Agent Spotlight: Pam van Hylckama Vlieg

This week's Agent Spotlight features Pam van Hylckama Vlieg of Larsen Pomada Literary Agents.

Status: Open to submissions.

About: “Associate Agent Pam van Hylckama Vlieg joined Larsen Pomada as an Associate Literary Agent in 2012 to represent young adult and middle grade children’s book authors, and adult romance authors. Over the past four years Pam has become one of the top YA book bloggers in the country at Bookalicious.org. She also partners her blog with Hicklebee’s, a children’s bookstore in San Jose, CA.

“Pam writes supernatural YA and MG fiction and is represented by Laurie McLean, also of Larsen Pomada Literary Agents. She lives in the Bay Area of California with her Dutch husband, two children–a boy and a girl the perfect set–a Jack Russell terrier, a bull dog puppy, and a small guinea pig. It is her greatest dream to own a menagerie.” (Link)

About the Agency:

“Michael Larsen – Elizabeth Pomada Literary Agents is Northern California’s oldest literary agency, helping writers launch careers since 1972.

“Members of the Association of Authors’ Representatives, Elizabeth–who represents commercial, women’s, and literary fiction, plus narrative non-fiction–and Michael–who handles prescriptive non-fiction–have sold hundreds of books to more than one hundred publishers. They are also the co-founders of the San Francisco Writers Conference and the Writing for Change Conference. Senior Agent Laurie McLean joined the agency in 2005 to represent adult genre fiction and children’s middle-grade and young adult books and has sold nearly 100 books in that time. She is also the Dean of San Francisco Writers University. Pam van Hylckama Vlieg is our newest associate agent specializing in middle grade and young adult children’s books plus adult romance novels and pop culture books.” (Link)

Web Presence:

Larsen Pomada Literary Agency website.

Publisher’s Marketplace Page.

Bookalicio.us (blog).

Twitter.

Facebook.

Pinterest.

LibraryThing.

Goodreads.

Formspring.

Tumblr.

QueryTracker.

AgentQuery. 

What She's Looking For:

Genres / Specialties:

Children’s middle grade and young adult, new adult, commercial fiction, literary fiction, women’s fiction, romance, historical, fantasy, sci-fi, and select non-fiction. (Link)

From Her Submissions Page (as of 2/13):

“Pam is interested in the following genres:

“High concept young adult in any genre. Some of Pam’s favorite recent YA books are: The Masque of the Red Death, Cinder, Shadow and Bone, Daughter of Smoke and Bone, Small Damages, and Insignia.

“Middle grade in these genres: fantasy, science fiction, dystopian, paranormal, literary. Pam’s recent favorite MG books are: The Peculiars, The Emerald Atlas, Storybound, The Prince Who Fell from the Sky, and Icefall.

“Romance in these categories: historical, fantasy, and erotica. Pam’s favorite romance titles released recently are: Loving Lady Marcia, Be My Prince, Rogue’s Pawn, and The Siren.

“Pam is now accepting submissions in commercial science fiction, fantasy, and literary fiction.

“New Adult in all categories will be considered. Pam has enjoyed The Ivy, and Leopard Moon in this genre.

“She will be considering the following genres for submission along with her assistant agent Jen Karsbaek.

“I am now open to submissions in upmarket women’s fiction and historical fiction. I’m looking for books with particularly well-developed characters and strong authorial voice. In historical fiction in particular I am particularly interested in books that bring the setting to life and that maintain balance between historical accuracy and strong plot choices. I am also very interested in mystery, fantasy, and occasionally romance approaches to these genres as well.

“Non Fiction. Pop culture and pop science.” (Link)

From a Blog Post (10/2012):

“BDSM – girls tied up with red sashes
YA Fantasy – A Kingdom in ashes
Boys with green eyes, and a great regency
These are a few things I want in queries

“Erotica – hot but with literary flare
Victorian, European, historical, taudry affair
Pantaloons and codpieces, tea and a scone
Urban, paranormal, scifi with lots of pluton

“Basically I want your romance/erotica queries. I want New Adult and I want a Game of Thrones for teens.” (Link)

What She Isn't Looking For:

Picture books, screenplays.

Editorial Agent?

Revisions as needed; otherwise unknown.

Clients:

There is a list of clients on Ms. van Hylckama Vlieg’s blog here.

Clients include: Vivi Barnes, Jeanette Battista, Naomi Canale, Lorenda Christensen, Rhay Christou, Nick Courage, Sarah Eden, Rhonda Helms, Heather Hiestand, Jeffe Kennedy, Rick Lipman, Kari Olson, Danielle Smith, Lauren Smith, Kristen Strassel, and Cecily White.

Sales:

There is a list of recent sales on Ms. van Hylckama Vlieg’s PM page.

As of this posting, she is listed on Publisher’s Marketplace as having made 9 deals in the last 12 months and 9 overall.

Recent deals include 1 women’s/romance, 1 sci-fi/fantasy, 3 young adult, and 4 digital women’s/romance.

NOTE: PM is usually not a complete representation of sales.

Query Methods:

E-mail: Yes (only).

Snail-Mail: No.

Online-Form: No.

Submission Guidelines (always verify):

Send a query, the first chapter, and a 1-2 page synopsis in the body of an e-mail. No attachments.

See the submission page on Ms. van Hylckama Vlieg’s blog and the agency website for complete, up-to-date submission guidelines. 

Response Times:

Stats on the web show Ms. van Hylckama Vlieg responding to most queries and requests within one to three months, often within days when she’s caught up.

What's the Buzz?

Pam van Hylckama Vlieg has been an agent with Larsen Pomada since April of 2012. She’s sold 21 books so far to publishers such as Simon Pulse, Kensington, Entangled, Carina, and Spencer Hill Press. Her clients appear happy with her representation. 

Pam is currently accepting middle grade and young adult submissions on the children’s side but occasionally closes to queries – keep an eye out for status changes in the future.

I recommend following her on Twitter @BookaliciousPam, subscribing to her blog, Bookalicio.us, and taking a peak at the other places she can be found on the web (linked above).

Worth Your Time:

Interviews:

Small Press 411: Agent Pam van Hylckama Vlieg, interview at Tangled Up In Words (02/2013).

Interview with Literary Agent Pam van Hylckama Vlieg at 2013 MWG Conference Notes (12/2012).

Interview with Pam van Hylckama Vlieg at Literary Rejections (2012).

Interview with Pamela Van Hylckama Vlieg at Dreams Can Be Reached (03/2012).

Blog Stuff:

Small Presses and Querying (01/2013).

Freelance Developmental Editing (10/2012).

These are a few of my favorite things… (AKA what I’m looking for) (10/2012).

Why Did You Decide to Become an Agent? (05/2012).

Around the Web:

Larsen Pomada Literary Agents at P&E.  

Larsen Pomada Literary Agents thread at AbsoluteWrite (2005-present).

View the agency’s Agency Agreement here.

The agency’s Personal Appearances page can be found here. Ms. van Hylckama Vlieg also has conference dates listed on the sidebar of her blog.

Check out the “Savvy Authors” drop-down menu on the agency website for articles on the writing and publishing process.

The agency’s standard form rejection can be viewed here on the website.

Contact:

Please see Ms. van Hylckama Vlieg’s blog and the Larsen Pomada Literary Agents website for contact and query information.

Profile Details:

Last updated: 2/7/13.

Last Reviewed By Agent? 2/7/13.

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Have any experience with this agent? See something that needs updating? Please leave a comment or e-mail me at agentspotlight(at)gmail(dot)com

Note: These agent profiles presently focus on agents who accept children's and/or teen fiction. 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.