BJ Robbins Literary Agency represents quality fiction, both literary and commercial and general nonfiction -- mystery, suspense/thriller, biography, history, health, travel, sports, African-American, science, pop culture and memoir.
She currently represents more nonfiction than fiction, but is open to any project that is fresh, original and well written. However, genres that her agency does NOT represent are: sci-fi, westerns, romance, horror, poetry, or screenplays.
She has much experience in many aspects of the publishing industry and is able to offer this range expertise to her clients. She opened her Los Angeles-based agency in 1992 after a multifaceted career in book publishing in NYC. She began in publicity at Simon & Schuster and then marketing director and later senior editor at Harcourt.
Her clients include NY Times bestselling authors and award-winning writers such as J. Maarten Troost, James Donovan, Deanne Stillman, Chris Erskin, John Hough, Jr., Max Byrd, Nafisa Haji, Renee Swindle, Stephen Graham Jones, and the late James D. Houston.
Ms. Robbins has led workshops at UCLA Extension, UC Irvine Extension, the Writers Pad, and at the Squaw Valley Community of Writers Fiction Workshop. She is a member of AAR and Pen USA West. She has been a guest speaker in numerous cities in the West as part of PEN’s Writers Toolbox programs.
She works with both established and first-time authors and is looking for projects with strong literary merit. Her advice to potential clients is to learn how to write an effective query letter, because no matter how fantastic your manuscript is, it is unlikely to be considered without a great query to introduce your project.In her opinion, a good emailed query letter and follow-up sticks with the agency’s guideline for submission. The query should be addressed individually to the agent and should not feel general or generic.
