• Intelligent and insightful editing of proposals and sample material.
• Concept sharpening when required.
• An imagination for companion books when the time comes.
• An understanding of editors that comes from having been one.
• A willingness to work with independent publishers that offer good distribution, as well as larger publishers.
• Enthusiasm and attentiveness.
• A passion for working with authors and for defending their interests.
• An understanding of authors’ emotional experience of the publishing process.

Kate participates in writer’s conferences from time to time, and values the opportunity to meet writers and share her opinions about the business of publishing. Upcoming appearances at such events, if any, are listed in the News section.

Epstein Literary offers a standard agency agreement that follows AAR guidelines and charges 15% commission on sales to North American publishers. No fees, ever. Standard expenses are charged against sales, not billed directly.

Kate Epstein founded the Epstein Literary Agency in October, 2005, after four years’ acquisitions experience at Adams Media. Kate Epstein holds a B.A. with Highest Honors in English from the University of Michigan. She lives with her husband and two children outside Boston.

We represent:

What to send meI represent nonfiction for adults exclusively. These are my areas of particular interest:

• Crafts
• Fashion
• Health
• Humor
• Inspiration
• Journalism
• Lifestyles
• Memoir
• Nonfiction Narrative
• Parenting
• Pets
• Popular Culture
• Reference
• Relationships
• Self-Help
• Travel
• Women’s Interest

We do not represent:

I’m happy to take advantage of the serendipity that sends me quality authors outside these core areas. However I am not looking at this time to represent fiction of any kind, books for children, textbooks, or poetry. I do not represent screenplays. I do not respond to requests for representation of these kinds of projects.I’m rarely attracted to any of these: diet books, business books aimed at management (as opposed to worker bees), memoirs about your family history (your grandmother’s experience of the War, etc.), history, sports. But you can always try.

For more detail about some of these areas, please read: 10 Reasons I Might Reject Your Project.

If you are querying me about a memoir project, please read: How I Evaluate Memoir.

Submission Guidelines

Kate @ Epstein literary.com
(remove the spaces)

Please send your initial query with no attachments; all text must be in the body of the email. Initial queries with attachments will be deleted unread.

Please keep in mind that there are no clients on my current list who came to me initially by post, and I’m conscious of that when I read paper submissions. Most people that took the time to determine whether I might be a fit for their project will approach me by email. However, if you need to use post, write to:

The Epstein Literary Agency
P.O. Box 392
Randolph, MA 02368

Include an email address for my response or an SASE if you don’t have an email address. If you wish to have your material returned, include an SASE with sufficient postage–otherwise I will recycle the paper if the project isn’t right for me.

What Form Your Query Should Take

The ideal format for your regarding line is Query: Book Title. If there’s something you think I REALLY need to know about your platform before I open the message, you can add that if you must. Please see my Why My Slush Pile Makes Me Cranky, describing six deadly sins of email querying, as well.

Most of the time the queries that keep me interested to the end are no more than three paragraphs long. It’s not a hard and fast rule, but something to keep in mind.

When to Query Me

Please have a book proposal available for my review when you send me a query; sometimes I respond quickly with a request to see it. I prefer, upon my request for it, that you submit your proposal via email attachment. Formats that work include MS Word, PDF, and rich text format–ask me if you need to do something else. Your proposal should generally include an overview of the project, an author bio, competitive/comparative titles, outline, projected manuscript length and delivery schedule, promotion plan, and sample material. Additional material that supports the project such as endorsement and market analysis would be welcome, too.

Haven’t Heard from Me Yet?

I normally respond to email queries within one month and hard copy queries within three. If you haven’t heard from me yet, it may mean one of the following:

• You sent an unsolicited attachment and I deleted your query unread.
• You have a spam blocker that requires me to register or jump through some other hoop to get my response through.
• Your return email address was rejected by my server.
• I never received your query. With e-queries, if your regarding line could somehow be misinterpreted as porn or spam, try using a different one.
• Your paper query had neither an SASE nor an email address for my response.

If you haven’t heard from me on an e-query after a month, assuming your project is nonfiction for adults, it’s fine to check in with me via email. If you haven’t heard on a paper query in three months, it’s also OK to inquire via email.