Karen Solem is a literary agent and the president of Spencerhill Associates.

Karen represents a broad range of commercial fiction, and though a number of her clients have become New York Times bestsellers, she still takes great pleasure in discovering and working with new talent. With many years of publishing experience she brings an editorial as well as a business background to assist her clients.

Karen is looking for literary and commercial fiction and nonfiction, primarily for the adult market. She would love to read a richly detailed historical novel or historical suspense, a big sprawling family saga, or engrossing women’s fiction. She especially enjoys southern women’s fiction; and given her passion for animals, seeks any work involving dogs, horses or the natural world. She loves a great suspense novel and especially those with a psychological hook.

Saritza Hernandez is the Sr. Literary Agent at the Corvisiero Literary Agency.

At the 2018 workshop, she will be taking pitches and also teaching the workshop “Querying and Pitching Literary Agents.”

Saritza is representing the entire agency and their genres. Her personal tastes lean toward erotica (all kinds), but she is open to hearing pitches for all her co-agents in the genres of fantasy, science fiction, romance, thrillers, adventure, paranormal, young adult, middle grade, picture books, historical romance, new adult (both romance and non-romance), and graphic novels. In nonfiction, she can take pitches for parenting, education, self-improvement, science, and business.

About Saritza personally: She is known as the first literary agent to represent authors in the digital publishing landscape. While continuing to seek traditional publishers for her authors, Saritza is the leading literary agent in digital publishing deals. An avid coffee-drinker with a Kindle book obsession, she enjoys a steaming cup of strong Cuban coffee every morning while reading an erotic contemporary romance or action-packed science fiction adventure. A strong advocate of the GLBT community, she enjoys fresh voices in Young Adult and New Adult genre fiction.

Amanda Leuck is a literary agent with Spencerhill Associates.

She is seeking: strong, character-driven stories, written with an unforgettable voice. She’s looking for literary and commercial YA, new adult fiction, urban fantasy, and romance in all genres, including edgy romantic suspense, contemporary and paranormal with a fresh twist.

About Amanda: Amanda Leuck started her career  in various facets of the media, including work on a TV talk show, at a fashion magazine, as a print journalist, and as an on-air traffic reporter. After graduating from New York University, Amanda went on to study literacy and literature at the post-graduate level. It was then that she developed a passion for the publishing industry. Amanda started at Spencerhill Associates as an editorial assistant, and was promoted to agent in August 2014. Her Twitter handle is @MandiLeone.

Kaitlyn Johnson is a literary agent with Corvisiero Literary.

At the 2018 Tampa workshop, she will be taking pitches as well as teaching a speech on self-editing and revision.

After receiving a BA in Writing, Literature, and Publishing from Emerson College, Kaitlyn refused to leave the concept of nightly homework behind. As well as being an apprentice agent for Corvisiero Literary Agency, she is also a freelance editor at her own company, K. Johnson Editorial, and has worked as a copyeditor for academic publisher codeMantra, a YA editor for Accent Press, and a Conference Assistant for GrubStreet, Boston. She has written various articles for Writer’s Digest and has had a flash fiction story published in the anthology A Box of Stars Beneath the Bed.

She is seeking:

• upper middle grade
• young adult
  
• new adult romance
• fantasy works (yes, that very much includes urban!) and time travel
• romance (erotic elements OK)
• historical fiction: anything other than Henry VIII, Shakespeare, American Civil War, Greek gods/myths
• contemporary can grab her attention only if the concept is unique and well executed
• LGBT (as well as characters questioning their sexuality) welcome in all above genres

Kaitlyn is NOT accepting:

– Nonfiction
– Chapter or picture books
– Horror, thriller/suspense
– Novellas, poetry, or short story collections
– Storylines heavily dependent on religious motives/events/themes

Her favorite authors/books include the following: Cornelia Funke (Inkheart series); Michael Buckley (Undertow series); John Green (more Looking for Alaska, less An Abundance of Katherines); Gayle Forman (Just One Year and Just One Day); Lois Lowry (The Giver series); Scott O’Dell (Island of the Blue Dolphins). Her favorite TV shows are Doctor Who, Buffy, Supernatural, Firefly — basically the nerdier the fandom the better.