on and off the streets. Comedic catastrophe and sexual assassination are afterthoughts for the narrator as she carries h... read more
Thieves Jargon is a literary journal notable for its adventurous and talented writers. Their voices tell thirsty stories, tales whispered from traveling salesmen to wide-eyed youngsters in bowling alley parking lots. They are fools, they are magicians, they ar... read more
DOLLHOUSE is a book about a young man with problems. Tony Diggs has moved to the suburbs, crashed out with his girlfriend and her single mother. The soundtrack would be rock and roll (and a little bit of Neil Diamond), but between the opiates and the factory j... read more
NATIONAL BESTSELLER CNBC and Strategy + Business Best Business Book of 2017"Steven and Jamie have done a wonderful job of balancing the promises, perils, and how-to prescriptions of engineering peak states such as 'flow.'" —Tim Ferriss, #1 New York Times best-... read more
Released in 1970, Workingman's Dead was the breakthrough album for the Grateful Dead, a cold-water-shock departure from the Acid Test madness of the late '60s. It was the band's most commercially and critically successful release to date. More importantly, the... read more
Recounts the true story of an entrepreneurial woman who succeeded in a male-dominated industry in the twentieth century.
“Sustainable” has long been the rallying cry of agricultural progressives; given that much of our nation’s farm and ranch land is already degraded, however, sustainable agriculture often means maintaining a less-than-ideal status quo. Industrial agriculture ha... read more
All their lives, the children of George Benjamin Hill have fought to escape the shadow of their father, a Dust-Bowl orphan, self-made millionaire in bedrock American capitalism (fast food and oil), and destroyer of two families on his way to financial success.... read more
Born in rural Kentucky, Mickey Hess grew up listening to the militant rap of Public Enemy while living in a place where the state song still included the word “darkies.” Listening to hip-hop made Hess think about what it meant to be white, while the environmen... read more
An illuminating debut following three women in sub-Saharan Africa as they search for home and familyLeona, an isolated American anthropologist, gives birth to a baby girl in a remote Maasai village and must decide how she can be a mother, in spite of her own g... read more
