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Agent Spotlight & Agent Spotlight Updates

  • Agent Spotlights & Interviews have been updated through the letter "H" as of 5/11/2023 and many have been reviewed by the agents. Look for more information as I find the time to update more agent spotlights.

Agent Spotlight: Emily Keyes

This week's Agent Spotlight features Emily Keyes of Fuse Literary.
Status: Open to submissions.
7/17/2022: Emily has left Fuse Literary to found Keyes Agency, LLC. Check the website for her submission guidelines.   
EmilyFWD About: “Emily S. Keyes joined Fuse Literary in 2013. Previously she worked at the L. Perkins Agency as a contracts manager and associate agent. Before entering the world of agenting, she worked in the contracts department of Simon & Schuster, Inc where she handled copyright, reversion of rights and assisted with author contracts. In 2008, she graduated from New York University’s Center for Publishing. She uses her knowledge of contracts, copyright and the publishing business to benefit her clients and the Fuse team.
"Emily was born in New Haven, CT to a pack of feral lawyers. She attended the University of Connecticut as an undergraduate. Then she had a series of bookselling jobs and worked, briefly, at Yale University Press before she moved to New York to pursue her dream of working in the big publishing industry. Back when she had time for fun, she spent her time blogging about Sweet Valley at 1bruce1 (remember LiveJournal?) and shouting at her friends about the indignities female comic book characters suffer.
"The “S” stands for Suzanne, which is her mother’s name and may seem pretentious but is actually to distinguish her from this Emily Keyes in search engines.
"Emily loves reading books that make her feel like she is entering someone else’s brain. Voice and emotion are very important to hook her on a project. She loves all types of young adult and middle grade books. Her #MSWL right now includes a diverse YA fantasy in a non-western setting, particularly those based on real historical periods, middle grade stories that kids will WANT to read (if your goal is to “teach kids stuff”, I probably don’t want to read it), upmarket women’s fiction, and unique science fiction and fantasy.
Emily is also looking for a select list of commercial fiction which includes fantasy & science fiction, women’s fiction, along with pop culture and humor titles. She is not looking for poetry, short stories, screenplays or anything that is “publishable” and not amazing.” (Link)
About the Agency:
"Fuse manages a wide variety of clients, from bestsellers to debut authors, working with fiction and non-fiction for children and adults worldwide. We combine technical efficiency with outside-the-covers creative thinking so that each individual client’s career is specifically fine-tuned for them.
"We blend the tried-and-true methods of traditional publishing with the brash new opportunities engendered by digital publishing, emerging technologies, and an evolving author-agent relationship.
"We realize that our ongoing success directly results from that of our clients, so we remain at their side to cultivate and strategize throughout the many lives of each book, both before and after the initial sale." (Link)
Web Presence:
Fuse Literary Website.
Life Is An Open Book (Old blog).
Twitter.
Tumblr.
Query Tracker.
What She's Looking For:
Genres / Specialties:
Fiction:Children's, middle grade, young adult, humor, graphic novel, science fiction, and women's fiction.
Nonfiction: Middle grade, young adult, humor, pop culture
See Ms. Keyes' Manuscript Wish List  and #MSWL tweets to learn more about what she's looking for. She also tags some #MSWL tweets at https://esckeyes.tumblr.com/tagged/mswl on her tumblr
From A Contest (4/2012):
“I'm looking for YA of all types, story-driven (as opposed to ‘lesson’-driven) middle grade. I'm also looking for a range of commercial adult fiction.” (Link)
From a Blog Post (08/2009):
"I love YA books. I loved them when I was a kid and I still love them now. I want to see manuscripts from people who love it as much as I do. I want to find the books that kids are going to remember with fondness. I inhaled Lois Duncan, LJ Smith, Babysitter’s Club, Sweet Valley, etc, etc. These days I’m excited by the writing done by Suzanne Collins, Kristin Cashore, Claudia Gray. I’m also into the teen novels by people like Sarah Dessen, Deb Caletti, Barry Lyga and others. I’m looking for smart middle grade and teen novels. (No picture books, please.) I like fantasy and paranormal, and other odd things. […] I like strong, female heroines and books with fresh voices and a quirky sense of humor. I’m really sick of knock-off 'Harry Potters’ and Twilights.'" (Link)
What She Isn't Looking For:
From her bio above: Poetry, short stories, screenplays, or “anything that is‘publishable’ and not amazing.”
Editorial Agent?
“Certainly, if you work with me, you're going to have to learn to love [revisions]. Although I don't think I could ever be an editor, I do rather enjoy the creative aspect of this business. I want things I send out to be as polished as possible before a real editor sees them.” (Link)
Clients:
Amy Zhang, Dale Lucas, NoNieqa Ramos, Daka Hermon, Douglas Rees among others.
Query Methods:
E-mail: No.
Snail-Mail: No.
Online-Form: Yes. (She only accepts queries through http://QueryMe.Online/EmilyKeyes.)
Submission Guidelines (always verify):
Query and first ten pages in the body of the form. No attachments. Do not query agents simultaneously.
Please see the Fuse Literary for complete, up-to-date submission guidelines and FAQs on submissions. 
Response Times:
Ms. Keyes respond to queries within four to eight weeks.
Worth Your Time:
Interviews:
Podcast Interview with Emily Keyes at The Illustration Department (09/2019)
Interview with Emily Keyes at Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers (05/2015)
An Interview with Agent Emily Keyes at Jeffe Kennedy (05/2015)
Doing What You Love: Agent Emily Keyes at YA Interrobang (02/2014).
Interview with Literary Agent Emily Keyes at Inkygirl (09/2013).
Interview with Emily Keyes at All the Right Stuff (03/2013).
AUTHORNOMICS Interview with Emily Keyes at Andrea Hurst and Associates (03/2013).
Contest Winners & Interview with Emily Keyes at Operation Awesome (04/2012).
Selected Blog Posts:
How to Read Queries, A Step By Step Guide (05/2012).
Most of My Favorite Books… (02/2011)
Around the Web:
Getting an Agent by Self-Publishing Your Manuscript: What Some Agents Think at The Blabbermouth Blog (06/2014).
How to Hook a Literary Agent: 16 Agents Share What Gets Them Reading at Adventures in YA Publishing (02/2014).
Contact:
Please see the Fuse Literary website for additional contact and query information.
Profile Details:
Last updated: 5/13/2020.
Agent Contacted for Review? Yes.
Last Reviewed By Agent? 5/13/2020

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Have any experience with this agent? See something that needs updating? Please leave a comment or e-mail me at natalieiaguirre7(at)gmail(dot)com
Note: These agent profiles focus on agents who accept children's literature. They are not interviews. Please take the time to verify anything you might use here before querying an agent. The information found herein is subject to change.





























































7 comments:

Kristin said...

Thank you for this Spotlight, Casey! I appreciate the work you put into them each week.

Beth said...

Great spotlight, Casey. Thanks for the watch on the agency - very thought-provoking.

Natalie Aguirre said...

Thanks for another awesome agent spotlight Casey.

Creepy Query Girl said...

thanks so much! On my way to send out another query:)

Stina said...

I didn't realize she had left the agency to work at SS. I'll have to add her to my list for when I start querying again. :)

Eric Steinberg said...

Now at Foreword Literary. Thanks for these wonderful profiles, so useful when querying.

Casey McCormick said...

Thanks Eric. I'll try to get her profile updated soon.