Hillary Fazzari

About Me:

I joined Bradford Literary Agency as the agency’s assistant before moving into agenting. Prior to that, I served as a long-term editor and reader for another boutique agency, interned at Writers House, and worked for Scholastic. I‘m on the look out for high concept, high stakes stories with deep character development and gorgeous, commercial prose and select upmarket/literary work with similarly high concepts. I acquire MG and YA (including crossover) in all genres, New Adult in most genres, and Adult more selectively with my inbox only open to unsolicited queries in certain areas so check below for more details.

What I’m looking for overall:

I acquire more fiction than nonfiction, and my tastes tend to run toward the highly commercial in YA and NA with my taste in MG and Adult being more eclectic but still erroring toward high concept.

In terms of what I’d like overall, I’d love to see more work from BIPOC and queer authors and more stories that can be described as “lush”, “glitz-y”, or “epic and high-stakes”.  Stories featuring strong romantic elements are one of the best ways to get my attention, and I am specifically on the lookout for books that centers a-spec characters, fun settings, and nonwestern worlds! (Though these elements don’t all need to be present in the same project!)

Additionally, I’d like to see more projects that center Black joy and/or diaspora, immigrant, and refugee experiences (and not just in rom-com or contemporary fiction; I would love to see more of these stories in the SFF and gothic spheres as well).

I harbor a deep love of the high emotion, high stakes (and often humor and romance!) of K-dramas, C-dramas, J-dramas, etc. (be they historical, contemporary, or SFF) and am eager to see stories in any genre or area I represent that contain similar vibes!

Overall in fiction, the biggest thing I look for, though, is a protagonist who enters the story with a solid, emotive, story-wide goal and who, by pursuing that goal, causes the rest of the story to happen.

For MG & YA:

I am open to all genres of MG and YA, including graphic novels, though I am only able to consider graphic novel projects that have an illustrator attached at this point.

For MG, my taste leans commercial, though I will very happily consider more literary-leaning work if it has strong hooks.  I especially like stories that center messy, loveable characters trying to figure out who they are in difficult or changing worlds.  Magic, gorgeous worldbuilding, accessible humor, epic plotlines, series, and unique settings are all welcome.  As an ADHDer, I love I’m-neurodiverse-and-thriving stories (like Percy Jackson!).  And I like active characters who, despite being young, have goals and things at stake and people they want to care about and for.

Some perennial favorite MG titles I don’t represent that are emblematic of my taste are:

• Anything by Rick Riordan or that fits Rick Riordan Presents!
• Stuart Gibbs’ FunJungle series
• The Chronicles of Egg and The Tapper Twins series by Geoff Rodkey
• The Time Travelers by Linda Buckley-Archer
• Minion, and Sidekicked by John D. Anderson
• The Worst Class Trip Ever by Dave Barry
• Half Upon a Time by James Riley
• The Great Greene Heist by Varian Johnson
• Dragon Run by Patrick Matthews
• The Fourth Stall series by Chris Rylander
• A Hero’s Guide to Saving Your Kingdom series by Christopher Healy
• Liar & Spy by Rebecca Stead

Some elements that may draw me into a MG submission are:

• Characters who are full of heart and heroics
• Very atmospheric fantasy worlds, especially those based in nonwestern settings
• Squad goal friendships
• High stake situations
• Humor imbedded in emotional worlds
• Neurodiverse protagonists

For YA, I am looking exclusively for commercial titles. Epic, high stakes historical fiction, glitzy contemporary, romantasy (particularly based in nonwestern worlds), and SFF with solid romantic subplots are high on my list of things to acquire, and I am very interested in finding more dystopian romance and dark academia novels that feature danger and intrigue.  I also like trope-y rom-coms, though I am specifically looking for authors who can do this in ways that feel unique, and I love a good retelling, mystery, or thriller.  Again, I like very active characters that cause their stories to happen.  And I prefer high concept stories with easily definable pitches and hooks, especially those that meet, use, or challenge genre norms in new and satisfying ways.

Some perennial favorite YA titles I don’t represent that are emblematic of my taste are:

• Embassy Row and Heist Society series by Ally Carter
• Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross
• Ivory and Bone series by Julie Eshbaugh
• A Song of Wraiths and Ruin by Roseanne A. Brown
• Loveboat, Taipei by Abigail Hing Wen
• Charlotte Holmes series by Brittany Cavallaro
• Crownchasers by Rebecca Coffindaffer
• The Raven Cycle series by Maggie Stiefvater
• The False Prince series and the Mark of a Thief series by Jennifer A. Nielsen
• The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
• Yes No Maybe So by Becky Albertalli and Aisha Saeed
• Once Upon a Quinceañera by Monica Gomez-Hira
• Now a Major Motion Picture by Cory McCarthy
• Somewhere Only We Know and The Way You Make Me Feel by Maureen Goo
• How Not to Fall in Love by Jacqueline Firkins

Some elements that may draw me into a YA submission are:

• Contemporary rom-coms and/or dramas set in non-western settings
• Loveable weirdos
• Exciting genre mixing
• Disability/chronic illness rep
• Found family & bands of misfits facing the world together
• Enemies-to-lovers, rivals-to-lovers, and best-friends-to-lovers tropes

For New Adult/Adult:

For New Adult, I acquire only commercial titles, and I define “New Adult” as books with a YA-ish tone, protagonists aged ≈20-23, and room for spice — think upper college aged protagonists and new grads experiencing the adult world for the first time. In NA, I’d love to see some good, fun romances that have unique, high concept hooks, and I’m specifically looking for genre bending/genre mixing things, though I am, just generally, drawn to much the same here as I am in YA (just with older characters and actual spice)!

The specific areas of New Adult I am currently open to unsolicited queries in are:

• Rom-coms and rom-com adjacent material (including relevant genre mashups!)
• Romantasy and other mashups of SFF/romance (including dystopian romance, dark academia, and space opera)
• Contemporary (especially glitzy, fun, high concept stories)
• Thriller/Mystery (think less hardboiled and more the type of thriller/mystery you might see in YA just with older characters)
• Horror/Horrormance (though not too gruesome please!)

For Adult books I consider both commercial and more upmarket/literary work and am open to unsolicited queries in the following areas:

• Rom-coms and rom-com adjacent material (including relevant genre mashups!)
• Horrormance (not too gruesome, though!)
• Romantasy and other mashups of SFF/romance (including dystopian romance and romantic space opera)
• Elevated speculative historical or gothic works with a strong appeal to women’s fiction audiences
• Very select narrative nonfiction that focuses on history or literature (both past and present) and is accessible to a commercial audience

I tend to gravitate toward stories from diverse voices, and in both New Adult and Adult I appreciate stories that break the mold of what came before them rather than replicating that mold, though I do love nods to fandoms a lot!  And I love stories that genre mix, have a strong (youngish) voices, and an excellent use of tropes, plus I don’t shy away from heat.  I am especially interested in seeing New Adult with romance, high stakes, and a good deal of fun in it (though this doesn’t mean it can’t have darkness as well!).  For Adult work, I’m very eager for the unexpected, particularly when rendered in sophisticated, accessible ways, and I would love to see more genre work with elevated themes.  I’m also always on the look out for narrative nonfiction that celebrates the daring, historical exploits of women or that dissects historical power/politics/identity through a critical, yet commercial lens.

Some perennial favorite titles I don’t represent that are emblematic of my taste are:

• Four Weekends and a Funeral by Ellie Palmer
• Five Broken Blades by Mai Corland
  
• Love and Other Conspiracies by Mallory Marlowe
• The Resurrectionist by A. Rae Dunlap
• The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas
• Lily Chu’s books
• Attached at the Hip by Christine Riccio
• Trial of the Sun Queen by Nisha Tuli
• The Amazons: Lives and Legends of Warrior Women Across the Ancient World by Adrienne Mayor
• Femina: A New History of the Middle Ages, Through the Women Written Out of It by Janina Ramirez
• Brooding YA Hero by Carrie Ann DiRisio, illustrated by Linnea Gear

Some elements that may draw me in for fiction are:

• Deeply Gen-Z or Millennial voices
• Glitzy settings (that usually go beyond reality TV premises, which I already see a lot of)
• Super fun rom-coms with high concepts
• Genre mixing
• Enemies-to-lovers, rivals-to-lovers, and best-friends-to-lovers
• Nonwestern settings or worldbuilding
• Deeply intriguing explorations of power/identity
• Family bonds
• Twisty intrigue with high stakes that keeps me guessing
• Rom-coms with a bit of Extra Drama™ or elevated themes

Some elements that may draw me in for nonfiction are:

• Ancient and Medieval history/culture from around the world:  any well-researched topic here could be of interest to me, though I especially enjoy topics that touch on women in power or intrigue
• Feminist scholarship underpinning a project (can have a focus in any place/era)
• Lesser known topics that still fit the commercial market
• Power/politics with an eye toward intersectionality in history, historical literature, and/or historical art
• A well-done transition of a highly academic piece (e.g., a PhD thesis) into a commercial book
• History or literature podcasters looking to work in commercial nonfiction

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