Stefanie Molina-Santos
Looking Glass Literary and Media
My Manuscript Wish List®
I am exclusively taking on clients who have been systemically excluded from publishing with a focus on BIPOC authors.
I joined Looking Glass Literary Agency in October 2025 after spending four years at Ladderbird Literary. Prior to that, I was a technical editor, a senior editor at the literary journal F(r)iction, and a book coach and editor for women of color. I hold B.A.s in English and Communications, both from the University of California at Davis. I am a board member at Literary Agents of Change. You can find me on Instagram @agent.stefanie or on BlueSky at @agentstefanie.bsky.social.
I’m currently seeking MG, YA, and Adult fiction and nonfiction, primarily by BIPOC authors. In MG and YA I love gutsy, messy main characters in a layered narrative–bonus if there are sports, unique hobbies, or world-saving involved. I’m open to all genres in MG and YA, but prefer gutsy contemporary and grounded fantasy, horror, and mystery with a strong sense of adventure (saying ‘gutsy’ twice is not a typo!). In Adult fiction, I’m specifically seeking cozy mysteries, grounded fantasy, and romantic suspense helmed by BIPOC protagonists. In Adult nonfiction, I’m hunting for cookbooks from first, second, third (& so on!) -gen immigrants finding their ways back to their roots, as well as health/fitness-centric, body-neutral cookbooks; and nonfiction that sits at the intersection of advocacy and the following: sports and exercise science, health and fitness, nutrition, medicine, and animals; though any nonfiction intersecting with advocacy is welcome in my inbox.  Across the board I appreciates anticolonialism and decolonization; non-Western-centric perspectives (and folklore); and protagonists that disrupt the status quo.
Not For Me:
Please don’t send me books where the protagonist or any companion animal dies at the end. Don’t send books that revolve around abuse, suicide, or self-harm (though they can be in a character’s past). If your story mentions these topics but does not revolve around them, please include a content warning.
I am generally not a fit for portal fantasy unless it’s a very different take on the genre. I am not a fit for nonfiction or fiction that centers Christianity, and not a fit for nonfiction or fiction that idealizes weight loss.
Fun facts about me:
Other things I love:
- running
- hiking
- baking
- volleyball
- swimming
- knitting
- animals (especially dogs, especially curly dogs)
- saxophone and piano
- mariachi
- reading about the outdoors and/or sports (kayaking! mountain climbing! parkour!)
Submission Guidelines
Please submit your query + first 50 pages (or for nonfiction, your full proposal) to https://QueryTracker.net/query/stefaniemolinasantos.
Vital Info
Favorite sub-genres:
#Dis, #ownvoices, #wndb, AAPI Fantasy, AAPI Horror, Action-Adventure, Activism, Adult, Adult Horror, Adult Romantasy, Adventure, African Fantasy, Amateur Sleuth Mysteries, Asian American Literature, Asian Diaspora, Asian Fantasy, Asian Horror, BIPOC, BIPOC Fantasy, BIPOC Horror, BIPOC Mystery, California, Children's, Children's Nonfiction, Children's and Young Adult Fiction and Nonfiction, Classic retellings with BIPOC characters, Commercial MG, Commercial YA, Commercial adult fiction, Complicated Relationships, Contemporary Fantasy, Contemporary YA, Contemporary Young Adult, Cozy Fantasy, Cozy Mystery, Cozy mysteries, Crime & Thriller, Cross-genre, Dark topics with a light touch, Detective, Disability, Diverse Protagonists, Diversity, Fantasy Grounded in Reality, Fantasy Romance, Fantasy YA, Female Friendships, Feminism, Feminist, Feminist Horror, Fiction Picture Books, Folklore, Food, Food Writing, Found Families, Funny MG, Geek Culture, Grief, Grounded, Grounded fantasy, Health, Health and Wellness, High-concept YA, High-concept YA/MG, Humor YA, Illustrated/Gift, Immigrant Experiences, Immigrant Voices, Intersectional Feminism, Intersectionality, Issue-Driven, LGBT YA, LGBTQ Contemporary, LGBTQ+, LGBTQ+ Fantasy, LGBTQIA, LGBTQIAP, Latine Diaspora, Latinx Fantasy, Latinx stories, Literary MG, Literary Middle Grade, Literary Thriller, Literary YA, Literary YA & MG, Literary YA/MG, Lyrical picture book, MG, MG Action Adventure, MG Fantasy, MG Horror, MG Nonfiction, MG adventure, MG contemporary, MG mystery, MG/YA, Magic, Magic Realism, Magical Realism, Magical Realism YA, Marginalized Voices, Mental Health, Middle Grade, Middle Grade Adventure, Middle Grade Contemporary, Middle Grade Fantasy, Middle Grade Horror, Middle Grade Humor, Middle Grade Mystery, Middle grade magical realism, Minority Voices, Modern Retellings of Fairy Tales, Mothers and Daughters, Multicultural, Multicultural and Diverse Thriller and Mystery, Muslim, Mysteries, Mystery / Crime, Mythology, Nature, Nature Writing, Neurodiversity, New Adult, Nonfiction Picture Books, Outdoors, Own Voices, POC, Personal Development, Picture Book, Picture book non-fiction, Racial Justice, Relic/Artifact Action/Adventure, Retellings, Romantic Suspense, Romantic Thriller, STEAM, STEM, Same-Sex Romance, Social Emotional Learning, Social Issues, Social Justice, Soft Fantasy, Speculative, Speculative Fiction, Speculative Middle Grade, Speculative Thriller, Sports, Strong Females, Suspense, Thriller, Thrillers, Underrepresented Voices, Upmarket YA, Whodunit, YA, YA Contemporary, YA Contemporary Romance with layers, YA Crossover, YA Fantasy, YA Mystery, YA Romantasy, YA SF/F, YA Thrillers, YA horror, YA thriller/mystery, Young Adult, advice, children's diversity, comedy, coming of age, commercial, commercial middle grade, contemp, contemporary, contemporary MG, contemporary middle grade, cook book, craft, culinary, diverse, diverse and own voices, diverse heroines, diverse voices, enemies to lovers, fiction and non-fiction picture books, found family, friendship, friendship stories, health and fitness, immigration, invisible disability, just one bed, light fantasy, love stories, mental illness, middle grade non-fiction, migration, music, mystery, non-Western fantasy, non-western settings, nonfiction, picture books, pining, queer, queer narratives, read-alouds, rivals to lovers, romantasy, romantic New Adult, romantic suspense/mystery, slow burn, slow burn romance, spooky mg, sports stories, stories that don't fit neatly into a genre, tropes tropes tropes, two people one bed, visible disability, who did this to you, whodunnit, witchcraft, witches, witty
I’d like the next…
Arsenic and Adobo!! I’m always on the lookout for a mystery or thriller headed by a BIPOC woman, and I’m always wanting more stories about BIPOC in the outdoors.
