Kesia Lupo
First Ink / Macmillan Children's Books
My Manuscript Wish List®
For a YA/crossover readership (my initial focus), I’d particularly love to see original, immersive speculative and fantasy novels (especially if inspired by an unusual setting or underrepresented history, mythology or culture), horror, dystopian, romance and thrillers.
I’m really interested in the cross-genre space generally too (totally here for horromance and dystomance). My taste leans darker generally but I love humour – an author who can fill me with wonder, scare me AND make me laugh is the dream!
Your ‘weird’ or literary-leaning YA books may be for me. I’m interested in younger YA/teen as a category and would especially like to see contemporary, emotional novels (think John Green) and horror for readers aged 13+.
That’s it for now – I may consider MG in the future but currently I’m commissioning for First Ink which is all about coming-of-age stories. The email formula is identical for all Macmillan editors (both US and UK).
Fun facts about me:
You can find me on Substack for all my news and lots of publishing thoughts! https://kesialupo.substack.com/
Vital Info
Favorite sub-genres:
Young Adult
I’d like the next…
My favorites include…
Here are some of my favorite books by genre…
Fantasy
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Pan’s Labyrinth (book and movie!)
Mistborn
The Magicians
The Farseer trilogy
The Neverending Story
Thrillers
Behind Her Eyes
The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle
The Last House on Needless Street
Horror
The Devil House
We Have Always Lived in the Castle
The Shining
Other Fiction
My Year of Rest and Relaxation
Elinor Oliphant is Completely Fine
Yellowface
Tender is the Flesh
My Husband
Science Fiction
The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet
How High We Go in the Dark
This is How You Lose the Time War
Romance
The Flatshare
Book Lovers
Unromance
Non-Fiction
Maybe You Should Talk to Someone
Fascism: A Warning
On the TV and movies side, I’m pretty eclectic. I loved Ghosts and What We Do in the Shadows and would love to find books in that general area. I’m a big fan of classic Hollywood and would be drawn to projects set in that world and era. I also really enjoyed Stranger Things and Rings of Power – in fact, I’m a massive fan of the LOTR books and the original movies. Love Game of Thrones too, books and TV series.
My guilty pleasure is reality TV – MAFSA, Love is Blind and 90 Day Fiance.
Favorite podcasts – Publishing Rodeo (plus other publishing podcasts!), Scamfluencers, Lore
