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 panelist at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, Betsy has also run publishing workshops at UCLA Extension's Writers' Program, the Loft, the SDSU Writers Conference, and many other venues. 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, research-based 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: b.amster.assistant@gmail.com (see below for submission requirements)

ALL MAJOR PUBLISHERS

Will Allen, Elaine N. Aron, Kim Boyce, Leela Cyd, Margaret Leslie Davis, María Amparo Escandón, Tom Fields-Meyer, Michael Goran, Joy Nicholson, Barry Prizant, Louise Steinman, Terry Theise, Marisel Vera, Amy Wallen, Diana Wells, Emily Ventura.

L.A. WEATHER (Flatiron; New York Times bestseller; Reese's Bookclub Pick), ESPERANZA'S BOX OF SAINTS (Scribner; #1 L.A. Times bestseller), and GONZALEZ & DAUGHTER TRUCKING CO. (Crown) by María Amparo Escandón; THE TASTE OF SUGAR by Marisel Vera (Liveright); UNIQUELY HUMAN: A DIFFERENT WAY OF SEEING AUTISM by Barry M. Prizant with Tom Fields-Meyer (Simon & Schuster); SUGARPROOF: PROTECT YOUR FAMILY FROM THE HIDDEN DANGERS OF EXCESS SUGAR by Michael Goran, Ph.D. and Emily Ventura Ph.D., MPH (Avery); THE GOOD FOOD REVOLUTION: GROWING HEALTHY FOOD, PEOPLE AND COMMUNITIES by MacArthur Fellow Will Allen with Charles Wilson (Avery); THE BLESSING OF A SKINNED KNEE by Wendy Mogel, Ph.D. (Scribner; New York Times bestseller); GOOD TO THE GRAIN: BAKING WITH WHOLE GRAIN FLOURS by Kim Boyce (Abrams; winner of a Beard Award); THE HIGHLY SENSITIVE PERSON IN LOVE and THE HIGHLY SENSITIVE CHILD by Elaine N. Aron, Ph.D. (Harmony); FOLLOWING EZRA: WHAT ONE FATHER LEARNED ABOUT GUMBY, OTTERS, AUTISM AND LOVE FROM HIS EXTRAORDINARY SON by Tom Fields Meyer (Berkley; excerpted in the Wall Street Journal); THE LOST GUTENBERG: THE ASTOUNDING STORY OF ONE BOOK'S FIVE-HUNDRED-YEAR ODYSSEY by Margaret Leslie Davis (TarcherPerigee); THE TRIBES OF PALOS VERDES (L.A. Times bestseller) and THE ROAD TO ESMERALDA by Joy Nicholson (St. Martin's); 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).

L.A. WEATHER by María Amparo Escandón (Flatiron)
THE TASTE OF SUGAR by Marisel Vera (Liveright)
THE CONVERSATION, a graphic memoir by Marian Henley (Andrews McMeel)
THE HIGHLY SENSITIVE PARENT by Elaine N. Aron, Ph.D. (Citadel)
UNIQUELY HUMAN: A DIFFERENT WAY OF SEEING AUTISM, Revised and Expanded Edition, by Barry M. Prizant, Ph.D., with Tom Fields-Meyer (Simon & Schuster)
HOW TO WRITE A NOVEL IN 20 PIES: SWEET AND SAVORY SECRETS FOR SURVIVING THE WRITING LIFE by Amy Wallen, illustrated by Emil Wilson (Andrews McMeel)

TV, Film, Foreign

PLEASE ADDRESS ALL RIGHTS INQUIRIES TO rights@amsterlit.com

UK: Abner Stein Ltd.
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), Turkey, Russia: Prava I Prevodi
Japan: English Agency
China and Vietnam: Big Apple
Korea: Korea Copyright Center

Betsy Amster, President

Our submission requirements have changed. Queries for 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 the overview of your proposal. We do not represent screenplays, poetry, westerns, fantasy, science fiction, techno thrillers, spy capers, apocalyptic scenarios, children's books, 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.