Emily S. Keyes
Keyes Agency
My Manuscript Wish List®
Emily S. Keyes is the owner and founder of Keyes Agency, LLC and formerly was an agent at Fuse Literary and L. Perkins Agency.
She has represented many award-winning titles mainly (but not exclusively) in the realm of children’s literature. She loves finding and nurturing new talent, as well as reading and representing projects that will get readers excited to go to the bookstore. Emily is actively searching for all kinds of children’s literature, as well as select adult projects in genre fiction—so long as it’s not “serious” (read: pretentious) literature. She is searching for authors and illustrators who will be her coworker for a long career.
Previously she worked Fuse Literary as an agent, and at the L. Perkins Agency as a contracts manager and associate agent. Before that, she was a Contracts Administrator at Simon & Schuster for five years. In 2008, she graduated from New York University’s Center for Publishing. Emily lives in Brooklyn but she can usually be found spending too much time on the internet.
Fun facts about me:
I am an identical twin. Is that fun?
Submission Guidelines
Please see my QueryManager page.
I try to open to submissions once a month, usually the first Monday of the month until I reach my quota. I also close in the Summer and Winter Break. I apologize that my process is somewhat complicated at the moment. I get too many queries for one person to respond to all of them and it’s not fair to take in more than I can read.
Vital Info
Favorite sub-genres:
#Dis, #ownvoices, #wndb, AAPI Fantasy, AAPI Horror, AAPI Sci-Fi, Absolutely all of them!, Action-Adventure, Activism, Adult, Adult Horror, Adult Rom Com, Adult Romantasy, Adult SFF, Adventure, African Fantasy, Africanfuturism, Apocalyptic, Asian American Literature, Asian Fantasy, Asian Horror, Asian Sci-Fi, Author-Illustrator, Author-Illustrators, BIPOC, BIPOC Fantasy, BIPOC Horror, BIPOC Sci-Fi, Character-Driven Horror, Character-driven SciFi, Chick Lit, Chicklit, Children's, Children's Nonfiction, Children's and Young Adult Fiction and Nonfiction, Classic retellings with BIPOC characters, Commercial MG, Commercial Women's Fiction, Commercial YA, Commercial adult fiction, Disability, Dystopia, Dystopian, Epic Fantasy, Fantasy, Fantasy Grounded in Reality, Fantasy Romance, Fantasy YA, Female Friendships, Feminist Horror, Fiction Picture Books, Funny MG, Geek Culture, Historical Women's Fiction, Humor YA, YA Nonfiction, YA Rom-Coms, YA RomCom, YA Romance, YA Romantasy, YA Science Fiction, YA rom com, YA/MG graphic novel, Young Adult, Young Adult Fiction (Historical Fiction only), Young Adult Narrative Non-Fiction (Both Contemporary and Historical Narrative Non-Fiction), Young Adult Non-Fiction, Zombies, action-packed graphic novels, afrofuturism, aliens, alternate history, anti-capitalist sci fi, award-winners!, bad at feelings, beach reads, body horror, children's diversity, children's graphic novels, comedy, comics, coming of age, commercial, commerical, commerical women's fiction, crossover, crossover adult, crossover appeal, diverse and own voices, epic, fantasy of manners, fiction and non-fiction picture books, fun SF/F, horror
I’d like the next…
In young adult, I would love something escapist, possibly fantasy or contemporary, that really sweeps me away. I would love more books about family relationships (complicated sibling relationships, dealing with parents) in contemporary YA, with a particular interest in mental illness or non-neurotypical characters. I have a lot of serious and sad stories so I’d love to see some smart, humorous voices as well. I am still really looking for a fun, fresh non-western fantasy (maybe a desert or a jungle, come on, guys!), but I am quite picky about fantasy. You can blame my college Fantasy Literature professor.
In middle grade, I am always looking for more middle grade. I tend to be drawn more towards contemporary, magical realism, and horror than towards full fantasy or portal fantasy, but I will always take a look. I always want STEAM and sports for girls. I love stories about friendship breakups. I also would really like a survival story, particularly one about a girl, like “Hatchet.”
For picture books, I tend toward lyrical writing from diverse creators. It can often be difficult to make a picture book stand out in the current marketplace. I love to find something in the query box that doesn’t feel like any book I’ve read before, whether it is a quirky, high-concept premise or a non-fiction tale of science I am unfamiliar with.
I would also really like to see more non-fiction stories in both middle grade and young adult with fresh voices and unique topics.
See more details at my tumblr here.
My favorites include…
Some recent fave books (that aren’t mine):
Young Adult
“Sorcery of Thorns” by Margaret Rogerson
“Cemetery Boys” by Aidan Thomas
“This Is My America” by Kim Johnson
“Loveboat Taipei” by Abigail Hing Wen
Middle Grade
“Efren Divided” by Ernesto Cisneros
The “Love Sugar Magic” series by Anna Meriano
The “Track” series by Jason Reynolds
Adult
“Red, White and Royal Blue” by Casey McQuiston
“The Once and Future Witches” by Alix E. Harrow
“Spinning Silver” by Naomi Novik
Some Books I Represented:
YA: “Falling into Place” by Amy Zhang (Greenwillow), “The Art of Insanity” by Christine Webb (Peachtree Teen), “The Disturbed Girl’s Dictionary” by NoNieqa Ramos, “Gold Mountain” by Betty G. Yee (both Carolrhoda Lab)
MG: “Hide and Seeker” by Daka Hermon (Scholastic), “The Color of Sound” by Emily Barth Isler , “Forsooth” by Jimmy Matejek-Morris, “The Skeleton Flute” by Damara Allen (Aladdin/S&S), “Maggie and Abby’s Neverending Pillow Fort” by Will Taylor (Harper)
PB: “I Think I Think A Lot” text by Jessica Whipple (Free Spirit), “Beauty Woke” text by NoNieqa Ramos (Versify), and more forthcoming.
Adult: “The Fifth Ward” series by Dale Lucas (Orbit) and “We Kept Her In the Cellar” by WR Gorman (Crooked Lane)
