Jeff Kleinman

I am one of the founders of Folio Literary Management, LLC. I wanted to establish an agency that is forward-thinking and able to offer services that "traditional" literary agents don't provide, so in 2006 I joined with my partners to establish Folio.

Over the course of my career I've represented many successful books, including the New York Times bestsellers The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein, The Widow of the South by Robert Hicks, Mockingbird by Charles Shields, and The Memory of Running by Ron McLarty. I have also had the privilege of representing the critically acclaimed Finn by Jon Clinch, Sacco & Vanzetti by Bruce Watson, and Enslaved by Ducks by Bob Tarte. My list is comprised of projects with unusual premises; books that offer up some new perspective on something I thought I already knew or never dreamed existed; and wonderful, character-driven novels. That's what I'm looking for.

Since I spent a great deal of my life in an academic setting (I have a B.A. in Modern Studies from the University of Virginia, an M.A. in Italian from the University of Chicago, and a J.D. from the Case Western Reserve University School of Law), I often enjoy narratives revolving around a distinct community. History has always been a passion, so I'm on the lookout for something that brings the past to life and makes it relevant. Animals are another interest: I grew up in a house that had a lot of animals underfoot, so not surprisingly I find myself doing a lot of animal-oriented books today.

Some of the novels I represent include:

	Stein, Garth: The Art of Racing in the Rain, a Starbucks Pick, and national and international bestseller, published by Harper.
	Clinch, Jon: Finn, an award-winning first novel, published by Random House.
	Hicks, Robert: The Widow of the South, a New York Times bestseller, published by Grand Central Publishing.
	McLarty, Ron: The Memory of Running, a New York Times bestseller, published by Viking).

Some of the nonfiction I represent includes:

	Koenig-Coste, Joanne: Learning to Speak Alzheimer's, an extraordinary practical guide to taking care of Alzheimers patients, published by Houghton Mifflin.
	Hirshenson, Janet; Jenkins, Jane: A Star Is Found, Hollywood's top casting directors tell how movies are cast, published by Harcourt.
	Shields, Charles: Mockingbird and I Am Scout, Bestselling biographies (adult and young adult, respectively) of Harper Lee, published by Henry Holt.
	Tarte, Bob: Enslaved by Ducks and Fowl Weather, incredible laugh-out-loud memoirs both published by Algonquin Books.

I became an agent because I love books and believe that good writing and smart ideas can transform our world. So I'm selective about what I represent. That said, if I have your manuscript exclusively, and if I am enthusiastic about it, I'll often line-edit as I go along, just to give you an idea of what your manuscript may need in order to work out some of the kinks. Because I do not require exclusivity, please don't expect me to pencil in comments directly on your solicited manuscript – unless, after I ask for it, you do provide it to me on an exclusive basis (say, for six to eight weeks).

Everyone will tell you that one of the most important criteria for a good agent is that s/he is enthusiastic about your work. Believe it. You must find someone who loves the project, and will fight to get it published. So only send your material to me when you think it's as good as you can get it.

If you'd like to hear a podcast with me, click here.
Prefer a different interview? Try here.

I've done interviews for several writers' websites (Backspace is my favorite), so if you want to read some interviews and get a better sense of me, you can try:

Here's one from Slush Pile
Here's another from Lily Literary Review
Still yet another from Algonkian Workshops
And another from the Guide to Literary Agents
Another in Editor Unleashed.

Vook:

I've recently been asked to help a very cool new multimedia company, Vook, create the future: books that have video, hyperlinks, and other features that can really utilize the extraordinary technologies now available to us. I'll keep my dayjob as a literary agent, but I do want to help shape the publishing industry for years to come.

What I'm Looking For:

In these difficult economic times, I'm particularly on the lookout for the following kinds of books:

Escape stories that take us totally out of our world and into another. (But keep in mind that I don't represent science fiction or fantasy.)
Happy, upbeat subjects. I think a lot of misery memoirs, terrorists bent on destroying civilization, and post-apocalyptic disasters are going to be difficult to sell.
Inspirational stories. Books that celebrate some aspect of life, or inspire people to try harder and work more. This doesn't mean saccharine stuff, which I steer clear of – but I do like well-written, solid stories that inspire and charm.

Nonfiction: Do you have a nonfiction idea and/or proposal?

For nonfiction, my interests are divided into two areas: "narrative" (a nonfiction story) and "prescriptive" ("how-to"):

Narrative: I'm particularly interested in narrative nonfiction, and have sold projects in a wide variety of subjects. Some of my areas of particular interest include, in no particular order: art, history, espionage, military, business, memoir, animals (especially equestrian, but certainly dogs and exotics, too), nature, biography, humor, crime, health, and any unique, intriguing subject.
Prescriptive: I'm particularly interested in parenting (for instance, I've done books about dealing with your kids in cyberspace, toddlers, pregnancy, Alzheimer's, overweight kids, and a bunch of others) health and fitness, psychology, pop-culture, self-help, celebrity books, pets, some business, and other unique, intriguing subjects.

If it looks like your project may be the kind of material that I'd represent, you should have:

A proposal, or at least an outline and a sample excerpt; and
Information (your platform, connections, experience in the field, etc.) on why you're the best person to write the book.

Fiction: Have you written a novel?

There's no doubt about it - fiction is definitely harder to sell. I love novels, and do represent fiction. I'm looking for extremely well-written, character-driven books that make me absolutely fall in love with the characters and their world.

For fiction, I represent the following areas: upmarket commercial (but not genre commercial, like mysteries or romances), and literary; including thriller, suspense, legal, and historical.

Your novel should be between 70,000 and 120,000 words in length.

What I'm Not Looking For:

I do not represent Children's, Young Adult, Christian, Poetry, or genre commercial fiction (Science Fiction and/or Fantasy, Westerns, Mysteries, and/or romances), or Prescriptive ("How to") Travel books; nor do I represent original plays, teleplays, or screenplays.

Other agents in the firm do represent some of these areas, so be sure to check out their bio pages.

There are also some subject matter areas that I also avoid. For example, I don't read books - published or not-yet-published - about serial killers, children in peril (kidnapped, murdered, victimized, and so forth), or those dealing with the events of September 11, 2001. I also avoid subjects like rape, suicide, and manic-depression; and thrillers in which there's some terrorist organization bent on destroying America or the world. You may have a super novel (or nonfiction subject) that deals with those kinds of issues, and that's great - but I can tell you that I'll be the wrong guy to ask to represent it.

How to contact me:

Effective immediately (and no matter what you read anywhere else), only contact me via email. I am no longer accepting hard-copy submissions of any kind. Hard copies will be returned to you unopened and unread, or recycled. If you'd like to send me a finished copy of your book, or you only have a hardcopy available, let me know that in your email, but do not send me the book or hardcopy unless I specifically ask you for it.

A few guidelines for email submissions:

In the subject line, make it clear this is a submission —include your name and the title of the work; or "Submission to Jeff Kleinman," or something along those lines. Like everybody else these days, I'm besieged with spam and junk email — a lot of which I delete unopened. I don't want to delete your email by mistake, so try to make it clear that you're contacting me requesting that I review your project.
Paste, in the bottom of your email, the first page or so of your material. If it looks like something that might work for me, I'll ask you to email me more information.
You may have a website, and think it would be easier if I just followed a link and looked at your material directly. I certainly understand the temptation for doing this, but I probably won't follow the link.
Finally, be aware that I have a couple of email addresses — including an ancient "AOL" email address. Please use the email address below, since that's the best way of reaching me. If your email gets bounced back to you, please resend; and my apologies if that happens to you.

My email address is: jkleinman(@)foliolit.com. [Note that this email address has (parenthesis) around the "@" symbol, to discourage spammers. You have to remove the parenthesis before you send me an email. You cannot just cut-and-paste this email address into your email program.]

Where to find me:

I'll be at the following conferences in 2010:

February 6: The business of pet writing conference, NY, NY

February 20: Bay to Ocean Writers Conference, Chesapeake College, MD

March 20: Writing The Future, Bethesda, MD

May 15: Biography Writers Conference, Boston, MA

May 28-29: Backspace Writers Conference, NY, NY

August 20-22: Nashville Killer Writers Conference, Nashville, TN

September 24-25: Hampton Roads Writers Conference, Hampton Roads, VA

My response time:

I typically respond to email queries from within a couple of seconds to a couple of days. If you've sent me a query and haven't heard back in a couple of weeks, though, drop me an email – I always try to respond, so if you're not hearing from me, it's possible that you're getting trapped in spam. If you're writing to follow up, please include a copy of your original query.

If I've requested material from you, I respond within a couple of weeks for partials or non-fiction proposals, or a month for full manuscripts. If you haven't heard from me by then, by all means, please follow up.