Agents
Emily Poole, Owner, Managing Editor, Midnight Owl Editors:
Emily Shelton Poole is the owner and award-winning managing editor of Midnight Owl Editors. In May of 2023, she completed her MA in English—Rhetoric and Professional Writing from Western Carolina University. She also holds a bachelor’s degree in music from Brigham Young University. This makes it seem weird that she’s an editor, but she taught herself how to read at age three, which has given her plenty of time to develop a critical eye and impeccable story sense. Emily was on Jeopardy! once. She knows the answer to almost everything. She’s really good at talking herself into the right answer in trivia contests and sounding extremely authoritative about all of it; even though she’s often right, she is also often making it up. Emily lives in the mountains of North Carolina with her husband, four children, and Lotte, the golden doodle who thinks she’s a person. In addition to her work as an editor, she plays viola professionally in most of the symphonies within a reasonable driving distance of her home and, since she finished her master’s degree in May, resting her brain. Clearly, she doesn’t like sleep enough to say no to anything, but when she has free time, she loves to cook and bake and be outside and she lives for the time of year when her “food life” can start over again in the spring. She is a slow runner of long races, she has inexplicably well-muscled shoulders, and her house is almost always filled with music, to which she dances poorly but with great enthusiasm.
Website: https://midnightowleditors.com
Facebook: Emily Shelton Poole & Midnight Owl Editors
Instagram: mle_no_l (Emily Shelton Poole)
What she’s looking for:
Heather Cashman, Agent, Storm Literary Agency:
Heather started her publishing career as a SFF writer and then became a professional editor for Cornerstones Literary Consultancy, editing middle grade, young adult, and adult books. She also worked as Managing Director of Pitch Wars, #PitMad, and Pitch Madness, as well as being a Pitch Wars mentor. Before becoming Associate Literary Agent and Agent Mentor at Storm Literary Agency, Heather interned for three years at The Bent Agency and then for nearly a year at Entangled Publishing.
Website: https://www.stormliteraryagency.com
What she’s looking for:
- Middle Grade Fiction: all genres
- Young Adult Fiction: all genres
- Non-Fiction: PB, MG, and YA manuscripts that teach me about someone, something, and somewhere new in a creative and fun way.
- My favorite books are commercial fiction with a literary flair and inclusive books that bring us together as citizens of the world.
Samantha Millborn, Managing Editor, Covenant Communications:
Samantha Millburn is the managing editor of Covenant Communications and has happily dedicated her work life to editing excellent books. She collaborates with extremely talented writers and cherishes not only her friendships with them but also the honor it is to help them turn their manuscripts into masterpieces. She has done so with more than three hundred books from more than seventy authors. She graduated from BYU–Idaho with honors with a bachelor’s degree in English. She currently lives in Rigby, Idaho, with her husband, Matthew, and their five beautiful children. Besides reading, Samantha enjoys watching and playing sports, cooking, and being with family.
Websites: https://www.covenant-lds.com/
What she’s looking for:
- Contemporary Christian Romance (not necessarily LDS based; just Christian based)
- Historical Romance (not LDS based)
- Suspense (not LDS based)
- Romantic Suspense (not LDS based)
- Christmas Booklet
- LDS Event Books (baptism, temple endowment, Easter, Father’s Day)
- LDS Doctrine
Lynnette Novak, Agent, The Seymour Agency:
Lynnette Novak is an agent at The Seymour Agency and is currently building her client list. Prior to joining The Seymour Agency, Lynnette spent seventeen years freelance editing. She worked with new writers, advanced writers, as well as New York Times and USA Today bestselling authors. Lynnette earned a Bachelor of Education degree from the University of Manitoba, where she specialized in English and French. She excelled in Advanced Creative Writing in university and studied writing for children and teens through the Institute of Children’s Literature. She was a Pitch Wars mentor in 2015 and 2016. Both her mentees acquired an agent. Lynnette has since closed her editing business and is excited to bring her passion for the written word to agenting. Although Lynnette was born and raised Manitoba, Canada, she now lives in Minnesota with her husband, twin girls, and many pets. Her personal interests include reading, writing, exercising at the gym (okay, that’s a love/hate relationship), working on an assortment of crafts, all things having to do with animals (if she could own a farm, zoo, and animal shelter, she would), and enjoying time with family and friends.
Website: https://theseymouragency.com/
#MSWL: https://www.manuscriptwishlist.com/mswl-post/lynnette-novak/
Twitter: @Lynnette_Novak
What she’s looking for:
- Adult Fiction: thrillers, psychological suspense, contemporary romance, romantic comedy, and mysteries (traditional, amateur sleuth, and cozy).
- Young Adult Fiction: thrillers, psychological suspense, horror, contemporary, mysteries, and fantasy
- Middle Grade Fiction: contemporary, horror, fantasy, mystery, humor, and novels in verse.
- Children’s Fiction: picture books (non-rhyming preferred).
- Graphic Novels: MG and YA. Author/illustrators preferred.
- Adult Nonfiction: self-help, relationships & dating, true crime, psychology, health & fitness, parenting & family, spirituality/New Age, memoirs, motivational/inspirational, lifestyle, celebrity, pets, and business. You must be an expert in the field and have a platform.
- Not Looking For: Historical romance, inspirational romance, paranormal romance, romantic suspense, women’s fiction, Christian fiction, adult sci-fi, or adult fantasy.
