Agent Alert: Eric Smith of P.S. Literary

Literary agent alerts (like this one with Eric Smith of P.S. Literary) are golden opportunities for new writers because each one is a literary agent who is likely building their client list.

Eric Smith is a literary agent with P.S. Literary, working across multiple categories, and has worked with New York Times bestselling and award-winning authors. When he isn't busy working on other people's books, sometimes he writes his own.

His latest novel, The Girl and the Grove, was published by Flux in 2018, and his next novel, Don't Read the Comments, will be published by Inkyard Press in January 2020. He currently lives in Philadelphia with his wife, son, and overly affectionate corgi.

Eric Smith

Seeking From Writers 

Hi! I’m seeking diverse and inclusive Young Adult fiction across all genres (and would love to find some more YA nonfiction!), accessible science fiction and fantasy, literary fiction that does a bit of genre blending (think Station Eleven or The Night Circus), and nonfiction in the realm of essay collections, memoir, pop-culture history, and cookbooks! 

If you want to get a sense of my taste, look up some of my recent projects, like Mike Chen’s accessible sci-fi novel Here & Now & Then, Tom Ryan’s latest Young Adult novel Keep This To Yourself, Erica Boyce’s literary novel The Fifteen Wonders of Daniel Green, and Sam Slaughter’s cocktail book Are You Afraid of the Dark Rum?

How to Submit 

When it comes to submission guidelines, you can check out the details on how to pitch me at the P.S. Literary website, here: https://www.psliterary.com/submissions/. I'm simple, I just like a query letter.

Queries should follow a 3-paragraph format. First paragraph: Include the title and category of your work, an estimated word count, and a brief, general introduction. Second paragraph: brief overview (should read similar to back cover copy on a book). Third paragraph: writer's bio.

Send queries to query@psliterary.com.

*****

Research, interview, and explore the subjects that interest you. Then write about what you've learned in Writing Nonfiction 101: Fundamentals. Writing nonfiction is a great way for beginner and experienced writers to break into the publishing industry.

Robert Lee Brewer is Senior Editor of Writer's Digest, which includes managing the content on WritersDigest.com and programming virtual conferences. He's the author of 40 Plot Twist Prompts for Writers: Writing Ideas for Bending Stories in New Directions, The Complete Guide of Poetic Forms: 100+ Poetic Form Definitions and Examples for Poets, Poem-a-Day: 365 Poetry Writing Prompts for a Year of Poeming, and more. Also, he's the editor of Writer's Market, Poet's Market, and Guide to Literary Agents. Follow him on Twitter @robertleebrewer.