Hillary Fazzari

About Me:

Hi!  I’m Hillary (she/her), and I’m an agent at the Bradford Literary Agency!  I acquire fiction and nonfiction for all ages, from picture books to adult novels along with the occasional piece of nonfiction for the academic market.

Right now, I’m most looking for:

▶ Adult Narrative Nonfiction, particularly in areas of history and lifestyle.

▶ Adult Literary and Upmarket Fiction, particularly in genre areas (e.g.: hauntingly dark literary thrillers; character-driven upmarket mysteries; literary horror; upmarket historical works with strong hooks; speculative upmarket with interesting premises – and I’m especially keen to see stories that genre-mix, feature feminism, and/or have complicated female or queer protagonists).

▶ High-concept, Commercial Fiction with strong “strange attractor” elements for all ages. Here, I’m loosely following Terry Rossio’s definition with “strange attractor” being a combination of “strange” (or “unique”) and “attractor” (from “attractive”, though in publishing this can also mean “familiar” because familiar can be attractive and can therefore attract readers/editors). So an example of a storyline with a strong “strange attractor” element would be Rossio’s own Disney cartoon Aladdin, which is a combination of the familiar, original story of Aladdin (often associated with One Thousand and One Nights) with the character of Aladdin as My Fair Lady in a way that rewrites the old into something unique, strangely attractive, and compelling though the added My Fair Lady, will-his-real-identity-be-found-out lens. Or the How To Train Your Dragon books, which are different than the movies, and approach the concept of the “strange attractor” by asking combining questions: “Could the Vikings in this world actually just be weirdos?” — aka a combination of “cool Viking lore” with “weird behavior”; “Could, in this world, the protagonist have a tiny dragon that is 100% just a really obnoxious cat?” — aka a combination of familiar dragon tropes with familiar cat tropes in a way that makes a hybrid concept that’s strangely unique and compelling.

▶ Genre-mixed stories of all kinds, for all ages, again with a high concept and a strong “strange attractor” element. Which means I’m specifically looking for stories that combine elements that might not otherwise go together into new, compelling premises: e.g., My Fair Lady in space formatted as a murder mystery; a dark academia with a thriller plotline; a cozy fantasy set on a space ship; Doctor Who but make it a time-travel rom-com instead.

▶ Fanfiction writers interested in transitioning high-concept, often AU shift, novel-length, “strange attractor”-based projects out of the fanfiction sphere and into the traditional market via disconnecting their work from their fandom(s) and recreating their work as original concepts.

These days I am rarely looking for:

• Commercial work that rigorously follows the patterns of a singular genre: e.g., rom-com, domestic thriller, high fantasy, romantasy, etc.  Instead, I’m looking for stories that use domestic thriller or rom-com elements but combine them with strong speculative angles and/or the weird and/or dark academia or something else, or that follow an adventure story structure but have rom-com or romantasy elements baked in.  So single genre books are often harder for me to acquire (largely for market reasons) than stories that use multiple or mixed types of story archetypes.
• Low-concept material (though I am very happy to look at high-concept, “strange attractor”-based, character-driven work).

The particular types of work I acquire include:

• Picture books, fiction & nonfiction though at this point only from author-illustrators who write and illustrate their own work or else already have an illustrator attached to the project.
• Graphic novels for kids, again at this point only from author-illustrators who write and illustrate their own work or else already have an illustrator attached to the project.
• Chapter books (for young readers, with or without illustrations)
• Middle-grade fiction (with or without illustrations, including upper middle-grade and unique format books)
• YA fiction (including lower YA and upper YA crossover)
• New Adult/Crossover fiction
• Adult fiction (literary, upmarket, and commercial)
• Adult nonfiction (history and lifestyle)

Specific things I’m currently looking for in each category include:

Picture books:  Nonfiction books with an element of history included; nonfiction books about how things work; fiction with historical elements; anything that could be comped to Richard Scarry. (Please only query work with illustrators already attached at this point).

Graphic novels:  I’m specifically looking for graphic novels for a middling audience (aka kids aged 10-13) and am interested in humor and daring formats backed by high concepts.  (Please only query work with illustrators already attached at this point); definite bonus points for something weird but fun (including with lots of humor — wry, dry, etc.) or even something strange, dark, and compelling for a younger audience.

Chapter books (and lower MG):  I’d love some humorous chapter books and short lower MG, particularly with multimedia elements (e.g., like Dav Pilkey, Timothy Failure). Weird is great here; andromorphic animals is great here; non-human protagonists are something I’m interested in seeing as are a kids in regular school settings that have gone strange or overly imaginative.

MG: I’m looking for some propulsive, commercial mysteries with fun settings (think Stuart Gibb’s FunJungle or Space Case series); I’d love more multimedia projects, especially with humor (Tapper Twins is a super great comp for me); I’m interested in illustrated MG; and I’d like some more upmarket novels with animals as a key element (comps similar to Pax and Beyond the Bright Sea); I’d also love some stories set at magical/mystical school that have a big, propulsive concept behind them (think like The School for Good and Evil, Harry Potter) that could turn into a series; and I’d love some big adventure books (like Percy Jackson but without the mythology — fantasy elements acceptable but not required!).  And I’m really looking for projects on the shorter side, often 45K words or under in many areas.

YA:  I’m looking for retro vibes with “strange attractor” elements.  Things like Alex Donne’s Burning Brightly, which was YA Jane Eyre in space; anything with strong Ally Carter vibes; a genre-mixed or speculative To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before; dark academia particularly when it follows thriller or genre-mixed plot structures; some “strange attractor” YA mysteries like Trouble is a Friend of Mine and A Study in Charlotte with odd but compelling characters; character-driven urban or grounded fantasy akin to Brigid Kemmerer’s early work; anything with a tone like Maggie Stiefvater.

New Adult:  I’m most eager to see genre-mixed stuff here too that feels like a high-concept YA premise, just set in college, college-adjacent, or just post college; dark academia and dark romance (especially when they feature simple but elegant premises) are of interest to me; and I’d love to see some stories here that started out as fanfics but can really have a life of their own when reworked to stand outside their initial fandom; eldritch horror, fantasy elements, and grounded or urban fantasy with grown up Raven Boys vibes would be of interest here as would things like Grossman’s The Magicians or Sally Green’s Half Bad along with genuinely kind of obnoxious, whiny bad boys like Cardan Greenbriar who you just can’t help but adore.

Adult commercial:  I’m most eager to see romances that no longer use a standard romance or rom-com format, so essentially stories with thriller or adventure or dark/eerily premises that are also, at the same time, *highly* romantic; I’d like some intricate or compelling dark romance with consent but weird, interesting takes of how love can form (including in dark academia settings); I’d love to see some “life crisis” stories with the truly weird driving what’s wrong in a way that remains upbeat; stories with strong Gilmore Girl vibes a total dream of mine; I’d love some funny fantasy that’s very self-aware and could be comped to Galavant or Princess Bride.

Adult literary/upmarket: character-driven mystery is of big interest, especially when it has something “strange attractor” about it with thematic relevance and relational nuance (so usually not “hardboiled” for me); I’d love more exploratory journey books (like The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo); I’m always looking for big community/big family pieces like Amy Tan’s books; I enjoy books that touch on crime families with magical/speculative elements; I’d love some gorgeous historical fantasy or historical fiction à la Megan Whalen Turner with characters on the younger side; books that deal with the biting sides of being a writer (could comp to R. F. Kuang’s Yellowface meets X, Y, or Z).

Adult nonfiction:  anything history is of interest to me, and I’m particularly interested feminist lenses, books on ancient and medieval history (I have a Masters in Celtic classical/medieval history and a PhD in medieval history but am perfectly to happy to see books about the American West, the history of specific items or areas of literature, women’s or queer history, and many other things); I’d also love to see more life style books, particularly where they interest with GenZ, relationships, pop culture, reading, and fandom.

Submission Guidelines

I only accept queries through QueryManager.  You can reach my QueryManager page from here: https://bradfordlit.com/submission-guidelines

For Fiction:

Guidelines & Details