alterean.

Amanda Preston

LBA Books

Submission status
Open
Submission route
Email
Response time
Assume no reply = no after 12 weeks
Last checked
11 days ago

About

Amanda is a literary agent at LBA Books, representing a wide range of best-selling and award-winning authors across fiction and non-fiction.

She has worked as an agent for over 25 years and co-founded LBA in 2005, working with a network of publishers around the world. In 2018 she won the RNA Literary Agent of the Year award.

Genres

Contemporary FictionCrimeHistorical FictionMemoirNarrative Non-FictionRomanceSelf-HelpThrillerTrue Crime

Looking for

  • high-concept thriller which is character and plot driven, but also has a discussable issue at its heart i.e Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey and Girl A by Abigail Dean
  • thrillers where the location is as integral to the plot as the crime i.e The Dry by Jane Harper and The Sanatorium by Sarah Pearse
  • a good locked-room thriller, but only fresh and unique ideas in this area
  • a new crime series
  • voices that have been underrepresented in mainstream publishing
  • a glorious book club love story that is doing something a bit different and special i.e Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus or anything by Taylor Jenkins Reid
  • smart, contemporary, observant romcoms with a very strong emphasis on diverse / own voices
  • a beautiful book-club historical that sweeps them away in its character, period and location
  • innovative and well-written stories that hook them in from the start and whose voice stays with them
  • novels that demand to be talked about and shared, whatever their genre, and that they are still thinking about days after finishing
  • true crime
  • the ultimate whodunnit where they can get lost in the real-life twists and turns of the crime or con and it can be contemporary or historical, an unsolved case or a different perspective on a well known case
  • narrative non-fiction predominately in science, the environment, psychology, nature writing, well-being and memoir
  • proposals on self-development for women and for voices that have been underrepresented in mainstream publishing that empower them at whatever stage of life they are at, and that bring something new to the discussion

Not looking for

  • poetry
  • children's fiction
  • child-related crime stories

Agency submission guidelines

The agency accepts electronic submissions only, sent directly to the agent the writer wishes to submit to (email addresses are on each agent's profile page). The subject line should include the title of the manuscript and the genre, e.g. "TITLE / genre". Submissions to the info inbox are not considered. The agency does not accept poetry, short stories, or film scripts, and does not accept manuscripts created using AI. No hard-copy submissions are accepted; these are recycled and not considered. Writers should submit to only one agent at LBA at a time and query with only one project at a time, and only if the manuscript or proposal is completed and polished. Manuscripts and synopses should use a legible font, size 12pt, 1.5 or double-spaced, with the book title and author's name in the attachment file names. For fiction: include a covering letter (in the body of the email), a brief synopsis, and the first three chapters (or first 5,000 words if the book has no chapters) as a Word document. For non-fiction: include a covering letter (in the body of the email), a proposal, and a writing sample of at least 5,000 words as a Word document.

Agency AI policy

They do not accept any manuscripts that have been created using AI.

Links

Clients include

  • Angelique Panagos
  • Anna Turns
  • Bella James
  • Bella North
  • Bri Blackwood
  • Catherine Piddington
  • Christina Bradley
  • Claire Wade
  • Colin McDowell
  • Dalton Wong
  • Darcie Boleyn
  • Dee MacDonald
  • Dominique Antiglio
  • Ella King
  • Emery Paige

Other agents at LBA Books