Overview
Whether you already have a book contract and need some support as you finish your draft, have an agent and need a fresh pair of eyes before your project goes on submission, or are in the earliest stages of a new novel or pitch, I’m here to help. I specialize in developing books and book proposals from the ground up, and in providing writers with feedback, encouragement, and gentle-but-honest critiques of all kinds, from reader reports and line-edits to big-picture, visionary guidance.
As a literary agent and writer myself, I know writing and publishing from both ends of the spectrum. Summoning a first draft from the ether and dreaming up a saleable concept are two different skills. So are plotting and drafting, reporting and analyzing, organizing and polishing. I motivate my clients through creative blocks and tell them what sells, giving thorough notes and assessments every step of the way.
Services
Non-Fiction
Biographies & Memoirs
Religion & Spirituality
Self-Help & Self-Improvement
Fiction
Contemporary Fiction
Historical Fiction
Women's Fiction
Languages
English (US)
Certifications
- NYU copyediting course
Work experience
Self-employed
Apr, 2011 —
Present
I’m a writer, ghostwriter, and professional book editor with 14 years’ experience in book publishing.
Emma Sweeney Agency
Mar, 2005 —
Apr, 2011
(about 6 years)
Literary agent, rights director, and contracts manager
Harold Ober Associates
Mar, 2004 —
Mar, 2005
(about 1 year)
Portfolio
A complete guide to creating planetary yantras to access their healing and centering benefits • Provides easy-to-follow instructions to create the yantras • Serves as an introduction to active meditation, which focuses the mind while the body is engaged in a m... read more
The wildly entertaining new novel from the bestselling author of Water for Elephants. Isabel Duncan, a scientist at the Great Ape Language Lab, doesn't understand people, but apes she gets—especially the bonobos Sam, Bonzi, Lola, Mbongo, Jelani, and Makena, wh... read more
"You can always start again," Kate Robinson's mother once told her. "All it takes is a new thread."Overwhelmed by heartbreak and loss, Kate follows her mother's advice and flees to Ireland, her ancestral homeland, hoping to reinvent herself. In the seaside ham... read more
“A feverish, fearless writer.” —Christine Schutt, author of All Souls, finalist for the 2009 Pulitzer Prize“The Gospel of Anarchy is a beautiful, searching and sometimes brutally funny novel. Justin Taylor writes with fierce precision and perfect balance.” —Sa... read more
Justin Taylor's crystalline, spare, and oddly moving prose cuts to the quick. His characters are guided by misapprehensions that bring them to hilarious but often tragic impasses with reality: a high school boy's desire to win over a crush leads him to experim... read more
"Enormously satisfying...I'm grateful to Cullen for the pleasures of such a splendid read." -Sara Gruen, New York Times bestselling author of Water for Elephants. In 1559, a young woman painter flees a scandal involving one of Michelangelo's students, and is t... read more
A sensuous and richly-imagined historical novel that centers on a skilled young carpet weaver, her arranged marriage, and her quest for self-determination in 17th-century Persia.In 17th-century Iran, a 14-year-old woman believes she will be married within the ... read more
The incredible true story of the decade-long quest to bring down Paul Le Roux—the creator of a frighteningly powerful Internet-enabled cartel who merged the ruthlessness of a drug lord with the technological savvy of a Silicon Valley entrepreneur.“A tour de fo... read more
An award-winning social scientist uses the tools of economics to debunk myths about pregnancy and to empower women to make better decisions while they're expecting. Pregnancy is full of rules. Pregnant women are often treated as if they were children, given lo... read more
The eagerly anticipated new book from the author of the best-selling The 48 Laws of Power What did Charles Darwin, middling schoolboy and underachieving second son, do to become one of the earliest and greatest naturalists the world has known? What were the si... read more
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A bold work from the author of The Black Swan that challenges many of our long-held beliefs about risk and reward, politics and religion, finance and personal responsibility In his most provocative and practical book yet, one of ... read more
A fascinating journey with the sea creature that has captured human imagination for thousands of yearsPoseidon's Steed trails the seahorse through secluded waters across the globe in a kaleidoscopic history that mirrors man's centuries-old fascination with the... read more
A compelling and troubling exploration of a generation raised on antidepressants, and a book that combines expansive interviews with substantive research-based reporting, Coming of Age on Zoloft is a vitally important and immediately engrossing study of one of... read more
A three-step guide to recovery from addiction to consumerism, self-deception, and life as you thought it had to be.After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Josh Korda left his high-powered advertising job—and a life of drug and alcohol addiction—to find a more satisf... read more
