Molly O’Neill

Root Literary

My Manuscript Wish List®

Molly O’Neill is a literary agent at Root Literary. For 20 years, she has held various roles inside the publishing industry. Prior to joining Root Literary, she worked as an Agent at Waxman Leavell Literary Agency; an Editor at HarperCollins Children’s Books, where she acquired Veronica Roth’s juggernaut Divergent series, among many other fantastic projects; as Head of Editorial at Storybird, a publishing/tech start-up; and in School & Library Marketing at both HarperCollins and Clarion Books.

Molly loves the creative process and early-stage project development, is invigorated by business strategy and entrepreneurial thinking, and is fascinated by the intersections of art, commerce, creativity, and innovation. She is especially passionate about the people behind books, and takes pride in discovering and evangelizing talented authors and illustrators, expanding the global reach of their work, and finding new ways to build connections and community among creators, readers, stories, and their champions. You can learn more about her via her website or Twitter.

Fun facts about me:

  • I have been a florist, a cake decorator, and a waitress. (In my next life, I will apparently star in a small-town rom-com movie.)
  • Before moving to NYC, I lived in Houston, TX; Milwaukee, WI; Minneapolis, MN; and across Canada, and love things about each of those places. I am drawn to any story with a vivid sense of place, whether it’s one of these areas, or elsewhere.
  • I spent years intensively studying ballet growing up, and later was a theater nerd, so I’m forever looking for manuscripts that capture those kinds of artsy microcosms while also having high enough stakes to interest readers unfamiliar with those worlds.
  • I’m a person of faith and am always looking for authentic explorations of (any) faith within the context of a larger middle grade or YA story. (I am not, however, looking for work that is primarily intended to proselytize, promote a specific agenda, or encourage readers toward the author’s specific set of beliefs.)
  • I won a jalapeño-eating contest in college.
  • I swoon for interesting settings, where the sense of place in a story is practically its own character.
  • I hate Jane Austen (I know! I’m sorry!), yet somehow they let me be an English major anyway.

Submission Guidelines

Submissions should be emailed to https://querymanager.com/query/mollyoneillbooks

Please follow the submission guidelines on my website.

NOTE: At this time, I do NOT represent: prescriptive nonfiction (i.e. self-help or diet books); adult thrillers, adult crime fiction, or adult SF/F; picture book texts (though I do work with illustrators who also write); poetry chapbooks (though I do represent novels-in-verse for young/teen readers); screenplays; or erotica.

Vital Info