Melissa Nasson has spent her life living in and around Boston, attending college at Boston University (Go Terriers!). While studying at Boston University School of Law, she realized that becoming a literary agent would combine her passion for books with her legal background, and she began interning at Zachary Shuster Harmsworth, and later at East-West Literary Agency and Rubin Pfeffer Content. After taking the bar exam, Melissa worked as a foreign rights intern at Perseus Books Group before starting as Contracts Director at Beacon Press. Now, she continues her work at Beacon Press while actively building her list as an associate agent at Rubin Pfeffer Content. Melissa is looking for edgy characters with unique voices, enjoys surprising settings, and loves romance that builds slowly and gives her butterflies. She is open to MG, YA, and NA fiction in any genre, though she has a soft spot for fantasy and sci-fi and tends to shy away from thrillers. She will also consider fiction intended for the adult market, particularly edgy speculative fiction and gothic/horror novels. Melissa loves dogs, craft beer, making pickles, tending to her tiny vegetable garden, and her pet tortoise, Norton.
When I’m considering whether to represent someone, there are a few factors I take into account. First and foremost, I need to like the person! It’s not difficult to meet this criterion, since I like nice people. I enjoy representing clients with whom I can work well on the business side, but also share stories, jokes, hopes, fears, and more. We’re collaborating on your life’s work, and because that’s such a serious responsibility, to me it makes sense for author and agent to get to know each other.
In a query, I’m looking for a succinct summary that gives me a firm idea of what the book is about without revealing any big spoilers. It needs to be punchy, and it needs to draw me in and make me excited to start reading. It impresses me when authors incorporate comparative titles into their queries, because it shows they’re looking ahead to a future pitch. Right away I want to know what makes this book special and different from what’s already out there in the market. It turns me off to see typos and major grammatical errors in the query, so I appreciate careful proofreading.
LOL! I think I’ll frame that response! But now you all know what she looks for and if you want to hear my side of the story check out yesterday’s post. Thank you, Melissa!
