Betsy Amster is president of Betsy Amster Literary Enterprises, a literary agency in Los Angeles. Before opening her agency in 1992, she spent ten years as an editor at Pantheon and Vintage and two years as editorial director of the Globe Pequot Press. A frequent instructor at The Loft, the acclaimed literary center in Minneapolis, Betsy has also run publishing workshops at Mediabistro, the Squaw Valley Community of Writers and UCLA Extension's Writers' Program. In addition, she has been profiled in Poets and Writers, the Los Angeles Times, on the Web del Sol/Algonkian Writer's Workshop website (http://www.webdelsol.com/Algonkian/interview-bamster.htm) and in the ASJA Newsletter (http://www.asja.org/newspub/x0502b.php).

The agency's areas of interest include: Literary fiction, quirky mysteries and thrillers, memoirs, narrative nonfiction, travelogues, social issues, current affairs, psychology, self-help, popular culture, women's issues, history, biography, art & design, business, health and medicine, science and technology, parenting, cooking and nutrition, and gardening.

The agency works with both first-time and established writers and is known for its expert attention to every aspect of the publishing process.

Rights inquiries: rights@amsterlit.com
Submissions for adult titles: b.amster.assistant@gmail.com (see below for submission requirements)

ALL MAJOR PUBLISHERS

Will Allen, Wendy Mogel, Sandi Ault, Cash Peters, Amy Alkon, Margaret Leslie Davis, Maria Amparo Escandon, Joy Nicholson, Phil Doran, Elaine N. Aron, Hannah Dennison, Linda Acredolo and Susan Goodwyn, Christopher Noxon, Robin Chotzinoff, Sharon Montrose, Diana Wells, Rob Cohen & David Wollock, Barbara DeMarco-Barrett, John Vorhaus

THE BLESSING OF A SKINNED KNEE by Wendy Mogel, Ph.D. (Scribner/Penguin - New York Times Bestseller; subject of a lengthy profile in the New York Times Sunday Magazine five years after publication); THE HIGHLY SENSITIVE PERSON IN LOVE and THE HIGHLY SENSITIVE CHILD by Elaine N. Aron, Ph.D. (Broadway); MONA LISA IN CAMELOT: HOW JACQUELINE KENNEDY AND DA VINCI'S MASTERPIECE CHARMED AND CAPTIVATED A NATION by Margaret Leslie Davis (Da Capo - first serial to Vanity Fair); WILD INDIGO by Sandi Ault (starred PW, starred LJ, "thrills galore"--NYTBR; Winner of the 2008 Mary Higgins Clark Award, a special Edgar; Berkley Prime Crime); ESPERANZA'S BOX OF SAINTS (Scribner - #1 L.A. Times Bestseller) and GONZALEZ & DAUGHTER TRUCKING CO. (Three Rivers) by Maria Amparo Escandon; THE TRIBES OF PALOS VERDES (L.A. Times Bestseller) and THE ROAD TO ESMERALDA by Joy Nicholson (St. Martin's); THE RELUCTANT TUSCAN by Phil Doran (Gotham); BABY SIGNS: HOW TO TALK WITH YOUR BABY BEFORE YOUR BABY CAN TALK by Linda Acredolo, Ph.D. and Susan Goodwyn, Ph.D.(McGraw-Hill); ETIQUETTE FOR OUTLAWS by Rob Cohen & David Wollock (HarperEntertainment); I SEE RUDE PEOPLE: ONE WOMAN'S BATTLE TO BEAT SOME MANNERS INTO IMPOLITE SOCIETY by Amy Alkon (McGraw-Hill)

THE GOOD FOOD REVOLUTION by Will Allen (Gotham)
COMET: HOW THE GREYHOUND I RESCUED SAVED MY LIFE by Steve Wolf (Algonquin)
THE BLESSING OF A B MINUS by Wendy Mogel, Ph.D. (Scribner)
MENAGERIE by Sharon Montrose (It Books)
THE CALIFORNIA ROLL and THE ALBUQUERQUE TURKEY by John Vorhaus (Shaye Areheart Books)
THE UNDERVALUED SELF by Elaine N. Aron, Ph.D. (Little, Brown)
VINTAGE REMIX by Kishani Perera (Abrams)
IF I BRING YOU ROSES by Marisel Vera (Grand Central)
FOLLOWING EZRA by Thomas Fields-Meyer (NAL)
WILD PENANCE, WILD SORROW, WILD INFERNO, and WILD INDIGO by Sandi Ault (Berkley Prime Crime)
LIVES OF THE TREES by Diana Wells (Algonquin)
ITALIAN RUSTIC by Elizabeth Helman Minchilli & Domenico Minchilli (Artisan)
A VICKY HILL EXCLUSIVE!, SCOOP!, EXPOSE!, and THIEVES! by Hannah Dennison (Berkley Prime Crime)
GOOD TO THE GRAIN: BAKING WITH WHOLE GRAIN FLOURS by Kimberly Boyce (Stewart, Tabori & Chang)

TV, Film, Foreign

PLEASE ADDRESS ALL RIGHTS INQUIRIES TO rights@amsterlit.com

UK: Mary Clemmey
Scandinavia, Holland, Spain/Latin America, Portugal/Brazil: Philip Sane, Lennart Sane Agency AB
Germany: Mohrbooks
France: Donatella d’Ormesson
Italy: Vicki Satlow
Former Yugoslavia (Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Macedonia), Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Poland, Czech & Slovak Republics, Greece, Baltic States (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia): Milena Lukic, Prava I Prevodi
Russia: Alexander Korzhenevski Agency
Japan: English Agency; Japan Uni
China: Big Apple Tuttle-Mori
Korea: MiSook Hong, Korea Copyright Center

Betsy Amster, President

Mary Cummings, Agent

Our submission requirements have changed. Queries for adult titles in the categories we represent must be addressed to b.amster.assistant@gmail.com. For fiction or memoirs, please embed the first three pages in the body of your e-mail. For nonfiction, please embed your proposal. We do not represent screenplays, poetry, westerns, fantasy, science fiction, action adventure, techno thrillers, spy capers, apocalyptic scenarios, or political or religious arguments.

We do not open attachments unless we have requested them.

No phone or fax queries. Please understand that owing to the number of inquiries we receive, we are able to respond only to those that interest us.