HOW TO BE A HAPPIER PARENT by KJ Dell'Antonia (Avery)

It is not enough to be a great writer. If you want your book to stand the test of time, you must also be a great storyteller. Whether the subject is history or nature, parenting or pop culture, science or sports, Laurie Abkemeier looks for a distinctive voice and a natural talent for artfully conveying ideas or skillfully crafting a narrative.

A successful senior editor who became an agent in 2003, Laurie specializes in nonfiction and represents select children's picture books. She has placed more than 200 books with every major publisher, as well as mid-size publishers and small presses.

DeFiore and Company is a full service literary agency founded by Brian DeFiore and headquartered in New York's Flatiron District. Laurie is a member of the Association of Authors' Representatives.

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For a complete list of Laurie's authors and their books, CLICK HERE.

Narrative Nonfiction
SEINFELDIA by Jennifer Keishin Armstrong (Simon & Schuster) **A New York Times Hardcover and E-Book Best Seller
RISE OF THE ROCKET GIRLS by Nathalia Holt (Little, Brown) **A New York Times Hardcover Best Seller
PIERO'S LIGHT by Larry Witham (Pegasus Books) **Finalist for the 2015 PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Biography
CHEER! Inside the Secret World of College Cheerleaders by Kate Torgovnick (Touchstone) **The basis for the drama series "Hellcats" on The CW.
SOMETHING MUST BE DONE ABOUT PRINCE EDWARD COUNTY by Kristen Green (Harper)
**A New York Times Race and Civil Rights Best Seller
**Longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction

General Nonfiction
SO GOOD THEY CAN'T IGNORE YOU and DEEP WORK by Cal Newport (Grand Central) **A Wall Street Journal Business Best Seller
THE GIFT OF FAILURE by Jessica Lahey (Harper) **A New York Times Education Best Seller
WHAT A PLANT KNOWS by Daniel Chamovitz (Scientific American Books/FSG)
THE BOOK and SHADY CHARACTERS by Keith Houston (W.W. Norton)
MINIWEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION series by John Austin (Chicago Review Press) **More than 250,000 copies sold
GRAMMAR GIRL'S 101 WORDS Series by Mignon Fogarty (St. Martin's Griffin)
STORY GENIUS and WIRED FOR STORY by Lisa Cron (Ten Speed Press)
EXPERIMENTING WITH BABIES by Shaun Gallagher (Perigee)
SECRETS FROM THE EATING LAB by Traci Mann, PhD (HarperWave)
AWKWARD by Ty Tashiro, PhD (William Morrow)
THE ENDS OF THE WORLD by Peter Brannen (Ecco)

Memoir
MARLEY & ME by John Grogan (William Morrow) **A #1 New York Times Hardcover Best Seller for 23 weeks. More than 19 months on the printed hardcover list
THE LONGEST TRIP HOME by John Grogan (William Morrow) **An instant NYT Hardcover Best Seller
THE $64 TOMATO by William Alexander (Algonquin)
THE NINE OF US by Jean Kennedy Smith (Harper)

Illustrated Gift
START WHERE YOU ARE by Meera Lee Patel (Perigee) **More than 350,000 copies sold
SOPPY by Philippa Rice (Andrews McMeel) **A #1 New York Times Graphic Books Best Seller
THE LITTLE BOOK OF LIFE HACKS (St. Martin's Press) and YOUR ILLUSTRATED GUIDE TO BECOMING ONE WITH THE UNIVERSE (Adams Media) by Yumi Sakugawa
EXTRAORDINARY ORDINARY MOMENTS by Jorey Hurley (Potter Style)
THE NOCTURNAL JOURNAL by Lee Crutchley (TarcherPerigee)
QUIET GIRL IN A NOISY WORLD by Debbie Tung (Andrews McMeel)

Children's Books
NEST; FETCH; HOP; and RIBBIT by Jorey Hurley (Paula Wiseman Books/Simon & Schuster Children's)
LES AND RONNIE STEP OUT and EDMUND UNRAVELS by Andrew Kolb (Nancy Paulsen Books/Penguin)
WHAT I LOVE ABOUT YOU by Susan Farrington (Balzer+Bray)
SPRING FOR SOPHIE written by Yael Werber (Paula Wiseman Books/S&S)
MY ROTTEN STEPBROTHER RUINED FAIRY TALES chapter book series by Jerry Mahoney (Capstone)

Laurie has also overseen the bestselling series of children's picture books based on John Grogan's MARLEY & ME. They include the #1 New York Times bestsellers BAD DOG, MARLEY! and A VERY MARLEY CHRISTMAS, the top-5 New York Times bestsellers MARLEY GOES TO SCHOOL and MARLEY AND THE KITTENS, and an extension program that includes more than a dozen I Can Read's, Lift-the-Flap books, Touch-and-Feel books, a boxed set, a treasury, and a sticker book.

Published in 2018 (so far)
MY FRIEND FEAR by Meera Lee Patel (TarcherPerigee)
EVERY COLOR SOUP by Jorey Hurley (Paula Wiseman Books/Simon & Schuster Children's)
THE REBOUNDERS by Amanda Ottaway (University of Nebraska Press)
BUTTHEADS FROM OUTER SPACE by Jerry Mahoney (Sky Pony)
PEACE: A Card Game by Andrew Kolb (Chronicle)
THE COMPASSIONATE CONNECTION by David Rakel, MD (W.W. Norton)
I CHOOSE YOU, illustrated by Yumi Sakugawa (Compendium)
SEX AND THE CITY AND US by Jennifer Keishin Armstrong (Simon & Schuster)
A RACCOON AT THE WHITE HOUSE by Rachel Dougherty (Simon Spotlight)
JUST A SHOT AWAY by Saul Austerlitz (Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin's Press)
THE JOY OF SYNTAX by June Casagrande (Ten Speed Press)
PEACE: A JOURNAL by Andrew Kolb (Chronicle)
LAST-MINUTE KITCHEN SECRETS by Joey Green (Chicago Review Press)
CAN YOU LEARN TO BE LUCKY? by Karla Starr (Portfolio)

Narrative and General Nonfiction
GENERATION FRIENDS by Saul Austerlitz (Sold to Dutton)
THE ADDRESS BOOK by Deirdre Mask (Sold to Picador USA)
THE QUEENS OF ANIMATION by Nathalia Holt (Sold to Little, Brown)
PLEASED TO MEET ME by Bill Sullivan, PhD (Announcement Pending)
MRS. MORHARD AND THE BOYS by Ruth Hanford Morhard (Sold to Citadel Press)
FORGET "HAVING IT ALL" by Amy Westervelt (Sold to Seal Press)
FURY ON THE WAVES by Rachel Lance, PhD (Sold to Dutton)
YALE NEEDS WOMEN by Anne Gardiner Perkins (Sold to Sourcebooks)

Practical Nonfiction
HOW TO BE A HAPPIER PARENT by KJ Dell'Antonia (Sold to Avery)
PROPELLED TOWARD THE GOOD LIFE by Andreas Elpidorou, PhD (Sold to Oxford University Press)
DIGITAL MINIMALISM and A WORLD WITHOUT EMAIL by Cal Newport (Sold to Portfolio)
THE STARTUP GOLD MINE by Neil Soni (Sold to AMACOM/HarperCollins Leadership)
EXPERIMENTS FOR NEWLYWEDS by Shaun Gallagher (Sold to Sourcebooks)
EXPERIMENTING WITH PRESCHOOLERS by Shaun Gallagher (Sold to TarcherPerigee)
HAPPY CAMPER by Audrey Monke (Sold to Center Street)
ULTRALEARNING by Scott Young (Announcement Pending)
THE ADDICTION INOCULATION by Jessica Lahey (Sold to Harper)

Illustrated Nonfiction
GET LOST! by Lee Crutchley (Sold to TarcherPerigee)
MADE OUT OF STARS by Meera Lee Patel (Sold to TarcherPerigee)
SISTER BFFs by Philippa Rice (Sold to Andrews McMeel)
MAKE YOURSELF COZY by Katie Vaz (Sold to Andrews McMeel)
THE ESCAPE MANUAL FOR INTROVERTS by Katie Vaz (Sold to Andrews McMeel)
BOOK LOVE by Debbie Tung (Sold to Andrews McMeel)
BABY: A SOPPY STORY by Philippa Rice (Sold to Andrews McMeel in the US and to Square Peg in the UK)

Children's Books
STEWART'S BEST PEN by Stephen W. Martin (Sold to Clarion)
SKYSCRAPER and GO, BANANAS! by Jorey Hurley (Sold to Paula Wiseman Books/S&S)
I'M A GNOME! by Jessica Peill-Meininghaus (Sold to Crown Books for Young Readers)
SECRET ENGINEER by Rachel Dougherty (Sold to Roaring Brook Press)

Dramatic rights to MARLEY & ME to FOX 2000 in an outright purchase, in conjunction with Matthew Snyder at CAA. Film released on December 25, 2008, and starring Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson spent two weeks as the #1 movie in the country--surpassing the $100 million mark in its first ten days and grossing $243 million. Animated special in development with Fox.

Television rights to Kate Torgovnick's CHEER!: Inside the Secret World of College Cheerleaders, optioned to Warner Bros Television and Tom Welling Productions for development as a drama series for the CW, with Kevin Murphy attached to write, in conjunction with CAA. Picked up by The CW as "Hellcats" for a full season run.

Recent Foreign Rights Sales
Peter Brannen's THE ENDS OF THE WORLD: Chinese to Hangzhou Guomai Culture, Korean to Next Wave Media, Japanese to Tsukiji Shokan, Chinese complex to Commonwealth, Portuguese (Portugal) to Bizancio
Lisa Cron's STORY GENIUS: Japanese to Film Art Sha, Turkish to Sola
Lisa Cron's WIRED FOR STORY: Korean renewal to Woongjin Think Big Co. Ltd.,
John Grogan's MARLEY & ME: Romanian to ART Grup
Nathalia Holt's RISE OF THE ROCKET GIRLS: Korean to Alma, Chinese simple to Ginkgo
Keith Houston's THE BOOK: German to Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft
Jessica Lahey's THE GIFT OF FAILURE: Arabic to Jarir, Ukrainian to Knigolove, Russian to Samokat
Jerry Mahoney's MY ROTTEN STEPBROTHER RUINED CINDERELLA: Ukrainian to Kingolove
Jerry Mahoney's MY ROTTEN STEPBROTHER RUINED Fairy Tales Series: Turkish to Sola
Traci Mann's SECRETS FROM THE EATING LAB: Korean to Eelee Books
Cal Newport's HOW TO WIN AT COLLEGE: Chinese complex to China Times
Philippa Rice's SOPPY: Turkish to Pegasus, Indonesian to Kepustakaan Populer Gramedia, Russian to ComFederation, Spanish to La Cupula
Yumi Sakugawa's THE LITTLE BOOK OF LIFE HACKS: Chinese simple to CITIC, Indonesian to PT Elexmedia Komputindo
Yumi Sakugawa's I THINK I AM IN FRIEND-LOVE WITH YOU: Chinese simple to CITIC
Ty Tashiro's AWKWARD: Dutch to Arbeiderspers, Chinese complex to China Times, Turkish to Paloma

Originally from northern California, Laurie Abkemeier graduated from Wells College with a degree in communications and a background in broadcast and print journalism. She began her publishing career as an editorial assistant in the Touchstone/Fireside division at Simon & Schuster before moving to Hyperion, where she was responsible for five New York Times bestsellers and many national bestsellers. In 2003, she joined DeFiore and Company as a literary agent. She has represented multiple New York Times and national bestsellers, and she has overseen book-to-screen deals, including those that led to the #1 blockbuster movie Marley & Me and The CW drama Hellcats. She also invented a sandwich. You should try it. Read more about Laurie and learn how you can connect with her here.

DeFiore and Company actively markets its titles through an extensive network of sub-agents who specialize in dramatic and foreign rights.

UK/Australia/NZ: Meredith Kaffel Simonoff of DeFiore and Company.
Foreign: visit our agency website for a complete list of contacts.

Brian DeFiore, Founder and Principle
Agents: Miriam Altshuler, Ashley Collom, Reiko Davis, Matthew Elblonk, Lisa Gallagher, Cassie Hanjian, Caryn Karmatz Rudy, Adam Schear (also Director of Business Affairs), Meredith Kaffel Simonoff (also UK Rights Director), Rebecca Strauss, and Nicole Tourtelot.
Linda Kaplan, Foreign Rights Director
Gabrielle Piraino, Foreign Rights Manager

Laurie Abkemeier accepts only email queries (attachments will not be read unless requested). Snail mail queries will be discarded. Please include the word "QUERY" and your book title in the subject line, and send your brief query to Laurie@defliterary.com. Submissions need not be exclusive, and response time is generally between two hours and two weeks. If you have not heard from me during this time, please check that the defliterary.com domain name is on your email server whitelist; my response might have been rejected by your server. Please note that Laurie does not consider fiction from prospective clients.