Morrow 2013

I founded the Bent Agency after twenty years in the publishing industry, most recently as a Vice President at Trident Media Group. Since opening our doors in 2009, we have represented over 25 NYT bestsellers, added four new agents, and opened a London office.

Our list is varied and includes commercial fiction and nonfiction, literary fiction and memoir, for adults and young readers. All the books we represent speak to the heart in some way: they're linked by genuine emotion, inspiration and great writing and storytelling. We are actively looking for new clients and love to hear from authors both published and unpublished.

Please follow our blog, BENT ON BOOKS and check out more author covers here.

Member:
Association of Authors' Representatives (AAR)
Romance Writers of America (RWA)
Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators (SCBWI)

New York Times and USA Today bestselling clients include:
Ame Beanland and Emily Miles Terry
Kathryn Caskie
Janelle Denison
Michael Farquhar
Sandra Hill
John Kasich
Kieran Kramer
Julia London
Laurie Notaro
Celia Rivenbark
Lynsay Sands
Jacqueline Sheehan
Lori Wilde

Young Adult:
AG Howard's SPLINTERED, an urbanized gothic retelling of ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND, in which a sixteen-year-old descendant of Alice Liddell (real life inspiration for the Lewis Carroll novel), realizes the story was true when she is pulled into the darker side of Wonderland to fix the things her great-great-great grandmother Alice put wrong, to Maggie Lehrman at Amulet, in a six-figure deal, in a two-book deal, at auction

Sandra Waugh's LARK RISING, the story of a clairvoyant sixteen year-old, who is charged to rescue her village from attack, only to discover she is destined for a far greater purpose - to save the Earth from utter destruction - which she bravely attempts with the help of a gnome, a white horse, and a young man she loves but is fated to kill her, and FALLING RAIN, the next in GUARDIANS OF TARNEC series, to Diane Landolf at Random House Children's.

Shannon Greenland's KILLER INSTINCT, first of a chilling series featuring a brilliant teenage girl who studies and understands serial killers... because she might be one herself, to Patrick Price at Simon Pulse, in a six figure deal, in a two-book deal, for publication in Summer 2014, by Jenny Bent and Gemma Cooper at The Bent Agency.

Debut author T.L. Costa's young adult book PLAYING TYLER, pitched as SAY ANYTHING meets ENDERS GAME, about a gamer with ADHD who tests a new drone piloting game, but when he suspects that there may be more to it than it seems, he teams up with the game's designer to figure out what's really going on, questioning everything he has known about ethics, family and fighting for first love in a world at war, to Amanda Rutter at Strange Chemistry, by Jenny Bent at The Bent Agency.

Women's/Romance:
Liz Rosenberg's LAWS OF GRAVITY, in which two cousins' lives are torn apart when one refuses to donate his child's cord blood that will save the other's life -- and their case goes to trial before a retiring judge who must make the biggest decision of his career, to Kelli Martin at Amazon Publishing, in a six-figure deal, at auction, for publication in Spring 2013, in a two-book deal

NYT bestselling author Lynsay Sands's untitled historical romance, to Erika Tsang at Avon, in a six-figure deal, in a three-book deal.

NYT bestselling author Julia London's untitled historical romance, a retelling of Sense and Sensibility, to Ann Leslie Tuttle and Tara Parsons at HQN, in a six-figure deal, in a three-book deal.

NYT bestselling author Lori Wilde's new contemporary romance series, again to Lucia Macro at Avon, in a very high six-figure deal, in a six-book deal.

Memoir:
Suzanne McMinn's BACK TO THE LAND, the author's journey into self-sustainable living halfway up a hill on one of the most remote dirt roads in West Virginia, with a cast including her children, an enigmatic partner, the "rural neighborhood" of quirky characters, and a whole slew of ridiculous and uncooperative farm animals -- based on her website, www.chickensintheroad.com, to Jeanette Perez at Harper One, at auction, in a six-figure deal

Debut Fiction:
Lori Nelson Spielman's THE LIFE LIST, after her mother dies, a woman must complete a list of goals she wrote
when she was fourteen in order to earn her inheritance, to Shauna Summers at Ballantine, in a six-figure deal, at auction, for publication in Summer 2013

Yangsze Choo's THE GHOST BRIDE, in which a young woman in 1890s Malaya is asked to marry a dead man; caught between the world of the living and the Chinese afterlife, she must uncover her dead suitor's secrets before she is forced to become his spirit bride, to Rachel Kahan at William Morrow, in a six-figure deal, at auction

Sonja Condit's STARTER HOUSE, wherein a pregnant woman moves into her dream home, only to discover she must solve the mystery of a decades old murder to rid herself of a ghostly little boy and save her unborn child, to Carrie Feron at William Morrow, at auction.

Jan Moran's A PROMISE OF ROSES, about a young French perfumer whose family is torn apart during World War II, who spies for the French resistance, and who begins life anew in America, struggling to rebuild the family perfumery, reunite her family, and find the love of her life, to Jennifer Weis at St. Martin's, in a two-book deal.

Mystery/Crime:
Lori Roy's WHERE GOOD PEOPLE WALK, the follow-up to her Edgar Award-winning debut, BENT ROAD, in which a working-class enclave of 1960s Detroit is plunged into peril when a girl goes missing on her birthday, again to Denise Roy at Dutton, in a good deal, for publication in 2013

Humor:
Scott Bateman's DISALMANAC: A Compendium of Fact-Like Facts, based on the @Disalmanac Twitter feed, blog and podcast, a somewhat fake almanac featuring somewhat true information about the US, the world, science, and more, to Marian Lizzi at Perigee

Nicole Knepper's F*CK YOU DINNER, MAKE YOURSELF!, based on the author's Facebook page, Moms Who Drink and Swear, a collection of musings, misadventures and mayhem from a potty-mouthed mom who loves her kids but doesn't mince words about the realities of parenting, to Tracy Bernstein at NAL, in a six-figure deal

Pixar story artist Josh Cooley's MOVIES R FUN, pitched as featured on the front page of Reddit, a previously self-published collection of popular R-rated movie scenes drawn in the style of a children's picture book, to Steve Mockus at Chronicle

NYT bestselling author Laurie Notaro's THE POTTYMOUTH AT THE TABLE, a collection of tiny episodes of humiliation, turmoil and displays of social upheaval; true stories include doing something unspeakable in front of 100 people in a train car, raging war with Antiques Roadshow, and cringing from the uninvited affections of an ex-boyfriend in a dirty parking lot on the side of a freeway, to Gallery, with Tricia Boczkowski editing, in a six-figure deal, at auction, in a two-book deal.

Film/Television
Television rights to Laurie Notaro's I LOVE EVERYBODY to ABC
Film rights to Lori Nelson Spielman's THE LIFE LIST, to Fox 2000
Film rights to Greg Bottom's ANGELHEAD to actor Ben Foster and Ben Foster Films
Film rights to Lori Roy's BENT ROAD to Cross Creek Productions (Black Swan) with Mark Mallouk as screenwriter

Translation/Audio
Rights to Lori Roy's BENT ROAD have been sold in France (Le Masque), Japan (Shueisha), Taiwan (Ten Points), and Korea (Viche)
Rights to Anita Howard's SPLINTERED have been sold in Brazil (Novo Conceito), Germany (Bertlesman/Heyne), Turkey (Pegasus), Spain (Oz Editorial), Israel (Korim) and Taiwan (Wisdom); Audio rights to AudioGo
Rights to Lori Nelson Spielman's THE LIFE LIST have been sold in the UK (Random House), Germany (Fischer), Italy (Sperling), France (Cherche Midi), Brazil (Verus), Spain (Urano), Israel (MIskal), Hungary (Agave), Turkey (Dogan), Serbia (Mono), Poland (Rebis), Czech Republic (Euromedia), Slovakia (Ikar), Russia (Centrepolygraph), Bulgaria (Knigopis) and China (Fonghong)
Rights to Yangsze Choo's THE GHOST BRIDE have been sold in the UK (Hot Key) and Spain (Editorial Hidra)
Rights to Lynsay Sands THE COUNTESS have been sold in Indonesia (Elexmedia), Holland (Audax), Russia (AST), Japan (Futami Shobo)
Rights to Sandra Hill's THE NORSE KING'S DAUGHTER have been sold in Turkey (Epsilon), Germany (Luebbe) and Holland (Audax)
Rights to Jacqueline Sheehan's PICTURE THIS have been sold in Italy (Cairo)
Rights to Lori Wilde's FIRST LOVE COOKIE CLUB have been sold in Germany (Goldmann), Turkey (Pozitif)
Rights to Kathryn Caskie's MOST WICKED OF SINS, TO SIN WITH A STRANGER, DUKE'S NIGHT OF SIN and A SIN IN WHITE have been sold in Russia (Family Leisure Club)
Rights to Lynsay Sands' THE ACCIDENTAL VAMPIRE have been sold in Brazil (Nova Cultural), Holland (Audax), Thailand (Crystal), Germany (Egmont), Turkey (Artemis), Spain (Santillana), Taiwan (Lin Pai), Russia (AST)
Rights to Beth Pattillo's JANE AUSTEN RUINED MY LIFE and MR. DARCY BROKE MY HEART have been sold in Turkey (Pegasus) and Czech (Euromedia)
Rights to Sonja Condit's STARTER HOUSE have been sold in the UK (Corvus)
Rights to Shannon Greenland's KILLER INSTINCT have been sold to AudioGo, in a two book deal, at auction.

I have a BA/MA in English literature from Cambridge University and worked for Harvey Klinger and the Trident Media Group before founding The Bent Agency.

Nicole Steen, nicole@thebentagency.com

Susan Hawk (children's fiction/nonfiction), susan@thebentagency.com
Molly Ker Hawn (YA/MG fiction, UK office), molly@thebentagency.com
Nicole Steen, nicole@thebentagency.com
Gemma Cooper (children's and YA fiction, UK office), gemma@thebentagency.com

Query letter and first ten pages (cut-and-pasted into the body of the email) to:

Jenny Bent: queries@thebentagency.com
Susan Hawk: kidsqueries@thebentagency.com
Molly Ker Hawn: hawnqueries@thebentagency.com
Gemma Cooper: Cooperqueries@thebentagency.com
Nicole Steen: Steenqueries@thebentagency.com
Nicole Steen: steenqueries@thebentagency.com
Gemma Cooper: cooperqueries@thebentagency.com

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