Mystery Agent Revealed: Sara Crowe

November's Mystery Agent is...

SARA CROWE of Harvey Klinger Literary Agency

Sara Crowe has been an agent with Harvey Klinger, Inc. where she represents both adult and children's titles, since 2005. Before joining Harvey Klinger, Sara was a foreign rights agent at Trident Media Group.  She started her career at The Wylie Agency and was a foreign rights agent in their London office. On the adult side, she represents commercial and literary fiction and a narrative non fiction. On the children's side, her list includes YA and middle grade fiction, as well as picture books. Some of her well known projects include ZOOLOGY by Ben Dolnick, HOLD STILL by Nina LaCour (William C. Morris Award Finalist), PATIENT ZERO by New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Maberry, GENTLEMEN by Michael Northrop, I HEART YOU, YOU HAUNT ME by Lisa Schroeder, LOST IT by Kristen Tracy and I AM NOT A SERIAL KILLER by Dan Wells. 

Winner:

questofdreams 

The Whispering City - YA paranormal



When sixteen-year-old London Howell inadvertently "creates" a person, drawing the attention of the city's ruling mage family, the House of Dering, he must decide if the answers to newly raised questions about himself and his family are worth the price of a human soul.

This grabbed me because I do want to know how London created a person inadvertently, and if it is a Frankenstein’s monster like creation.  Also the setting interests me, as it seems like the author has created a new world for this book, too.  Its an impressive amount of information for one sentence, without feeling like too much information.  

(questofdreams, don't forget to email your full MS to Sara at sara@harveyklinger.com and mention you won this contest, though I'm sure she won't forget you.)

Runners Up:

Jared Larson 

Title: I'm Here to Save Your Day– The Adventures of Bo Wolf


Genre: MG Fantasy



When you're the greatest eleven-year-old fencer of all time, you naturally bring the smackdown on a playground bully who's taken over the jungle gym, but when Bo Wolf discovers the bully's mom– the lunch lady– is plotting her diabolical revenge by poisoning the school with her irresistible gingersnaps, his horrible fears spring to life.


I love funny MG, and I love that this is about a fencer named Bo Wolf as a modern Beowolf set in a middle school. 


Norma Johnson-MacGregor

Title: VEX



Genre-YA fantasy with a techie twist



Pitch: Created to rebuild damaged and missing pathways in people with brain injuries, the virtual environment VEX carries heavy consequences for perfectly healthy sixteen-year-old Tana when she becomes addicted to it and discovers an entity living there is preparing to download itself into her weakening body, killing her and taking over her life.


This interests me as I am looking for YA with sci-fi elements. 

Theresa Milstein 

Title: The Mist Chasers


Genre: YA Paranormal



Pitch: Sixteen-year-old Eve and her best friend Adam are the sole witnesses to a badass mist that obliterates a Walmart, launching them on a ludicrous quest to salvage the planet before it reaches the tipping point.


This seems like a lot of fun.  I love the idea of these two friends having to save the world-- especially from a mist that eats Walmarts. And you have shown me that it is an adventure AND funny, which I like. 

Patty Blount 

Genre: YA contemporary


Title: SEND




Daniel Clements, a former bully, hopes to escape his past by changing schools and his name only to fall in love with a girl he does not yet know is his victim’s sister.

I love contemporary YA, and this has a great hook. 

And now for a helpful Q & A with our Mystery Agent:

What are some of your pet peeves for queries?

Queries are so hard to get right, so I try to focus on the book pitch and pretty much ignore the small mistakes. If your pitch interests me and makes me want to see more, I ask for more, even if you got my name wrong.  I do hate when the letter begins with dissing a genre (especially one I represent) or when it begins with the writer saying that his or her book is better than (insert HUGE bestseller here).  Your book has to be great; it doesn't matter that you or your mother thinks it is better than TWILIGHT, or that you think there is nothing else that is as good on the market.
  

What bugs you in fiction (e.g. dream sequences, cheeky protagonists)?

Teen speak. It is very obvious when a writer is trying too hard to sound teen, and throwing in phrases that they think a teen would say-- instead of really focusing on getting this teen in this book right. Usually bad teen speak involves a lot of sarcasm. 

What's your favorite candy?

M & Ms

Name one TV show or movie that had you coming back for more.

Veronica Mars.  Make it come back.

Do you have any client or agency news? New books or sales we can celebrate with you? New clients we should check out? 

In adult, Jonathan Maberry's third installment in the Joe Ledger series, THE KING OF PLAGUES will be out in March.  In YA, GENTLEMEN author Michael Northrop's new thriller TRAPPED will be out in February, and Kristen Tracy's new MG, THE REINVENTION OF BESSICA LEFTER will be out in January.  

Awesome! Thrilling new books for the TBR pile! Special Thanks to Sara for being our Mystery Agent! 

Check out her clients' books on goodreads:

Joe Ledger and the Department of Military Sciences begin tearing down the veils of deception to uncover a vast and powerful secret society using weaponized versions of the Ten Plagues of Egypt to destabilize world economies and profit from the resulting chaos. Millions will die unless Joe Ledger meets the this powerful new enemy on their own terms as he fights terror with terror. The King of Plagues

Haberman calls them "gentlemen," but everyone else ignores them--or, in Bones's case, is dead afraid of them. When one of their close-knit group goes missing, the clues all seem to point in one direction: to Mr. Haberman. Gentleman

The day the blizzard started, no one knew that it was going to keep snowing for a week. That for those in its path, it would become not just a matter of keeping warm, but of staying alive....  Trapped

Bessica doesn't care about being popular. She just wants to survive -- and look cute too. Is that too much to ask when you're eleven? The Reinvention of Bessica Lefter

Other places you'll find Sara:

Official Website and Submission Guidelines: http://www.saracrowe.com/

The Crowe's Nest blog
Harvey Klinger, Inc.
Publisher's Marketplace page

Sara Crowe on Finding the Right Agent
Interview with author Laurie Thompson
Agent Spotlight on Casey McCormick's blog (a helpful compilation of everything Sara)
Interview at CYNSATIONS
I Won't Be Sorry, But Neither Will You

Querytracker's List of Sara's Clients

Follow her on Twitter

Congratulations to the winners! Happy querying and good luck!