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: info@amsterlit.com
Submissions for adult titles: b.amster.assistant@gmail.com (see below for submission requirements)
Submissions for children's and teen titles: b.amster.kidsbooks@gmail.com (see below for submission requirements)

ALL MAJOR PUBLISHERS

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 BIG SKINNY: HOW I CHANGED MY FATTITUDE by Carol Lay (Villard); 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); REJUVENILE by Christopher Noxon (Crown); ESPERANZA'S BOX OF SAINTS (Scribner - #1 L.A. Times Bestseller) and GONZALEZ & DAUGHTER TRUCKING CO. (Three Rivers) by Maria Amparo Escandon; THE HIGHLY SENSITIVE PERSON IN LOVE and THE HIGHLY SENSITIVE CHILD by Elaine N. Aron, Ph.D. (Broadway); THE RELUCTANT TUSCAN by Phil Doran (Gotham); ETIQUETTE FOR OUTLAWS by Rob Cohen & David Wollock (HarperEntertainment); BABY SIGNS: HOW TO TALK WITH YOUR BABY BEFORE YOUR BABY CAN TALK (Contemporary); THE TRIBES OF PALOS VERDES (L.A. Times Bestseller) and THE ROAD TO ESMERALDA by Joy Nicholson (St. Martin's)

THE BLESSING OF A B MINUS by Wendy Mogel, Ph.D. (Scribner)
THE CALIFORNIA ROLL and THE ALBUQUERQUE TURKEY by John Vorhaus (Shaye Areheart Books)
THE UNDERVALUED SELF by Elaine N. Aron, Ph.D. (Little, Brown)
I SEE RUDE PEOPLE: ONE WOMAN'S BATTLE TO BEAT SOME MANNERS INTO IMPOLITE SOCIETY by Amy Alkon (McGraw-Hill)
THE PITY OF LOVE by Marisel Vera (Grand Central)
FOLLOWING EZRA by Thomas Fields-Meyer (NAL)
GOOD TO THE GRAIN: BAKING WITH WHOLE GRAIN FLOURS by Kimberly Boyce (Stewart, Tabori & Chang)
NAKED IN DANGEROUS PLACES by Cash Peters (Crown/Three Rivers)
WILD INDIGO, WILD INFERNO, WILD SORROW, and WILD PENANCE by Sandi Ault (Berkley Prime Crime)
CHOCOLATE BLISS by Susie Norris (Ten Speed)
BETWEEN HEAVEN AND EARTH by Diana Wells (Algonquin)
ITALIAN RUSTIC by Elizabeth Helman Minchilli & Domenico Minchilli (Artisan)
MONA LISA IN CAMELOT: HOW JACQUELINE KENNEDY AND DA VINCI'S MASTERPIECE CHARMED AND CAPTIVATED A NATION by Margaret Leslie Davis (Da Capo)
A VICKY HILL EXCLUSIVE!, SCOOP!, EXPOSE!, and SNEAK! by Hannah Dennison (Berkley Prime Crime
THE BIG SKINNY: HOW I LOST MY FATTITUDE by Carol Lay (Villard)

TV, Film, Foreign

PLEASE ADDRESS ALL RIGHTS INQUIRIES TO info@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.

For children's picture books and for middle-grade and young adult novels, please address your query to b.amster.kidsbooks@gmail.com. Please embed the text of your picture book or the first six pages of your novel in the e-mail. No illustrations, please.

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.