Agent Spotlight: Jennifer Chen Tran of Bradford Literary

Reminder: New literary agents are golden opportunities for new writers because each one is a literary agent who is likely building his or her client list. While Jennifer Chen Tran is not a new literary agent, she is still actively seeking new clients.

About Jennifer: Jennifer Chen Tran is an agent at Bradford Literary, joining in September 2017. She represents both fiction and non-fiction. Originally from New York, Jennifer is a lifelong reader and experienced member of the publishing industry. Prior to joining Bradford Literary, she was an Associate Agent at Fuse Literary and served as Counsel at The New Press. She obtained her Juris Doctor from Northeastern School of Law in Boston, MA, and a Bachelors of Arts in English Literature from Washington University in St. Louis.

Jennifer understands the importance of negotiation in securing rights on behalf of her authors. She counsels her clients on how to expand their platforms, improve on craft, and works collaboratively with her clients throughout the editorial and publication process. Her ultimate goal is to work in concert with authors to shape books that will have a positive social impact on the world—books that also inform and entertain.

Select titles that Jennifer has represented: I WILL LOVE YOU FOREVER by Cori Salchert (Barbour/ Shiloh Run Press); BREAKING UP & BOUNCING BACK by Samantha Burns (Dover/ Ixia Press); THE ART OF ESCAPING by Erin Callahan (Amberjack); MATCH MADE IN MANHATTAN by Amanda Stauffer (Skyhorse); A CROWDFUNDER’S STRATEGY GUIDE by Jamey Stegmaier (Berrett-Koehler).

Some of her favorite books include: NEVER LET ME GO, by Kazuo Ishiguro, THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS by Vanessa Diffenbaugh, THE YEAR OF MAGICAL THINKING by Joan Didion, THE UNWANTED by Kien Nguyen, BYRD by Kim Church, and AMERICAN BORN CHINESE by Gene Luen Yang, among many others.

Jennifer is very interested in diverse writers and #ownvoices from underrepresented/ marginalized communities, strong and conflicted characters who are not afraid to take emotional risks, stories about multi-generational conflict, war and post-war fiction, and writing with a developed sense of place. She enjoys both literary and commercial fiction. In nonfiction, she loves books that broaden her world view or shed new light on "big ideas."

She is Seeking:

Jennifer is NOT looking for:

How to Submit:

Fiction
Please email a query letter along with the first chapter of your manuscript and a synopsis pasted into the body of your email. Please be sure to include the genre and word count in your cover letter.

Illustrators
If you are an illustrator and/or seeking representation to artwork alone, please include a link to your online portfolio and a link to the online dummy. Please do not attach artwork to the email submission.

Nonfiction
Please email your full non-fiction proposal including a query letter and a sample chapter.

To avoid falling into spam, the subject line must begin as follows: QUERY: (The title of the manuscript and any SHORT message you would like the agent to see should follow). Attachments will not be opened, unless specifically requested by the agent. Your entire submission must appear in the body of the email and not as an attachment. E-mail the submission to jen@bradfordlit.com.

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