Paige Wheeler

Paige Wheeler is a founding partner of Folio Literary Management, LLC. Prior to forming Folio Literary Management, Ms. Wheeler founded Creative Media Agency (CMA) in 1997 and served as its President for nine years until she merged CMA into her new company, Folio, in 2006. Her goal was to create a literary agency that truly serviced its authors and their intellectual property. With the formation of Folio, she is now able to provide the ability to sell both domestic and foreign rights, as well as offer the services of a marketing department, a speakers bureau and licensing capabilities.

What I'm looking for

I'm looking to represent a broad range of projects. In particular, I've been reading upscale commercial fiction and nonfiction books that tell a unique story or ones in which the author has a huge platform. I seem to be especially drawn to a story if it has a high concept and a fresh, unique voice.

Fiction: All commercial fiction and Upscale (think book club) fiction, as well as women's fiction, romance (all types), mystery, thrillers, and psychological suspense. I enjoy both historical fiction as well as contemporary fiction, so do keep that in mind.

Nonfiction: I'm looking for both narrative nonfiction and prescriptive nonfiction. I'm looking for books where the author has a huge platform and something new to say in a particular area. Some of the areas that I like are lifestyle, relationship, parenting, business (!), popular/trendy reference projects and women's issues. I’d like books that would be a good fit on the Today show.

What I'm not looking for

Fiction: children's, science fiction, fantasy

Nonfiction: academic nonfiction

How to contact me

I am currently accepting EMAIL queries only. Send your query letter to pwheeler(@)foliolit.com. Please write in the subject line of your email 'query' or it may get deleted as spam. Please don't include any attachments but just have the query in the body of the email.

Your query letter should include your name and contact information, the date, the type of project (genre), the word count, gratuitous flattery (thought I'd stick that in there to see if you’re paying attention), a brief summary of the project, if any editors have seen the info, a bit of personal information about yourself (books published, MFA, articles written, etc.), and a full synopsis and the first 5 pages of text. If you have sold previously, I'd like sales information about your books.

Some favorite (non-client) books

I love Victoria Holt, Pam Houston, Amy Tan, Patricia Cornwell, Lawrence Block, Helen Fielding, Kate White, Peter Mayle, Frances Mayes, Steven J. Gould, Chinua Achebe, Janet Evanovich, Laura Hillenbrand, Dava Sobel, Meg Cabot, Richard Ford, Tracy Chevalier, Philippa Gregory, to name a few.

What kind of writing inspires me

I'm motivated by projects that are commercially viable and that I’ve totally fallen for and can’t stop talking about. I need to be a cheerleader for a project so my enthusiasm level must be very high. However, sometimes I love books that aren't commercially viable. That’s when I sadly have to turn away projects. I like books that are well organized and constructed and have a brilliant and unique voice. Don’t just write a story, write it intelligently. More specifically, for fiction I like plot lines that make sense (or are cleverly written); may give a fun twist to a tired storyline; have really engaging, believable characters that shine; are well written with thoughtful prose. In nonfiction, I like for the author to have the expertise to write the book and the platform to help sell it. The projects should cover a niche that has yet to be addressed and be timely and necessary, or at the very least, interesting.

What I love about my job

I love to be an author's advocate. It's a thrill to make a writer's dream come true of selling their book. It's even more exciting to help that person grow their career. As much as I'd love to shut myself off from the world and read, I'm also an extrovert and love meeting with people. This job really fits my personality. Also, the individuals that make up the publishing industry are simply wonderful: they're smart, opinionated, well-read, and a bit quirky.

Where to find me:

I’ll be at the following conferences in 2009:

February 22: Bethesda Writers Center - Bethesda, MD

March: RWA Local Meeting - Sacramento, CA
March 2: RWA Conference - Madison, WI

April 17-19: Bethesda Agent Idol - Bethesda MD
April 29: MWA Cocktail Party - New York City, NY

May: Pennwriters Conference - Pittsburg, PA
May 28-30: Backspace Writers Conference - New York City, NY

June 13: American Independent Writers Conference - Washington, DC

July 8-11: Thrillerfest - New York City, NY
July 15-18: RWA National Conference - Washington, DC
July 30-August 2: Pacific Northwest Writers Conference - Seattle, WA

October 9: James River Writers - Richmond, VA

My response time

I typically respond to email queries within 2-3 weeks, though often more quickly than that. If you have sent me a query and haven't heard back, please contact me by the same means that you initially made contact. Include a copy of your original query. Please be sure that you have written QUERY in the subject line, otherwise it will be treated as junk mail.

If I've requested material from you, I typically respond within 4 weeks (for partials or non-fiction proposals), or two months for full manuscripts. That said, please be aware that during holidays and vacation time, there will be a lag in response time.