Muse Literary Management

189 Waverly Place, #4

New York, NY  10014-3135

(212) 925-3721

MuseLiteraryMgmt@aol.com

Text Box: Query first, with one- to two-paragraph synopsis and description of your background.  Please mention your favorite authors.  Email queries preferred, with no attachments.  Unsolicited manuscripts will be returned unopened.  Multiple submissions ok.
NOTE:  If I don’t respond within two weeks, please try again.
Text Box: Recent Conferences

Nov 22, 2009 -  Literary Writers Conference, NYC

July 9 -  Thrillerfest, NYC

May 27 -  BookExpo/
Writer’s Digest Agent Pitch Slam , NYC

As an independent literary agent, Deborah Carter focuses on manuscript development, the sale & administration of print, performance & foreign rights to literary works, and post-publication publicity and appearances.

 

Looking for fiction for adults and children and narrative nonfiction in areas of interest below (also see Bookshelf page).

 

Actively seeking writers with formal training who bring compelling voices and a unique outlook to their manuscripts.  Those who submit should be receptive to editorial feedback and willing to revise during the submission process to remain competitive.  Writers are encouraged to read Publishers Weekly and take the marketplace into consideration as they conceive their projects.  Most clients are found at industry events and NYC readings.

 

One-year contract offered when writer and agent agree that the manuscript is ready for submission; manuscripts in development are not bound by contract.  Commission is standard 15% domestic, 20% foreign and subrights.  No reading or editorial fees.  All expenses (postage and photocopying, if any) are pre-approved by the client. Although not a member of the Association of Authors’ Representatives, the agency follows the AAR’s recommended business practices.

Listed in the Literary Market Place, Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook, Writer’s Digest guides and Children’s Literature Network.

Associations:  NAWE, International Thriller Writers, Historical Novel Society, Association of Booksellers for Children, Children’s Literature Association, American Folklore Society, The Authors Guild

Prior to starting her agency in 1998, Ms. Carter trained with an AAR literary agent, and worked in the music business in A&R and artist management.  She holds a BA in English and music from Washington Square University College at NYU.

 

See my article on original vs. derivative books “Do You Dare to Be the Next New Thing?” in Children’s Writer.

See “Hiring a Book Doctor in Meredith Sue Willis’s Books for Readers newsletter.

Areas of interest:
· literary novels and short story and poetry collections with popular appeal
· mysteries/thrillers/suspense novels that offer something unique to their category
· nonfiction (music and the arts) and narrative nonfiction
· children's fiction/nonfiction (no copycats or gross books)

Exclusions: manuscripts that have been worked over by book doctors (collaborative projects ok, but writers must have chops); category romance, chick lit, sci fi, fantasy; horror; stories about cats and dogs, vampires, serial killers or dentists; fiction or nonfiction with religious or spiritual subject matter.