Agency submission guidelines
Mushens Entertainment accepts submissions by email only. Submissions sent by post will not be read or returned.
Not accepted: picture books, middle-grade, children's fiction younger than teen, individual short stories, erotica, poetry, screenplays, or comics/graphic novels.
AI policy: Submissions must be the original work of the author. The agency will not consider submissions originated, written or edited using AI, including query letters.
Email address: submissions@mushens-entertainment.com
Fiction: Send a clear subject line (eg 'Fiction Submission: TITLE OF YOUR WORK'), addressed to the specific agent. Include a cover letter in the body of the email, a synopsis as an attachment, and a PDF or Word document containing either the first three chapters, the first 10-15,000 words, or the first 50 pages. The manuscript must be complete at the time of submission.
Non-fiction: Send a clear subject line (eg 'Non-Fiction Submission: TITLE OF YOUR WORK'), with a cover letter in the body of the email addressed to the specific agent. Attach a PDF or Word document proposal, or the first 10-15,000 words of a completed manuscript. The book does not need to be complete, but a completed proposal and sample writing are required.
Short story collections: Only Maria Whelan accepts these. Send a cover letter in the body of the email addressed to Maria, with a synopsis attached and a PDF or Word document of the collection totalling 40,000 to 75,000 words. The agency accepts primarily literary fiction, collections with elements of magical realism, or speculative work, including collections of previously published and/or unpublished stories, provided the collection as a whole has not been previously published. The manuscript must be complete at the time of submission.
Novellas: Only Maria Whelan accepts these. Send a cover letter in the body of the email addressed to Maria, with a synopsis attached. The agency accepts primarily literary fiction, with elements of speculative or contemporary fiction, between 17,000 and 40,000 words. The manuscript must be unpublished in book form and the author's own original work, and complete at the time of submission.
Agent interests: Rachel Neely is looking for crime, thrillers (literary and commercial), fantasy, dystopian, literary speculative, dark academia, horror and high-concept book club fiction. Maria Whelan is looking for literary and upmarket fiction, speculative fiction, horror, magical realism and reimaginings of myths, fairy tales and folklore, cultural criticism, narrative nonfiction, big-idea nonfiction and select cookbooks and food writing.