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Agent Spotlight: Mandy Hubbard

This week's Agent Spotlight features Mandy Hubbard of D4EO Literary Agency.

Status: Open to submissions.

M8-2 About: “Mandy Hubbard, also-known-as Amanda Grace, is the author of Prada & Prejudice, You Wish, But I Love Him, and three other to-be-published novels for teens. She is also a literary agent for D4EO Literary, where she represents authors of middle grade and teen fiction. She is currently living happily ever after with her husband and young daughter in Enumclaw, Washington.” (Link)

See the biography page on Ms. Hubbard’s website for an extended version.

About the Agency:

“D4EO Literary Agency, started in 1989, is a boutique four-agent literary agency that represents a very broad range of commercial fiction and non-fiction, which it works to place with publishers in the U.S. as well as around the world. Books represented by the agency have topped the The New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists. Agency authors have received awards that include the Daphne de Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense and the Nero Award, among others. The agency is responsible for launching debut authors' careers as well as seeking out qualified individuals for an array of non-fiction projects. We're a full-service literary agency based in Connecticut with agents spread out across the country.” (Link)

Web Presence:

D4EO PM page.

Ms. Hubbard’s PM page.

Ms. Hubbard’s website.

Blog.

Twitter.

Facebook.

QueryTracker, AgentQuery.

What She's Looking For:

Genres / Specialties:

Middle Grade, Young Adult.

From her Website:

“I  represent a broad range of books for Young Adult and Middle Grade audiences, whether they be contemporary or historical, fantasy/paranormal or realistic.

“I particularly love books with a heavy focus on romance, books that make me laugh out loud, and ‘issue books’ with a strong voice.” (Link)

Current Wishlist (as of 3/2012):

“Historical YA romance, a la THE SEASON or THE LUXE. Bring on the corsets, scandals, and love stories! 

“Genre-blending Sci-fi or fantasy.

“Magical realism MG

“Laugh-out-loud funny YA or MG.” (Link)

From a Blog Post (10/2010):

“Five things I'd LOOOOVE To find in the slush pile:

“1) Something really super fun and funny. Like a high school comedy movie, but you know, as a book. Like Robin Mellom's debut, DITCHED, which was pitched as The Hangover for teens.

“2) A historical with intrigue and romance, a la THE LUXE or THE SEASON or whatnot. Bonus points if it A) has any royalty or titled people in it, and B) is based on a real historical figure. I just read PRISONERS OF THE PALACE, and would love something like it. I also LOVED Alisa Libby's THE KING'S ROSE, based upon King Henry the VIII's fifth wife.

“3) A book dealing with Anorexia. Or on the flipside, obesity and a teen struggling to overcome it.

“4) A total tearjerker, aka, a "weepie." Think: BEFORE I DIE (Downham)  or SING ME TO SLEEP (Morrison).

“5) A suspense or mystery.

“5 1/2) (Yes I am cheating) A great middle grade set in the real world, but with some fun magical realism elements.

“Remember-- I only represent Middle Grade and Young adult, so all of the above would need to be for those audiences.” (Link)

From a Contest Interview (09/2010):

“I would love something that is hysterically funny-- YA or MG, I don't care. Make me laugh and I'm yours. Other wants: Something literary a la John Green or Sarah Dessen. A scandalous historical a la THE LUXE.” (Link)

From an Interview (08/2010):

“Contemporary/Realistic YA romance. Dying for a really well executed one! Would also love a great YA thriller/suspense. And some more great middle grade--adventure, humor, or just a cool girl friendship/coming of age MG (but with a hook!).” (Link)

What She Isn't Looking For:

“Please, no chapter books (IE, books aimed at 8 year olds or younger), picture books, poetry, non-fiction, or books for the adult market.” (Link)

Editorial Agent?

“As an author, I just can't turn off the part of my brain that analyzes books and figures out how to make them better. There's just something thrilling about taking a diamond in the rough and working with someone to polish it. If I fall in love with your concept and voice, I'll help you on the rest.” (Link)

Clients:

Lee Bross, Cindy Callaghan, Sacha Whalen, Lynn Heitkamp, Jessica Martinez, Peter Stewart Vegas, Nancy Herman, Andrea McAfee, Emily Murdoch, Lindsey Scheibe, among others.

Sales:

As of 3/16/12 Ms. Hubbard is listed on Publisher’s Marketplace as having made 5 deals in the last 12 months and 6 overall. Recent deals include 4 young adult and 1 middle grade. See her public PM page for a brief summary of each title.

NOTE: PM is usually not a completely representation of sales.

Query Methods:

E-mail: Yes (only).

Snail-Mail: No.

Online-Form: No.

Submission Guidelines (always verify):

Query letter and the first five pages of your manuscript in the body of an e-mail (no attachments). Put “Query” in the subject line to avoid the spam filter.

See Ms. Hubbard’s website for complete, up-to-date submission guidelines.

Query Tips:

“I really prefer you to just dive right into the hook of the story, rather than using a couple of paragraphs to talk about yourself. The book is what matters. Put the bio at the end!” (Link)

“Make sure you give me insight into who your character is and what her stakes are. I should see a direct relationship between the type of character your protagonist is and the conflict. Read the back covers of your favorite books and emulate their style. And for the love of god, stop worrying about having writing credits! It's totally okay to have NO publishing history whatsoever.” (Link)

Response Times:

Ms. Hubbard’s policy is to respond to queries within 1-3 weeks (generally). Wait six weeks before following up and include your original query in your e-mail. She responds to most fulls in 2-6 weeks but asks for 8 before status-querying.  Stats on the web are fairly consistent with these timeframes with only the occasional outlier. (Link)

What's the Buzz?

Mandy Hubbard became an agent at D4E0 Literary Agency after interning for The Bent Agency.  D4EO is “recommended” by P&E and Ms. Hubbard’s career appears to be off to a great start. She is actively expanding her contacts and clientele, and is hungry for great new talent. If you’re writing MG or YA, give her a shot!

I recommend following her blog and Twitter for more insight into her personality and agenting style. 

Worth Your Time:

(Agent) Interviews:

Interview witH Mandy Hubbard by client Jessica Martinez (04/2011).

Interview with an Agent: Mandy Hubbard at Mother. Write. (Repeat.) (08/2010).

Interview: Author/Agent Mandy Hubbard at Ramblings of a Drifting Mind (07/2010).

Interview with Author/Agent Mandy Hubbard at The Punching Bag Fights Back (06/2010).

Interview with Agent Mandy Hubbard at Day By Day Writer (03/2010).

Q&A with Author and Agent Mandy Hubbard by Paige Crutcher at Examiner (03/2010).

Agent Interview: Mandy Hubbard of D4EO Literary at Cynsations (02/2010).

Selected Blog Posts:

Ms. Hubbard has too many excellent blog posts to list.  Please peruse her labels and archives.

Gems include:

The Epic Post on Trends (YA & MG) (05/2011).

That Thing You Want to Know… (05/2011).

Five Things Friday: The Wishlist Edition (10/2010).

The Evolution of a Pitch (10/2010).

Big Announcement! (02/2010).

She also contributes to the group blog Let the Words Flow. You can see the posts she’s tagged in here.

Around the Web:

D4EO Literary thread on AbsoluteWrite.

D4EO Literary Partners on P&E (recommended). Mandy Hubbard on P&E.

See the sidebar on Ms. Hubbard’s blog for upcoming events.

See the submissions page on Ms. Hubbard’s website for favorite books.

Mystery Agent Revealed: Mandy Hubbard – see contest pitch winners chosen by Ms. Hubbard at Operation Awesome (09/2010).

Creating Memorable Characters by Mandy Hubbard at WriteOnCon (08/2010).

Query Series: Lee Bross and Mandy Hubbard at YA Highway (06/2010).

Meet Mandy the author (and her agent) who never gave up at Bent on Books – not agenting-related but very inspiring (12/2009).

Check out Ms. Hubbard’s books on her website here.

Contact:

Please see Ms. Hubbard’s website and PM page for contact and query information.

Profile Details:

Last updated: 3/16/12.

(Updated sales, wishlist, response times, added client.)

Agent Contacted For Review? Yes.

Last Reviewed By Agent? 6/16/11.

***

Have any experience with this agent? See something that needs updating? Please leave a comment or e-mail me at agentspotlight(at)gmail(dot)com

Note: These agent profiles presently focus on agents who accept children's fiction. They are not interviews. Please take the time to verify anything you might use here before querying an agent. The information found herein is subject to change.

8 comments:

  1. Thanks for the info. I'll add her to my list.

    I've noticed everyone is looking for funny. Wish I did more with humor.

    ReplyDelete
  2. WOW! What a lot of information in this post. It's so helpful to read. Glad that some agents are looking for funny, it's what I like, too.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow! You did a ton of work on this spotlight. Thanks so much. Since she likes middle grade & fantasy, I'm going to add her to my list.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks for this spotlight! I haven't heard of her or the agency yet, so I'll definitely check them out.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks for doing this spotlight. I really enjoyed Mandy's book You Wish. Good to know she's looking for Middle Grade too.

    ReplyDelete
  6. lots of great info on Mandy here- thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Great spotlight! You guys are the best!!!

    ReplyDelete
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