2012 Agents, Editors, & Publishers

Jill Marr / Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency

Jill is an acquiring associate agent at the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency. She graduated from San Diego State University with a BA in English with an emphasis in Creative Writing and a minor in History. She has a strong Internet and media background as well as over 10 years of publishing experience. She wrote features and ads for Pages, the literary magazine for people who love books, and continues to write book ads for publishing houses, magazine pieces and promotional features for television. After writing ad copy and features for published books for years she knows how to find the "hook" and sell it. Jill is interested in commercial fiction, with an emphasis on mysteries, thrillers and horror, women's commercial fiction and historical fiction. She is also looking for non-fiction by authors who are getting their work published regularly in magazines and who have a realistic sense of the market and their audience. Jill is looking for non-fiction projects in the areas of self-help, inspirational, cookbooks, memoir (she especially loves travel and foodie memoirs), parenting, history, sports, current events, health & nutrition, pop culture, humor and music. Some of Jill's recent and soon-to-be-published books include Nancy L. Cohen's Cracked: Sex, Politics, and the Unmaking of America (PoliPoint Press), Martha Biondi's Black Revolution on Campus: 1968 and its Legacy (UC Press), Doulas A. Wissing's The Perfect War (PoliPoint Press), Market Mind Games by Denise Shull (McGraw-Hill) and Lexi George's series Demon Hunting in Dixie (Kensington), Jaden E. Terrell's series that includes Racing the Devil and A Cup Full of Midnight (The Permanent Press), Jay Michaelson's God versus Gay?: The Religious Case for Equality (Beacon Press), Rick's Cafe: How I Brought a Screen Legend to Life in Casablanca (Lyon's Press) by Kathy Kriger, William Jones' More than the Dream: The Untold Story of the March on Washington, Flat Spin (The Permanent Press), a thriller from Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Freed and Argyle Armada: Life with America's Top Pro Cycling Team (VeloPress) by Mark Johnson.

Holly McClure / Sullivan Maxx Literary Agency

Holly grew up in Robbinsville, NC; the daughter of a Cherokee mother and a father of Scottish heritage. She founded Sullivan Maxx Literary Agency in hopes of helping a few Southern writers get published. Today the agency has five agents who represent writers from all parts of the country and work with most genres. Her writing career took a back seat while she nurtured Sullivan Maxx, but she has authored both fiction and non–fiction, including historical fiction, thrillers, and YA. She is a frequent speaker and teacher at writers conferences and workshops and loves to see new authors find success. She is seeking manuscripts on behalf of all five Sullivan Maxx agents, who represent a variety of genres, including romantic suspense, paranormal, urban fantasy, and traditional mystery. McClure says, "We are accepting submissions in everything but porn and anything really gory."

Nicole Resciniti / The Seymour Agency

After a lifetime of battling an addiction to books, Nicole Resciniti admitted she had a problem. The signs had been there all along–tailoring her work schedule to accommodate reading, staying awake at night to finish a novel or sneaking spare moments to skim extra pages. Various jobs (sales, SAT tutoring, high school Marine Biology teacher) couldn't offset the obsession. But how does one balance a love of books with the practicalities of a successful career? Mary Sue Seymour offered the answer: become a literary agent at The Seymour Agency, and Nicole seized this amazing opportunity. Do you have the next book to feed her habit? A smart, tight read she won't be able to put down? A signature voice she'll fight to represent? Nicole would love to find the next great science fiction/fantasy novel or action/adventure masterpiece. Happily Ever Afters are a must for romance. Mainstream suspense, thrillers, mysteries, YA and inspirational novels are welcome. A consummate science geek and card–carrying Mensa member. Nicole is a member of AAR, ACFW, RWA, and Mensa. She holds degrees in biology, psychology, and behavioral neuroscience.

Deni Dietz / Five Star Mysteries

Denise [Deni] Dietz has been in the publishing business for over 20 years, and has been reading fiction for longer than that. When she was in grade school she tried to hide her mom's hardcover Gone With the Wind inside her Dick and Jane reader. She got caught, learned her lesson, and hid her mom's paperbacks instead. Deni still feels the same sense of joy and discovery when she reads a non–clichéd, well–written, character–driven novel. She says she wants to BE THERE, in the scene. For example, she doesn't want to know that General Santa Anna was captured in 1836. She prefers to know that he was naked except for his underpants. Deni is the Senior Editor for Five Star. Her list of bestselling authors include Kate Flora, Richard Helms, Jonnie Jacobs, Heywood Gould and Amanda Flowers. Last year Deni contracted 4 Killer Nashville authors, including the winner of the Claymore Award. Deni says when she offers an author a contract she does a Snoopy dance.

Peter Senftleben / Kensington Books

Peter Senftleben is an assistant editor at Kensington Books, where he is building his own varied and distinguished list. He joined Kensington in 2006 after sharpening his editorial skills and red pencil while working at literary agencies. A graduate of Tulane University with a degree in chemical engineering and math (yes, math), Peter occasionally indulges the numbers side of his brain with a challenging Sudoku puzzle or by baking, but he can more often be seen watching trashy television shows. Peter is currently acquiring many types of fiction, including mysteries and thrillers, and is often drawn to quirky, offbeat projects with distinctive voice (like The First Annual Grand Prairie Rabbit Festival by Ken Wheaton and Curses!: A F***ed–Up Fairy Tale by J.A. Kazimer), stunning writing (see any of T. Greenwood's novels or Yield by Lee Houck), realistic characters (read Closer to Fine by Mari Weiss or Don't Let Me Go J.H. Trumble), and stories that will make him LOL (literally), cry in public, scare the bejeezus out of him, or engage him so deeply that he skips meals. He does not want to see anything with terrorists of any kind. You can follow him on Twitter at @gr8thepeter.

Kensington's submission guidelines are here: Kensington Books