Chelsea Eberly
Greenhouse Literary Agency
My Manuscript Wish List®
ABOUT
As a former Senior Editor at Random House Books for Young Readers, Chelsea has a keen editorial eye and understands how publishers think, which she uses to her advantage when advocating for her clients. She loves that heart-racing, buzzing feeling she gets when discovering a talent. Chelsea edited many New York Times bestselling and award-winning authors in her time at Random House, including the Newbery Medal winner When You Trap a Tiger by Tae Keller and bestsellers by Tamora Pierce, Leigh Bardugo, Marie Lu, Sarah J. Maas, Matt de la Peña, Mark Siegel, and Kim Johnson to name only a few. She is also a Publishers Weekly Star Watch Honoree, which recognizes “the rising stars of the US publishing industry.”
WHAT I’M LOOKING FOR:
I represent middle grade, young adult, graphic novelists, picture book illustrators, and select upmarket women’s fiction. I’m always looking for projects by BIPOC creators, as well as those marginalized identities that include sexuality, gender identity, and disability. I enjoy working with authors whose books have commercial hooks and literary ambition–authors who are swinging for the fences!
MIDDLE GRADE: I’m on the hunt for middle grade that feels like WHEN YOU REACH ME and WHEN YOU TRAP A TIGER. Incredible voice and a hook for kid readers as well. Big feels and big hooks! I’m a sucker for found family tropes, and I particularly love when authors tackle Big Truths in a heartfelt way. I also love when kids connect with animals in a BECAUSE OF WINN-DIXIE, bring-your-tissues kind of way. Unique structures and interesting, ambitious POV choices are right up my alley. I am interested in middle grade that doesn’t shy away from crushes and the experience of LGBTQ characters. I’m also interested in highly-illustrated MG and younger middle grade author-illustrators who straddle the line between graphic novel and chapter book. If you’ve created a strong, unique character that can become a series juggernaut, please send your project my way!
GRAPHIC NOVELS: I’d love to represent more graphic novel clients. Send me your MG and YA contemporary, romances (straight and LGBTQ), found family, friendship dramas, fantasy, fractured fairy tales, unique retellings, and magical realism. I’m open to select historical/non-fiction projects if they have clear hooks. I am thrilled when authors are mining their own experiences in an autobiographical or semi-autobiographical way. Anything with side-busting humor or box-of-tissues feels will grab my attention. (I also have a soft spot for cats.) If you are an illustrator whose work straddles the line between graphic novel and chapter book, I’m also excited to see your project.
YOUNG ADULT: I love LOVE, so please send me your big romances. I’m also a fantasy lover at heart, so if you have a high stakes fantasy with intrigue, action, and romance, send it my way. I’m always looking for authors who are thoughtful about structure and voice; e.g. a ticking-clock timeline, a closed setting, a journal-entry or epistolary format, and so forth. Ambitious projects with multiple commercial hooks and an uplifting, joyful, empowering sensibility are a plus. Execution is key, and I love literary voices when the pacing is tight and the stakes are high. I’m also a big k-drama lover, so if you have a story that feels like GOBLIN, MR. SUNSHINE, or LOVELY RUNNER, please send my way immediately!
PICTURE BOOK ILLUSTRATORS: I’m looking for illustrators who can create a strong character, a clear conflict, and write with a humorous voice and/or a surprising twist at the end.
ADULT WOMEN’S FICTION: I love upmarket fiction featuring female main characters that are perfect book club reads. Think WEDDING PEOPLE, QUEENIE, ANXIOUS PEOPLE, ELEANOR OLIPHANT IS COMPLETELY FINE, and WHERE’D YOU GO BERNADETTE as examples of her taste.
I am not the best fit for stories centered on suicide, sexual assault, or eating disorders.
I do not represent the following:
• Picture Book Authors (unless you are already a client)
• Poetry Collections
• Short Story Collections
• Screenplays
• Erotica
• Christian/Inspirational Market
Fun facts about me:
- Edward Eager was my granduncle, the classic middle grade author of Half Magic, Knight’s Castle, Magic by the Lake, and so forth, and I grew up loving his magical adventures grounded in the contemporary.
- My grandfather worked for the Braves and the Brooklyn Dodgers, so we have a lot of baseball history in the family; I’m still waiting for my FIELD OF DREAMS book in any age category!
- I studied abroad in Newcastle, Australia.
- I have a cat named Nimh who loves to play fetch.
- I’m a Midwesterner turned New Yorker who is now back in the Midwest.
Submission Guidelines
Please query me through my Query Manager page. You can also always visit the Greenhouse website to see our latest submission guidelines and check if I’m open for queries.
Vital Info
I’d like the next…
- WHEN YOU REACH ME
- HOLES
- LAURA DEAN KEEPS BREAKING UP WITH ME
- NARWHAL AND JELLY
- A STUDY IN CHARLOTTE (Charlotte Holmes Novels)
- THE SUN IS ALSO A STAR
- TO ALL THE BOYS I’VE LOVED BEFORE
- THE BOOK THIEF
- THE CITY WE BECAME (in a YA version)
- WEDDING PEOPLE
- ANXIOUS PEOPLE
- WHERE’D YOU GO, BERNADETTE?
- Anything by Leigh Bardugo
- Anything by Jason Reynolds
My favorites include…
A Few Pop-Culture Faves:
- A sample of my favorite k-dramas: GOBLIN, MR. SUNSHINE, LOVELY RUNNER, ALCHEMY OF SOULS, CRASH LANDING ON YOU, 2521, MY MISTER, FLOWER OF EVIL, STUDY GROUP (what do they have in common? Found family, high stakes, enemies-to-lovers, genre-blending and unique structures)
- Knives Out (closed room, commercial whodunit)
- Killing Eve (love the assassin being hunted by a quirky investigator and the sexual tension)
- Schitt’s Creek (unforgettable characters, a family that loves each other no matter what, and a clear pitch)
- Netflix’s adaptations of the To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before series (swoon-worthy romance, clear hook, joyful, diverse)
- The Wire (not current, but I love how smart it is and the way it reveals systematic problems)
